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To cap a wonderful panel that made my eyes water about 4.7 times, John Lasseter of course chose his baby, the original franchise, Toy Story.
It’s the 20th anniversary of the original Toy Story, a film that might be the most revolutionary animated film ever, at least since Snow White. What brought Lasseter and company back for a fourth go-round? (Aside from money.)
A story that was a worthy follow up to Toy Story 3, that’s what. Pixar only considers a sequel if they come up with a story as good or better than the original (cue Cars 2 coughs), which hopefully is true, given the fact that Incredibles 2, Finding Dory, Cars 3 and Toy Story 4 are all in development.
Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) and Lasseter had been secretly at work on the project for awhile, only going public after Stanton had written an unbelievable treatment for the project. The rest is history, and Toy Story 4 is in our future.
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Each installment of Toy Story had been a different genre, and Toy Story 4 will be no different. This time, it’s a love story. A love story between Woody and Bo Peep, with Woody and Buzz going off to find Bo Peep. The story is inspired by Lasseter’s own wife Nancy, which elicited a chorus of “Awww”‘s throughout the crowd, whose collective heart had been pretty much melted to Jell-O at this point. Pixar, despite being in the franchise and sequel business just like everyone else, somehow comes out smelling like roses.
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Probably because they trot out Randy Newman, returning to the franchise for Toy Story 4, to sing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” with an accompanied cut of the first two Toy Story‘s, followed by a raucous dance routine from toy Army soldiers and the fabled characters from the Toy Story universe.
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Sniff. Well played, Pixar/Disney/monstrous corporation with a heart. See you tomorrow for Day 2: STAR WARS! MARVEL! CHRIS PINE MOVIES WITH STORMS IN THEM!