Generations of moviegoers have grown up with the Toy Story movies, starting with the 1995 original and continuing to this day with Toy Story 5, which is in theaters now. The franchise (which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription) is still going strong, although Quentin Tarantino maintains he has no interest in watching after the third movie. And now the director and cast of the new movie have weighed in on this choice.

Tarantino is known for his hot takes, including famously calling Paul Dano weaksauce in There Will Be Blood. Back in 2024 he told Bill Maher he wouldn't watch more Toy Story movies since the third one's ending was "perfect." Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton shared his reaction to Tarantino's opinion during a chat with THR. He offered:

Points were made. While the first three Toy Story films revolved around Andy and his toys as he grew up, the two most recent installments are about the new kid Bonnie, who inherited his toys at the end of the third movie. It's a different era of the franchise, and Tarantino has every right to stick to the originals. Although he's missing out one more delightful adventures from Woody, Buzz, and the whole gang.

Quentin Tarantino might have said he's "done" with the franchise after the expert way Toy Story 3 ended, there are plenty of fans who have caught the two more recent movies (as well as Lightyear). Tony Hale, who has voiced Forky since the fourth film, shared his reaction to the Oscar-winning filmmaker's hot take, saying:

Touché. Pixar is a well-oiled machine at this point, and regardless of each movie's box office take, the quality of their movies doesn't really suffer much. That goes for the Toy Story films, as well as other titles from the studio. And the Veep star seems to think that Tarantino should consider the receipts before writing off the more recent Toy Story movies.

In the Kill Bill director's defense, Toy Story 3 really is top tier. The movie reduced millennials like me to tears when it hit theaters back in 2010, with Andy's journey into adulthood mirroring our own. The scene of the toy holding hands as they prepare for their death was something none of us was expecting, and was overshadowed only by Andy giving them away to Bonnie in its final moments. It was a perfect way for the trilogy to end, and that's what is seemingly holding back Tarantino from seeing any of the newer films.

Toy Story 5 is in theaters now as part of the 2026 movie release list. We'll just have to wait and see how many movies are produced before the franchise wraps up forever.

Did you know that Toy Story 5 almost didn’t include our pal Woody? Since Toy Story 4 ends with his retirement, I can see where the filmmakers were coming from initially. But man, am I happy they found a way to keep him in all while finally giving Jessie the limelight! I was living for all the gags the character has in the latest of 2026 movies, especially after learning more about how it came together during Pixar’s famously collaborative filmmaking process.

Pixar Had The Best Time With Woody's Toy Story 5 Gags

I mean, between Woody rocking a poncho, having a bald spot and taking a leadership role with Bo Peep as a hero to toys, I absolutely adored seeing the cowboy back in action. And during a Q&A with the Toy Story 5 filmmakers that CinemaBlend was in attendance for, writer/director Andrew Stanton shared how they found a way to give Woody these hilarious moments. In his words:

After Toy Story 4 gave Woody such a sweet send off, it definitely makes sense that Pixar would be scratching their heads over what to do with the iconic character next. But, I think they absolutely nailed it. As Stanton added:

Woody playing into some middle-aged / retired men stereotypes was definitely a fun way to show the cowboy doll is aging in a relatable way fans can laugh together about. And as you can imagine, once they had landed on that, a lot more ideas than they knew what to do with started to roll in.

How Woody Being Retired Inspired More Ideas Behind The Scenes

Kenna Harris, who co-wrote Toy Story 5, also revealed the funny extra step they almost took with Woody. In her words:

Yeah, that’s fun. I sort of get why they might have ultimately decided not to, because then Woody would look much different than usual and it’d be more difficult to reverse that coloring. But still, that would have been another great addition to Woody’s Toy Story 5 characterization. Stanton also said this:

So, apparently we can thank Tom Hanks for really playing along with Woody getting older, and leaning into it through the voice work, too, with improved bits. I just love how the creative team behind Toy Story 5 went from not knowing what to do with Woody to giving him some of the most hilarious moments in the whole movie.

And, that's just one reason why I totally agree with the sequel’s critical acclaim! Toy Story 5 is in theaters now.

I would not have guessed that WALL-E, one of Pixar’s best, and Alien, one of the best horror movies of all time, shared any real creative wiring beyond the whole “outer space can get weird” of it all. But according to WALL-E director Andrew Stanton, Alien helped inspire the flick in a way that has me shook.

In a recent appearance on the How I Write Podcast, Stanton explained how he knew WALL-E would be mostly dialogue-free, so the script itself had to prompt readers to slow down and absorb the action, emotion and rhythm of the movie rather than rushing ahead to the next spoken line. That is when he looked to Walter Hill’s 1979 draft of Alien. He explained:

That is such a fascinating micro lesson in screenwriting. The way the longtime Pixar creator describes it, he gets at something most casual moviegoers never think about and that is that a script is not just a blueprint for what happens but also teaches the reader how to feel the movie's pace. In Hill’s case, that sparse formatting helped create dread through silence and tension.

For Stanton, the same trick served a completely different emotional purpose. WALL-E is not trying to scare you in its opening stretch. It is trying to get you to sit with this little machine as he moves through an abandoned Earth, cleaning up after humanity and collecting scraps of meaning from all the junk left behind. If a reader skimmed through that, they would miss the whole point.

Stanton explained that he borrowed Hill’s formatting so people could not “cheat” their way through the page. He wanted the screenplay to force the same kind of patience that the finished movie would ask from an audience. He continued:

I love this because it makes total sense once he explains it. WALL-E works because it trusts silence. The Alien connection is especially cool because Stanton was not borrowing monsters or horror imagery but rather the screenplay’s architecture. A way of arranging words on a page. A way of telling the reader, “No, stay here. This moment matters.”

That is exactly the kind of behind-the-scenes craft detail that makes me want to rewatch WALL-E immediately. The movie already felt like a small miracle, but knowing that part of its rhythm was shaped by one of the greatest sci-fi horror scripts ever written adds a strange new layer. Now that I have this bit of behind-the-scenes knowledge rattling around in my head, I kind of want to fire up my Disney+ subscription and revisit WALL-E with fresh eyes.

As for Stanton, he has another major new Pixar project on the 2026 movie calendar, as he directed Toy Story 5, which is currently playing in theaters.

Disney has spent years turning animated classics into live-action movies, and that trend is not slowing down anytime soon. Moana is set to hit the 2026 movie schedule soon, and Tangled is currently in the works, which means plenty of beloved Disney titles are still making the jump from animation to live action. Pixar, however, has mostly avoided that treatment so far. Now, thanks to someone asking the Toy Story creators about that very possibility, we have a pretty clear answer, and their response is hilarious.

During a recent BAFTA interview with Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins, the two were asked late in the conversation whether they would ever consider making a live-action Toy Story movie, and their reactions were immediate. After both seemed to groan at the idea, Stanton said:

Collins, meanwhile, sounded like someone trying to stop a spell from being spoken aloud in a haunted attic. She jumped in with:

Stanton then jumped in with a question many Pixar fans were probably thinking. He asked:

Collins quickly shut the whole thing down. The producer added:

Stanton agreed. He echoed her sentiment:

Honestly, I love everything about this exchange. Nobody reached for the careful studio answer. There was no “never say never” or “we’re always open to new storytelling possibilities.” They reacted like someone had suggested the unthinkable. Which, to be fair, sending Woody into the uncanny valley feels pretty "unthinkable."

The funny thing is, we actually joked about this idea before. In the past, Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson said they were ready to star in a live-action Toy Story, if only they could find someone to play Woody. It was an idea the two had joked about after their Jungle Cruise pairing. It was a fun hypothetical, and honestly, if anyone could make that conversation entertaining, it would be those two.

But a live-action Toy Story is a weird idea on a basic conceptual level. The whole premise already exists in a world where toys look like toys, move like toys and interact with human spaces. The animation is doing the job that live action would theoretically be trying to “realize.” So what would the new version be? Actual toys moved around with CGI faces? Humans in toy costumes? A photorealistic Woody with pores? No, thank you, Sheriff.

That does not mean new Disney live-action remakes are automatically bad ideas. Some have connected with huge audiences, and the upcoming live-action Moana at least has the built-in hook of bringing Dwayne Johnson back as Maui while introducing a new actress as Moana. There are ways to rethink an animated story for a different medium.

The original 1995 movie was already revolutionary for the way it used computer animation to make toys feel alive. Its whole identity is tied to Pixar’s form. Taking that into live-action risks sanding away the very thing that made it special in the first place.

Maybe that's the reason why Stanton and Collins’ reactions are so satisfying. They are not making a grand anti-remake argument. They just seem to know, instinctively, that this particular franchise does not need another layer of reality slapped on top of it.

Besides, Toy Story 5 already has enough going on. The franchise is continuing in animation, where it belongs, with the same visual language audiences have loved for decades. Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the gang do not need to be dragged into the uncanny valley for the sake of novelty. Sometimes the best answer really is the simplest one. That’s gonna be a hard no from me as well, dog.

Toy Story 5 is now playing in theaters, so check your local listings for showtimes. But if you want to revisit the other five movies or the rest of the House of Mouse's back catalog, all you need is a Disney+ subscription.

It’s hard to believe it’s been over 15 years since Toy Story 3 came out and emotionally wrecked audiences. Like so many people, I’ll never forget how the movie perfectly capped off the story of a bunch of toys and their person, Andy, as he officially leaves childhood behind and goes off to college. It was the perfect ending for the franchise, but then a fourth movie came out, and now Toy Story 5 is the latest upcoming Disney movie on the way. Is the franchise officially past calling it quits now?

I decided to ask Andrew Stanton this very question: Will Toy Story ever reach a final conclusion? He's been a creative voice behind the scenes on every Toy Story movie and is the director behind the latest, and he says the nature of toys is that they can be passed along, at least for a good while.

So, as long as audiences turn up for a new Toy Story movie and the creatives over at Pixar continue to be inspired by the property, we’re not going to have to say farewell to this franchise. For how long? As his Toy Story 5 co-writer Kenna Harris added:

Pixar made an all-time great trilogy with the first three Toy Story movies, but as Andrew Stanton has said to haters of future Toy Story sequels: “nobody’s being robbed of their trilogy” and they don’t have to watch more if they don’t want to. Since Toy Story 3, they’ve found a way to continue the storyline through their move to Bonnie's room. I'm also happy to hear this movie in particular is already booming with positive reviews (save one) from critics who are calling it “a smart examination of evolving technology and its effect on children." It's "heart" and "conviction" are also being called out in reviews.

It’s certainly not easy or common for a movie to reach five films, and it's especially surprising to do this many with such high acclaim. Yet,Toy Story keeps proving its capable because the Pixar creatives keep finding new ways to keep these iconic characters around and expand the world of toys they’ve built.

This time around, the movie finally gives Jessie the center stage to explore her origins (and has added a sweet new Taylor Swift track to go along with it). In our interview with Tom Hanks, he got candid about being hesitant about Toy Story 5 before he learned the concept behind the movie. The animated flick tackles how technology is affecting children growing up nowadays.

I’m so curious about how Pixar will go from here after this new installment. Or will this one be the last after all? Either way, I personally find it nice that it's been kicking around for thirty years and new films get to be enjoyed by other generations. I wonder if I'll feel the same way in my old age if Toy Story 24 comes out.

You can see Toy Story 5 for yourself when it hits theaters this Friday, June 19.

Whether or not you were as hesitant as Tom Hanks about another Toy Story, it’s hard to deny the excitement that a new story featuring Buzz, Woody and Jessie brings. Toy Story 5 is hitting the 2026 movie calendar more than 30 years after the original, and I honestly can’t say I’m surprised that critics are giving the newest installment a big thumbs up. There’s always one detractor, though, isn’t there? Let’s take a look at Toy Story 5 reviews and see what people like (and don’t like) about the animated flick.

The newest chapter sees the return of all of our favorite voices — Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Tony Hale, etc. — as well as some exciting new additions including Conan O’Brien, Greta Lee, Craig Robinson, Bad Bunny and Alan Cumming. The new toys are exciting, as our old friends will see competition from Bonnie’s high-tech devices. Germain Lussier of Gizmodo says Toy Story 5 exceeds expectations as a more-than-welcome addition to the franchise:

David Ehrlich of IndieWire grades the movie a B+, boldly calling it the “best Pixar sequel since 1999.” Conan O’Brien’s role voicing the Smarty Pants potty training device is “one of the funniest voice performance roles in Pixar history,” but the movie’s biggest message is one that’s going to affect every parent in the theater. Ehrlich says:

Brian Truitt of USA TODAY rates it 3 stars out of 4, saying Jessie really steps forward into the lead role of this movie, embarking on a journey of self-discovery that’s even more engaging than Woody and Buzz’s battle against the screens back home. This critic also mentions that Conan O’Brien was born to play the role of Smarty Pants, delivering both potty humor and character depth. Overall, it’s another successful outing for Disney/Pixar, Truitt says, writing:

David Rooney of THR says in his Toy Story 5 review that it’s hard to resist the movie’s captivating sweetness as it delivers a message about screentime that can always bear repeating. Rooney writes:

The family friendly film is already Certified Fresh with 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. So if you’re wondering what’s going on with that leftover 6%, I present to you Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian. His review of Toy Story 5 gives it just 2 out of 5 stars, and the issue seems to be with the redemption of some of the tech toys, as mentioned in the previous review. Bradshaw says:

If you want to form your own opinion on the Toy Story universe’s take on screens vs. physical play, you don’t have to wait long now! The upcoming Disney movie is set to hit theaters on Friday, June 19. In the meantime you can also catch up on the previous movies in the franchise, which are available to stream with a Disney+ subscription.

If you saw Toy Story 5 on the 2026 movie schedule and wondered why we’re getting yet another Toy Story sequel, there’s actually a good reason for it. Jessie the Cowgirl has been a beloved character in the franchise ever since she was introduced in Toy Story 2, but she’s never quite been center stage before. Writer/director Andrew Stanton wanted to change all that when writing the upcoming Pixar movie, and he told us why.

I had the chance to see half of Toy Story 5 on behalf of CinemaBlend and then sit down with Stanton and some of the movie’s other key filmmakers. What struck me the most about what I’ve seen from the movie so far is how instrumental Jessie is to the storyline. During the film, she even finds herself back in her previous bedroom from before she met Woody and co. Here’s what Stanton said about making the character central to the new release:

Since the end of Toy Story 4 has Woody leaving Bonnie’s room and giving Jessie the sheriff’s badge, it certainly feels like a natural transition for these movies. Actually, during our conversation, Stanton also told us that when he first wrote Toy Story 5 without Woody before deciding to bring the character back.

Jessie ends up going on a grand adventure that leads her to meet a new cast of characters, including Bad Bunny’s toy and Conan O’Brien’s potty training toy. She’ll also meet a new human child named Blaze. As his co-writer Kenna Harris added:

We won’t go too much into detail about Jessie’s backstory and the Toy Story 5 adventure. However, since there've been so many sequels, I know I was curious what Pixar had up their sleeves this time around, and I love that they’re finally giving some more love to Jessie the Cowgirl.

Toy Story 5’s production designer, Bob Pauley, who’s had a hand in every Toy Story movie just like Stanton, also gushed about the role Jessie gets to play this time around in our interview with him. In his words:

This week, we also learned that Taylor Swift has written a song for Toy Story 5 that will appear in the film after theories started forming among Swifties. We have to wonder if the song called “I Knew It, I Knew You” will be another emotional song for Jessie after Sarah McLachlan’s tune from Toy Story 2, “When She Loved Me”. When I asked Pauley about the end, the production designer said this:

Well, I know I’m officially convinced why Toy Story 5 needed to exist. You can see the movie only in theaters starting on June 19.

As Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are allegedly planning to get married this summer, it makes all the sense in the world that the pop singer would take a break from releasing music for a while. Then again, this is Taylor Swift we’re talking about. She always seems to be writing and recording music. And the latest theory about what’s next for her has to do with Toy Story 5, and the rumor mill is really starting to heat up (even though the director debunked part of it).

What Toy Story 5's Director Said About The Taylor Swift Theories

Back in May, Swifties started to talk about Taylor Swift possibly being on the Toy Story 5 soundtrack when a countdown briefly appeared on her website with a background of blue skies and white fluffy clouds just like Andy’s room. Then, fans looked at her recent wardrobe and noticed she’s been wearing the colors associated with the Toy Story movies recently.

Once the rumor really started to spread around, Khoslaa asked co-director/writer Andrew Stanton and his fellow filmmakers about what’s going on with Taylor Swift. Here’s what he said:

While many took this as a debunking of the Taylor Swift/Toy Story 5 theories, tons of Swifties held tight to the possibilities, with the interviewer commenting on her own video, “He never said a song won't be in the middle …” Did Stanton use the interview to derail fans, or are they really just clowning about more Swift music?

Then, Pixar Got Fans Going Even More

Since then, a billboard for Toy Story 5 with simply “TS” on the poster and the same clouds in the background appeared. Pixar even posted it with an animation of Jessie the Cowgirl dancing on it and the caption “She’s making those moves up as she goes!” Check it out:

Since the caption is definitely a reference to Swift’s song “Shake It Off,” the evidence for a Taylor Swift collaboration in this 2026 movie release is starting to look a lot more possible. Check out some of the comments:

• “WHAT THE ACTUAL SWIFTIENESS IS GOING AWN” - @francisdominiic
• “TAYLOR SWIFT? ☁️💙” - @leoealisson
• “It’s a Toy Story, baby just say yes!!❤️” - @kristarose143
• “jessie those dance moves are pretty ENCHANTED 💜” - @emilynels8
• “Life of a Showgirl? More like Life of a Cowgirl 🤠” - @zachpincince

So, despite the debunking, Swifties are still convinced that Swift is involved with this movie.

Toy Story 5 already has quite a few big celebrity names as is. Conan O’Brien has a hilarious potty training toy character, and Bad Bunny is playing Pizza With Sunglasses alongside the movie’s usual suspects. And yes, Tom Hanks is playing Woody again, even though the director told us they initially wrote the movie without the cowboy. So, it seems totally possible that one of the world's biggest pop stars has written an original song for this film that could play anywhere other than the end credits.

We’ll officially find out when Toy Story 5 hits theaters on June 19.

Since the Toy Story movies have been coming out now for over three decades, it wouldn’t necessarily be surprising if Woody and Buzz turned things over to a new generation of toys – especially Woody after he literally left Bonnie’s room at the end of Toy Story 4. But thankfully, both characters are back in action for Toy Story 5, which is among 2026 movies hitting theaters this summer. But, I recently found out from the movie’s writer/director Andrew Stanton that this wasn’t always the case for Woody.

Toy Story 5 has Woody reuniting with our favorite toys, bald spot and all, and of course, is once again voiced by Tom Hanks. During CinemaBlend's interview with the Toy Story 5 filmmakers, Stanton said this about the return of Woody:

Toy Story 5 follows the toys of Bonnie’s room, who were given to her by Andy during the emotional ending of Toy Story 3, as they face a new problem among them. Bonnie is given a tablet named Lilypad that steals all of her attention away, and the rest of the toys are stressed about it. Jessie, who has assumed the leadership position of Bonnie’s room, gets in contact with her buddy Woody to talk out the problem, and it leads to him joining in on another thrilling and fun animated adventure.

An emergency in Bonnie’s room totally makes sense as a way for the audience to see Woody again, but as Stanton told us, at first, he wrote Toy Story 5 without the cowboy at all. However, as he continued to work on additional drafts, he decided he missed Woody and found a way to add him to the upcoming sequel. As he continued:

While Woody definitely plays a big part in Toy Story 5, there’s a lot more focus on Jessie (still played by Joan Cusack as well) than we’ve ever seen of her before, too. The movie even involves the cowgirl riding on a real horse and getting to visit her previous room. There she meets Conan O’Brien’s hilarious potty training toy, among many other fun surprises I’ll keep to myself for now. Producer Lindsay Collins added this:

The first look at Toy Story 5 did feature Woody briefly, but the latest look definitely gives fans a much better look at how the dynamics in the movie look, and Tom Hanks’ iconic character is definitely a big part of it. You can check out the Toy Story 5 trailer below:

I don’t know about you, but I’m so curious how Toy Story 5 will tackle the issue of toys vs. tech, and forward these characters we know and love. You can see it in theaters on June 19.

Toy Story 5 is set to expand the mythos of Disney and Pixar's beloved franchise and, with that, we have some new characters voiced by some A+ talent. One of those newcomers is Conan O’Brien, whose toy role in the sequel is that of a potty-training tech toy named Smarty Pants. The notion of O'Brien voicing such a character is funny on it's own. However, I have to say, what really has me laughing is the way in which the beloved comedian and host was offered the role.

One of the best things to look forward to in each Toy Story movie (streaming with are Disney+ subscription) is meeting fresh, new toys that shake up the story. In the case of Conan O’Brien, director Andrew Stanton told EW that the former Late Night headliner “said yes right away” when offered the “roll” of a potty-training toy. The message Stanton sent O'Brien to pitch him the character was also shared with the news outlet, and I can totally see why O'Brien signed on so quickly:

No, “roll” is not a typo there. Instead, it's just a hilariously clever nod to the toilet-training tech tool with a heart “beneath all that crap.” Honestly, shout out to Stanton for filling that letter with so much potty humor and being able to convince the Emmy winner to join his latest Pixar flick.

While O’Brien jokingly spoke about being “self-taught” in toilet-training, he also recalled being a toy aficionado, thanks to his childhood love of G.I. Joe and Smokey the Bear. I'd say O'Brien is the perfect person to voice a glorified toilet-training toy. But don't think that this character is only around to be the butt of toilet jokes (no pun intended).

Based on what we know about Toy Story 5, our favorite toys are facing the threat of being replaced by A.I. technology. Per EW, Smarty Pants’ introduction will serve as an emotional story for Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl, who meets the forgotten toy in the house she used to live in with her first little girl, Emily, who previously abandoned her. Considering Conan O'Brien's strong acting chops (which he expertly displays in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You), he'll generate some laughs and maybe some tears as part of this subplot.

I'm hoping Toy Story 5, as a whole, will make for an entertaining experience. The details and footage that have surfaced at this point suggests we're in for a darker installment in the franchise. Additionally, the trailer teases sweet nods to the OG films in the franchise. Smarty Pants won't be the only source of comedy either, as fans are already talking about Woody's viral bald spot.

Still, after reading Andrew Stanton's offer letter, I'm definitely going to be keeping a close eye on Conan O'Brien's Smarty Pants when I see the movie. I'm confident that O'Brien will crush it and, if all goes well, this could end up becoming a signature "roll" for him. (Sorry, I just couldn't help myself.)

Make sure to check outToy Story 5, which hits theaters on June 19th as part of the 2026 movie schedule. In the meantime, read up on other upcoming Disney movies headed to theaters this year.

Pixar’s Toy Story 5 is one of the biggest titles set to grace the 2026 movie schedule and, while it doesn’t debut for another few months, fans are already talking about it. The legacy sequel’s latest trailer, which features references to the original film, has really been sparking discussions. One big point of discussion has been the reveal that Woody will have a bald spot in the film. CinemaBlend had to ask director Andrew Stanton for his take on the visceral responses to that, and I really loved his thoughtful take.

In the heavily-discussed Toy Story trailer, the bald spot is revealed after Woody takes off his hat upon reuniting with Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and co. in Bonnie's room. The shine from Woody’s thinning area briefly blinds his friends, with triceratops Trixie even quipping, “Someone needs a brown marker.” Plenty of fans were amused and also in their feelings about the funny reveal, as some commenters online said it made them feel old. When asked about the response to Woody’s hair loss, Stanton provided a great perspective:

In the Blink of an Eye is Andrew Stanton’s latest film, which tracks the history of the world using three interconnected stories set within different time periods. While the sci-fi drama is clearly very different from Stanton’s newest Pixar romp, I love how he links them together, and it makes sense. Blink truly does commit to the concept of time and how events in different time periods can have an impact on the future. And, with Toy Story, Stanton and co. aren’t shying away from the fact that a considerable amount of time has passed in-universe.

To that point, Woody’s bald spot is a further indicator of just how much time has passed and how much he, in particular, has been through. So, from a narrative standpoint, it definitely makes sense for some of Woody’s brown hair to have faded with time. At the same time, it serves as a funny gag, and I’m curious as to how often it comes up in the upcoming Pixar movie.

Based on the comments he shared about his new animated film thus far, Stanton – whose Pixar directorial credits include Finding Nemo and WALL-E – seems to have put a lot of thought into this latest Toy Story film. In the movie, Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the gang are fearing extinction, as technology begins to take over kids’ playtimes. Their concerns are seemingly realized when Bonnie receives a new tablet named Lillypad. While fans have had their questions about the merits of a fifth film in this franchise, it’s hard to argue that the plot does hold relevance pertaining to our society today.

Andrew Stanton isn’t an Oscar-winning filmmaker for nothing, as he truly knows how to tell stories. So, as a life-long fan, I’m definitely curious to see what he does with this latest Toy Story film. Chances are that, in time, he’ll also shed light on the rationale behind many of his creative decisions on the film. More immediately, though, I’m also wondering if someone like the Cleaner (from the second film) will indeed address that bald spot or if Woody will decide to keep it by the end of the movie.

Toy Story 5 opens in theaters on June 19 and, in the meantime, prep for the film by streaming the first four installments on Disney+. Also, check out Stanton’s In the Blink of an Eye, which is now streamable with a Hulu subscription.

Andrew Stanton has a new film set for release amid the 2026 movie schedule, and it’s called In the Blink of an Eye. Written by Colby Day, Stanton’s latest feature tackles the history of mankind by way of three interlocking stories set within the past, present and future. Of course, the Oscar winner is no stranger to telling tales set centuries from now, as he most notably did that with WALL-E. Stanton recently told CinemaBlend that the Pixar film did influence his approach to his latest directorial effort but not in the way you might think.

One of the storylines takes place in the 25th century and revolves around a scientist named Coakley (played by Kate McKinnon), who embarks upon a dangerous mission. Through those segments of the film, viewers get a glimpse of futuristic technology. It’d be easy to assume that WALL-E came into play when Stanton was developing the future storyline for In the Blink of an Eye. However, I was very surprised when Stanton told me during our recent interview, that the tear-inducing Pixar flick influenced a different story arc:

That particular storyline takes place 47,000 years in the past and centers on a family of Neanderthals headed by Thorn (Jorge Vargas). As mentioned by Stanton, the characters communicate using a language that’s not English. Despite that barrier, it’s still possible to understand the basic gist of what the family members say to each other. It honestly didn’t occur to me that Stanton’s 2008 animated flick could’ve inspired his work on the past-based parts in his latest sci-fi venture, but it definitely makes sense.

Fans may remember that the first act of WALL-E (which is still regarded as one of the best Pixar movies) features minimal dialogue. And anything that is spoken between the eponymous cleaning bot and his mechanical crush, EVE, is essentially robot jargon. Nevertheless, the inflections help to make their interactions understandable and, as the film goes on, viewers find themselves rooting for the characters and their budding romance. So kudos to Stanton pulling off unconventional dialogue in a film once more.

Shrewd creative decisions like those are arguably a major reason why Stanton has earned some much respect from his peers and garnered critical acclaim throughout his career. In fact, Alex Woo, the director of 2025’s In Your Dreams, revealed that WALL-E taught him the importance of subtext, and that stemmed from the fact that much of that movie doesn’t feature clear dialogue.

I’d argue that if a movie’s content is powerful enough to evoke strong emotions in its viewers, then it’ll be felt in whatever language it's conveyed through. Certainly, Andrew Stanton and his collaborators are hoping that audiences will connect with a Neanderthal family just as they did with a couple of futuristic robots nearly two decades ago.

Check out In the Blink of an Eye, which will be available for Hulu subscription holders, starting on January 27. Also, anyone keen on checking out WALL-E can stream that with a Disney+ subscription.

What do Toy Story, the popular Pixar franchise that’s been going strong for over 30 years, and Game of Thrones, the prestige HBO fantasy series that’s spawned multiple spinoffs, have in common? On the surface, basically nothing considering… well, that should be obvious. However, Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton shared a fascinating reason for why he thinks the family-friendly franchise is similar to the ultra-violent and sexual Game of Thrones are similar, though only in one specific way.

Stanton goes back to the beginning with Toy Story, having co-written all of the movies except for Toy Story 3, for which he solely crafted the story. However, Toy Story 5, which arrives to the 2026 movies schedule this summer, marks his first time directing an entry in this franchise as well. When DiscussingFilm asked Stanton what excites him most about returning to the world of Toy Story, he answered:

I’ll never be fully comfortable thinking of Toy Story and Game of Thrones together, but I get what Andrew Stanton is saying. This isn’t something like The Simpsons where time stays stagnant and the characters essentially never evolve. For Toy Story, it’s important to show the progression of time, affecting both the animate toys themselves, their multiple owners and the world around them. It’s just like how we saw the political landscape of Westeros change over Game of Thrones’ eight seasons… ok, not just like that, but in the loosest terms, Stanton’s comparison makes sense.

I will say that Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang have held up remarkably well for being around well over three decades. In real life, toys that have been around that long are usually in much rougher shape. But to go back to the Game of Thrones comparison, one way Toy Story could have even more in common with that series is if it got the prequel treatment too. Just like how House of the Dragon is following the goings-on in the Seven Kingdoms nearly 200 years before Game of Thrones, what would a period piece Toy Story movie or TV show look like? I’d welcome seeing one specifically set in either the 1940s or ‘50s.

As far as Toy Story 5 goes, its story is very much in keeping with the times, as our main characters grappling with Bonnie, now eight years old, spending as much time as she can playing with a frog-like tablet called Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee. Other newcomers include Craig Robinson as Atlas and Conan O’Brien as Smarty Pants, while the events of this movie will somehow reunite Buzz, Jessie and the others with Woody, who left at the end of Toy Story 4. The new movie hits theaters on June 19.

Pixar is getting ready to debut its newest project with the Inside Out 2 release date coming this weekend, but it’s not the only high-profile sequel the animation studio has in the pipeline. Toy Story 5 is on the way in 2026, and we may now know who is helming the project as Pixar CCO Pete Docter has reportedly stated that Pixar vet Andrew Stanton is set to direct his first Pixar film in a decade.

During a Q&A following a screening of Inside Out 2 The MontyVerse reported that Docter let it slip that Pixar original brain trust member Andrew Stanton was set to direct Toy Story 5. There’s no video of the event or an exact quote, and at the film’s premiere in L.A., Docter was mum on the director when talking to Variety, so there has still been no official announcement. We have to call this a rumor, but it’s a compelling one.

Andrew Stanton was one of the people who helped launch Pixar as an independent film studio. He wrote the screenplay for the studio’s first feature, the original Toy Story, and co-directed the second film, A Bug’s Life. He’s handled story and/or screenplay duties for every chapter of the Pixar saga, but he hasn’t directed any of them. But certainly, nobody at the studio knows the franchise better than he does.

The last time Andrew Stanton directed a Pixar film was 2016’s Finding Dory, which means if he is directing Toy Story 5, it will be a full decade between his directorial efforts when the movie is released in 2026.

Stanton has been more focused on writing and directing live-action projects of late. He directed episodes of For All Mankind and Netflix’s Three Body Problem. He also wrote two episodes of Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi limited series.

Having Andrew Stanton back at Pixar helming a major project is an incredibly exciting prospect. Stanton directed Finding Nemo and Wall-E, two of Pixar's best movies. Finding Dory is one of four Pixar films to have grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and two of the others are the last two Toy Story movies, so expectations for the new film are certainly high.

A lot of eyes are on Inside Out 2 to see if the movie will break Pixar’s recent string of bad luck. Both Lightyear and Elemental saw very little theatrical turnout domestically, though the latter film did find success overseas. The three movies before that were released directly on Disney+ and many have wondered if Pixar is simply a studio that audiences no longer feel a need to see in theaters.

Even if Inside Out 2 breaks the recent pattern, the studio will need several hits in a row to rebuild the momentum it had, so Toy Story 5, and Pixar's other project in the list of upcoming Disney movies, Elio, will also need to be successful. In the case of the new Toy Story film, they certainly may have found a way to help make sure that happens.

Over the course of its nearly 25-year run, the bulk of Pixar Animation Studios beloved and iconic films have been created by a small handful of filmmakers. This dream team of directors including Brad Bird, Lee Unkrich, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and formerly John Lasseter has delivered classics from Toy Story to Wall-E to The Incredibles to Inside Out. Despite this impeccable track record, Pixar President Jim Morris has some blunt thoughts about what the future holds for some of Disney’s most popular directors.

While addressing the future of animation at the Mouse House in the decades to come, Jim Morris teased an impending change of the guard. Talking about the Pixar dream team, Jim Morris said:

Prior to John Lasseter’s exit from Pixar and Disney as a whole following claims of unwelcome sexual advances in the workplace, executives knew that its dream team was getting long in the tooth. According to Jim Morris, Pixar was already anticipating the change that was and is (eventually) inevitable. In his comments to Vulture, he made that clear, noting that the middle-aged men who have shepherded Pixar to this point are not going to be the ones at the wheel a decade from now.

In Jim Morris’ view, animated movies come from younger people, with their fingers on the pulse of storytelling and what’s in the zeitgeist. That is how it worked with filmmakers like Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich and Pete Docter, who is now the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar, and that is how it will work for the next generation of Pixar films, which will be directed by the next generation of Pixar filmmakers.

In a way Jim Morris’ blunt thoughts about these popular directors sound pretty harsh, like he’s hitting these successful filmmakers with an ‘OK boomer’ and sending them on their way. But it seems like he is more addressing the natural change that is inevitable and for which Pixar is preparing. It’s not to say these popular directors won’t be allowed to make a Pixar movie in 2029, just that they won’t be the directors at Pixar that are driving the studio forward.

They are getting older and some will have moved on. This natural turnover will result in Pixar making room to bring in newer, younger, diverse voices that can bring the kind of creative energy and originality to their films that the likes of Pete Docter, Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich brought to theirs.

To that end, Pixar, which has been known as a bit of a boys club, has diversified its ranks, bringing in more women to the studio’s creative team, resulting in a different Pixar than it used to be. The same sort of thing is happening at sister studio, Walt Disney Animation Studios, where Frozen II co-director Jennifer Lee has taken over as Chief Creative Officer.

Addressing what Jennifer Lee has brought to the table, Walt Disney Animation Studios president Clark Spencer also said:

Jennifer Lee delivered one of the most successful animated films of all time with Frozen and is poised to do so again with Frozen II. The first Frozen was her directorial debut and Disney reaped the rewards of taking a chance on relatively new talent with a different perspective. Now she is bringing that experience to her new role at the hallowed Walt Disney Animation Studios.

It seems that overall, Disney animation is looking to bring in new people, with different perspectives, to tell new stories. This is true not just true above the line, but with the animators as well. The SparkShorts series on Disney+ gives young animators a chance to break out by making shorts for the platform with limited budgets and time. The goal is to not only discover new talent, but also to also have a deep roster so that when somebody does age out, there will be a variety of new artists with new ideas ready to step up and fill that spot on the roster.

We are seeing some of this push for new things under Disney Animation with both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios moving away from sequels and towards new original films in the coming years.

To see what’s headed to theaters next year from Pixar, Walt Disney Animation and every other studio, check out our 2020 Release Schedule.

If you pay close enough attention when watching a Pixar movie, you'll notice numerous Easter Eggs referring to other movies from their lineup. A Pizza Planet truck driving by in Up, a Lightning McQueen-styled wooden car popping up in Toy Story 3, the list goes on. However, Pixar has yet to establish a truly connected/shared universe between all their movies beyond these fun callbacks. While the idea may sound intriguing to longtime fans, the studio doesn't want to go down that proverbial road just because it's the cool trend right now.

When asked by Movies.com whether there has been serious talk about creating a "Pixar Cinematic Universe," Pixar superstar Andrew Stanton, who recently directed Finding Dory, said that if the idea is good enough, he and the other bigwigs at the studio might consider it. He explained:

You have to hand it to Pixar for not falling sway to the same approach that franchises like Marvel, DC and Star Wars have popularized in recent years. Even though after more than 20 years Pixar has plenty of characters and environments to form their own shared universe, their primary goal is to tell great stories. Most of the time the studio been successful with that, and since there hasn't been a good idea yet on how to bring all these different movies together Avengers-style, then there's no reason to travel down that path.

Speaking as someone who likes most of the superhero and sci-fi movie universes, I'm glad Pixar isn't trying to force a shared continuity down our throats. While there's a part of me who is curious to see characters like Woody, Mr. Incredible and Sully inhabiting the same universe with the potential of interacting with each other, unless Pixar has an amazing plan on how to make this happen, then anything less would be a disaster. For now at least, it's better to keep these movies self-contained and simply keep inserting clever Easter Eggs in scenes.

Even though it doesn't look like a shared Pixar universe will be formed anytime soon, moviegoers don't have to worry about a lack of material from the studio. Finding Dory is now available on Blu-ray/DVD, and Cars 3 is scheduled to hit theaters on June 16, 2017, not to mention Coco, The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 all on the way.

Late last month, news that excited fans looking forward to The Incredibles 2 had the unfortunate effect of disappointing those anticipating Toy Story 4. Pixar decided to mix up their schedule a bit, and revealed that the two movies have switched release dates -- with Incredibles 2 set to come out on June 15, 2018 and Toy Story 4 slated for June 21, 2019. This naturally got a big reaction, as in Hollywood bumping a movie a full year is never seen as a good thing... but now Andrew Stanton has explained why there really is no reason for Pixar junkies to be concerned about Woody, Buzz, and their pals.

With Finding Dory having been release on Blu-ray and DVD this week, I recently had the pleasure of chatting with writer/director Andrew Stanton over the phone, and the last thing we discussed was the situation with The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4. Given that Stanton has been with Pixar from the beginning, I decided to get his thoughts on the release date switch and what it meant -- and he explained why those worried about the status of the latter film are making a mountain out of a molehill. Said the director,

Following up on the magnet comment, I asked if Andrew Stanton would describe things as fluid as far as release dates for upcoming projects are concerned. He not only said yes, but explained that Pixar would much rather just stay totally silent about anything beyond the immediate present:

Unfortunately for Andrew Stanton and Pixar, things don't work that way in the modern film industry. It's become very important for studios to look deep into the future and start planting flags on the release date calendar -- partially for marketing and buzz-building, but also just because major weekends disappear fast to competition otherwise. It becomes a gamble because of the bad PR that can come packaged with a release date switch (i.e. what happened with The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4), but so long as the finished product stands up for itself, it doesn't really matter at the end.

With that drama aside, fans will now simply continue to wait until The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 make their way into theaters. While you wait, be sure to keep checking in for more updates about the two projects, and look for Finding Dory on home video now.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Finding Dory. If you have not yet seen the film, and do not wish to know any details of its plot before you have the opportunity, we recommend clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles!

There is a point in Finding Dory when everyone in the audience is meant to have the same thought: Oh man, they actually killed Dory's parents. Ultimately this isn't the case, as it's revealed that the Blue Tangs are just on their way to Cleveland -- but that wasn't always the case. Before it was decided that they would wind up alive and back together with their forgetful daughter, director Andrew Stanton and screenwriter Victoria Strouse did contemplate the idea of having Eugene Levy's Charlie and Diane Keaton's Jenny be dead.

I delved a bit into spoiler territory when I had the opportunity to interview Andrew Stanton one-on-one during the Finding Dory press day in Los Angeles earlier this month, and one of the big questions I had was about the fate of the titular fish's parents. I was curious if there were ever drafts where Charlie and Jenny had died, and the filmmaker confirmed that it was considered at one point during development. Said Stanton,

This turn of events surely would have not only been devastating for Dory, but obviously audiences as well -- which is why Andrew Stanton felt that direction needed to be balanced out within the finale. It was in thinking about this that Stanton and Victoria Strouse wound up developing the ending that audiences are seeing in theaters now. The director explained,

Pixar movies are known for pulling at the heartstrings and getting audiences to cry, but it's easy to see how this would be considered just a tad bit too much. It's one thing to have sad deaths at the beginning of a movie, like Finding Nemo or Up, but putting that key death at the end of the story -- and, as a result, negating the entire mission of the plot - is a lot to put in a family film.

Do you think that Andrew Stanton and Victoria Strouse made the right decision, or do you think it would have been okay for Finding Dory to have Jenny and Charlie be dead? Hit the comments below with your thoughts.

In Finding Dory, the titular lovable and forgetful Blue Tang goes on a mission to reunite with her long lost family -- a group that consists of two parents, but no siblings. Interestingly, that wasn't the case, as there was an early draft of the brand new sequel that actually had Dory getting an adopted brother or sister -- something I learned during a recent interview with the film's director.

I spoke with Andrew Stanton earlier this month during the Finding Dory press day in Los Angeles, and while discussing the different plot elements and characters that almost found their way into the movie, the director explained that there were versions of the script that featured a sibling for Dory. After revealing that there were original plans to have Dory's parents share their daughter's short-term memory loss affliction, Stanton also added that he and writer Victoria Strouse also considered a version of the script that would have the protagonist fish dealing with her new family member. Said the filmmaker,

It's not hard to understand the challenge in developing Finding Dory from this angle. Even if the parents did suffer from short term memory loss, it would be pretty rough to see Dory return to them and discover that they "moved on" by taking another young fish into their care. If the movie had pursued this route it could have resulted in an interesting message about adoption, but instead the project pivoted, and the results are still pretty fantastic. It was certainly much more natural to make the sequel be more about Dory overcoming her disability, and it's both well executed and still entertaining.

Finding Dory got off to a rocket start in cinemas this weekend, breaking animated box office records and pulling in an amazing $136 million domestically while earning an "A" Cinemascore. Audiences clearly liked what they got from the sequel, but one still has to wonder what it would have been like to see all of the various ideas and directions that came out of the movie's early stages of development. That could be a pretty amazing bonus feature for a Blu-ray release.

You can see Finding Dory in theaters now, and you can hit the comments section below to tell us what you think about the idea of Dory once having a sibling.

When Pixar makes a movie, it's never the first draft that winds up being converted into a feature film. Instead, all of the scripts go through an extremely rigorous build-up and break-down process that allows for a lot of input from creative voices and assures that the film being made is the best possible version. Finding Dory is yet another example of this, and as a result left a number of big ideas on the floor during the production process. One example of this is that Dory's parents were originally going to suffer from the same memory condition as their daughter -- but that idea was eventually abandoned for just being too annoying.

I had the pleasure of recently talking with director Andrew Stanton at length about his new film, and early in our conversation I asked about the aforementioned production process and the details that wound up not making it into the final cut of Finding Dory. The one that the filmmaker highlighted was the idea of short-term memory loss actually runs in the titular fish's family, as it was an idea that the creatives worked on for a long time -- but it was something they ultimately had to drop from their approach. Said Stanton,

Considering that some already complain that Dory's short-term memory shtick gets old in Finding Nemo, it's probably for the best that Andrew Stanton and his team didn't move forward with this idea. After all, it's pretty hard to move a scene forward when everyone involved completely loses track of what's going on about 10 seconds after certain decisions are made. At the end of the day, it seems like it was a good plot detail to cut.

That's obviously a very big example of something that changed while Finding Dory was in production, and there are surely many other plot and character details Andrew Stanton could have revealed as well. What the director also revealed to me, though, is that there were key elements that stuck around throughout the entire process. Specifically, he always knew he wanted the movie to be about Dory finding her parents, and he also felt it was important that she "resolve her feelings about herself."

What do you think? Do you believe that Dory's parents having short-term memory loss could have been a fun idea, or do you think it's best that it was abandoned? Hit the comments section with your thoughts, and see Finding Dory in theaters this Friday, June 17th!

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains very minor spoilers for Finding Dory. If you haven't seen the film yet, and don't wish to know absolutely any details going in, we recommend clicking away to another one of our wonderful articles.

In the making of Finding Dory, director Andrew Stanton brought back many of his original voice actors to reprise their roles - most notably Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks - but there was one part that they had no choice but to recast: Nemo. Actor Alexander Gould was just 11 years old when he voiced the tiny clownfish in Finding Nemo, giving him the perfect childish pitch - but given that he is now in his 20s with a much deeper voice, there wasn't really the option to bring him back as the character. As a result, the young Hayden Rolence provides the voice of Nemo in Finding Dory, but the director did find a place to bring the actor back, specifically as a truck driver named Carl.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Andrew Stanton to talk about Finding Dory at a recent Los Angeles press day for the film, and while we touched on many different topics in our conversation, one was the presence of the original voice of Nemo. I caught Alexander Gould's name in the end credits of the movie and decided to ask the filmmaker about it, and Stanton explained that he was motivated to give the young actor a role partially because of who closely they worked together on Finding Nemo. Said Stanton,

Without getting into too much detail, Alexander Gould's role in the movie is primarily contained in the third act of Finding Dory, where he finds himself as a pretty big presence in the big, final action sequence. As far as I can recall, I don't remember any kind of inside joke from the character that could be connected to the actor voicing him, though that's something that may be revealed in a "ah ha!" moment during the second viewing.

Outside of Finding Nemo, Alexander Gould is best known for playing Shane Botwin on the long-running Showtime series Weeds, but continued his work in voice over in 2013 when he played Jimmy Olsen in the animated DC Comics movie Superman: Unbound. Finding Dory is actually his first credited role as an actor since then, so we'll just have to see if it leads to more work for him in the industry.

As for the other actors from Finding Nemo, as mentioned, audiences will be able to hear a whole bunch of them very soon, as Finding Dory will be arriving in theaters this Friday, June 17th.

While sequels have become ever more frequent in Hollywood, it's always fascinating to see a new one come from the folks at Pixar. While direct follow-ups have been a part of the studio's history almost since the beginning -- with Toy Story 2 being the company's third movie -- their tremendous history and success with original storytelling puts an extra bit of pressure on the projects, as they really have to be worthy successors to excuse the fact that they are taking away precious time from the exploration of completely new ideas. With the arrival of Andrew Stanton's Finding Dory, audiences will once again be looking through this particular lens, and what they'll find is a film that's certainly flawed, but a welcome back to a beautiful world filled with wonderful characters.

Picking up a short while after the events of Finding Nemo, the new movie begins with Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) pretty much right where we left her: happy, but also extremely forgetful, constantly dealing with her short-term memory loss. Living with Marlin (Albert Brooks) and Nemo (Hayden Rolence), she has certainly found a home for herself, and while she manages to occasionally frustrate those around her, she is constantly surrounded by others who care about her. Still, there is the lingering sense that something is missing, and it's while serving as a chaperone with Nemo's fish school that she realizes that it's a connection to her past and a relationship with her parents.

After an accident manages to jog her memory, Dory finds herself determined to make across the ocean to the Marine Life Institute in California, where she extremely vaguely remembers growing up and having a relationship with her mother (Diane Keaton) and father (Eugene Levy). She makes the trip alongside Marlin and Nemo, but the two parties wind up getting separated during their adventure -- leading Dory to team up with a seven-armed octopus named Hank (Ed O'Neil) to help find her parents; and the father-son Clown Fish duo stressing to reunite with their Blue Tang pal.

When viewing Finding Nemo and Finding Dory side-by-side, there are certainly comparisons that can be made in terms of structure and story -- the movie not entirely able to escape the repeat-y trap in which oh-so-many sequels find themselves falling. But efforts to soften those elements with plenty of "new" are mostly successful, and do elevate the feature beyond its immediate association. Vastly different than the Great Barrier Reef, the Marine Life Institute makes for a really wonderful backdrop, as it opens up a wide variety of ridiculous situations for Dory to find herself stuck in, be it searching for a way out of the medical quarantine unit with the help of her new cephalopod pal, or fighting through the unholy terror that is the "Touch Tank" (which kids will probably never look at the same way again). The wheels do start coming off as it veers deeper into the third act, as spoiler-filled events lead to a certain amount of momentum loss, and things get a touch too cartoony, but the film is consistently engaging and properly emotional.

In that same vein, as fun as it is to see the return of some of Pixar's most beloved characters, the best thing that Finding Dory really has going for it is the wide variety of ridiculous new friends that are introduced throughout the story. This includes not only the aforementioned Hank, a loveable curmudgeon who will do anything not to go back to the open ocean, but also the goofy, near-sighted whale shark Destiny (Kaitlin Olson); a beluga whale named Bailey (Ty Burrell) who is convinced that his echolocation is broken; and a pair of ridiculous and lazy sea lions named Fluke (Idris Elba) and Rudder (Dominic West) who give Marlin and Nemo the inside scoop on the Marine Life Institute. While playing a major part in moving the plot along, these characters not only provide the bulk of the film's big laughs - of which there are many -- but also drive home the important larger themes about self-empowerment and overcoming limitations.

As we've seen over the last 21 years, Pixar's history of storytelling is only matched by the incredible leaps and bounds the studio makes in the technical world of animation, and while Finding Dory doesn't exactly rank as one of the greatest tales the company has produced, it is still absolutely beautiful. There is a certain loss in taking the movie away from the open ocean and into more man-made environments, but it actually opens up opportunity for some tremendous visual contrasts, as the colors and vibrancy of the underwater world pops against the world of concrete structures and ordinary glass tanks. Andrew Stanton and his team also once again out-do themselves all around in the character design department -- with Hank in particular established as one of the most dynamic creations Pixar has designed (taking full advantage of the octopus' breathtaking true-life mobility and camouflage capabilities).

On a scale of Cars 2 to Toy Story 3, Finding Dory is about on par with Monsters University - successfully delivering more of characters that audiences love, while also not quite reaching the level of its predecessor. Like some other Pixar titles before it, high expectations take their toll, but ultimately it is a fun bit of summer entertainment.

Director Andrew Stanton has spent almost his entire career in the world of animation, working at Pixar since the original Toy Story and acquiring two Academy Awards in the process, but he's ready to take a break. It turns out the filmmaker's immediate future rests in the world of live-action -- with the particular draws being the much faster turnaround time, and the greater freedom for improvisation and surprise in the production process.

Andrew Stanton revealed this interesting note about his upcoming plans earlier this morning when I sat down with him for a one-on-one interview during the Finding Dory press day in Los Angeles. We had a great, long conversation about his latest feature -- which I'll post more from in the coming days -- but it was at the end of our talk that we discussed what his ideas are for the future. While many filmmakers are hesitant to talk about what's next for them just before their new movie comes out, Stanton told me that he is always thinking about it, and has made some key decisions:

For reasons that should be obvious, I followed up by asking if there was anything in particular that he was looking at. He couldn't give me any details, but did say that there are irons in the fire, and that we should be hearing some news in the coming months. Said Stanton,

Of course, this won't be Andrew Stanton's first time around in the live-action game. While Andrew Stanton's career in animation has been incredibly impressive, making beloved films like Finding Nemo and Wall-E, things didn't go super smoothly when he made his first transition into the alternate film medium with John Carter. When the sci-fi adventure movie was released in 2012, it didn't get much of a critical or box office reception, and instead experienced a large quantity of unfortunate blowback (an unfair amount, in this writer's opinion). That being said, Stanton has proven himself as an incredibly smart and inventive filmmaker, so our hopes are high for his future.

Before Andrew Stanton starts moving forward in the live-action realm, you'll be able to see more of his great animated work in theaters next week, as Finding Dory arrives in cinemas on June 17th.

The sequence doesn’t last very long, and it’s one of many in the Pixar library that can produce tears, but the opening scene of Andrew Stanton’s Finding Nemo is certainly amongst the saddest the studio has made. Before we even get to know any of the sweet, wonderful main characters, we watch a barracuda rip through the happy home of Marlin and Nemo, changing their lives forever. It’s a shocking moment that many will re-experience in the run up to the release of the upcoming Finding Dory, but it’s a creative decision that the director defends for two reasons: it effectively shows the real danger of the ocean, and helps the film create an even emotional playing field for everyone.

I had the pleasure of joining a small group of other journalists to talk with Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsay Collins at an early press day for Finding Dory a couple months back, and while we touched on many different subjects about the new movie, another point of discussion was the death of Nemo’s mom in the original. In explaining his approach to the moment in Finding Nemo, Stanton explained that it wasn’t so much a part of a Disney mandate of killing parent characters – as seen in Bambi or The Lion King - but instead something that the story needed in order for the stakes to remain high within the narrative being constructed. Said the director,

Those who have seen Finding Nemo know that the effect of the titular character’s mom dying is two-fold on the story. For starters, there is most definitely an increased sense of danger created throughout the entire movie, especially as Marlin and Dory head out to find the young titular clown fish and run into all kinds of terrifying creatures, like sharks and anglerfish. However, the event also essentially helps define the relationship between Marlin and Nemo, as it’s the mom’s death that turns the new dad into an overprotective worry-wart. Of course, as an audience we recognize that Marlin is doing a bit too much, but at the same time we understand exactly where he is coming from, and it makes Finding Nemo that much stronger. Or as Andrew Stanton put it,

It’s worth mentioning that Andrew Stanton’s Finding Dory doesn’t really seem to have an equivalent death in it, as both of Ellen DeGeneres eponymous characters’ parents are actually supposed to still be alive at the time the new story takes place – voiced by Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. Of course, even without any kind of sad passing we still expect the new blockbuster to pull hard on the heart strings.

Finding Dory is now just a few weeks away from release, set to come out on June 17th, and be sure to stay tuned for more of our coverage about the movie!

Since the making of Toy Story, Pixar has reached legendary status in the film industry. The studio has not only collected eight Academy Awards, but produced some of the greatest animated movies ever made. It makes you think about all of the decisions that were made right at the start and the directions that were chosen that could drive their success on the big screen - and it turns out that The Wizard Of Oz, Star Wars and Snow White were immensely influential in those choices.

Earlier this year, I joined in a small roundtable interview with director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins during an early press day for Finding Dory, and it was during a discussion about the nascent years of Pixar that the Wall-E filmmaker revealed how the three aforementioned movies played a key role in the studio’s development. When making Toy Story, they recognized their limitations from a technological standpoint, and decided to look at other projects that succeeded despite these challenges. Watching The Wizard Of Oz, Star Wars and Snow White, Stanton, John Lasseter, and the other key creatives in Pixar’s early days found the gateway to their future:

Clearly this strategy wound up working quite well for Pixar, and even as technology has progressed it hasn’t really changed. At this point animation can be stunning and photo real, but the fact that Pixar consistently puts its story and characters above everything else that makes most of their movies emotional and wonderful.

Obviously the elemental focus on story has wound up being incredibly important for Pixar’s development, but Andrew Stanton also noted another lesson that the creatives took from The Wizard Of Oz, Star Wars and Snow White - even if the filmmakers behind those movies weren’t thinking about it themselves. Noting the longevity and timelessness of those classics, they began not just focusing on making movies for the kids of today, but for the grandchildren of tomorrow:

It won’t be long until we get another taste of Pixar’s particular brand. Finding Dory, the long-awaited sequel to the Oscar-winning Finding Nemo, is arriving in theaters in just a few weeks, on June 17th. Be sure to stay tuned for more of our coverage of the movie in the weeks ahead!

Part of the reason why animated movies take so long to make is because they are brought through a process where stories are built up, then broken down, then built up again, and then broken down again. A side effect of this, of course, is that last minute changes do come up. This is a bigger issue when the alterations require some extra work from one of the movie’s big voice stars. This was a situation that the crew behind Finding Dory recently found themselves in, and ultimately they were actually forced to do a recording session with Ellen DeGeneres in a closet during production of her talk show.

Director Andrew Stanton told this funny story while speaking at length about the making of Finding Dory during an early press day held a few weeks ago in Monterey, CA (the main setting of the film). During a roundtable interview with a small group of film journalists – including myself – the filmmaker was asked about last minute changes that found their way into the movie, and Stanton explained that he had a new idea for the movie’s wrap-up very recently, employing an idea that had developed early in production but was cut due to some other changes. Getting this scene animated and finalized required extra work from Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks, however, and the former proved to be a bit of a challenge to get into a proper studio. Said Stanton,

Of course, Andrew Stanton couldn’t provide any more details about the scene that was being fixed – it is the very end of Finding Dory, after all – but this definitely does make for a funny bit of trivia. Because the folks at Pixar are technological geniuses, audiences probably won’t even realize that some of Dory’s final lines in the movie were recorded in a closet, but those of you who read this story can go into the movie and listen for the sound of business office humoring in the background or perhaps the sound of a falling dustpan.

After 13 years of waiting, Finding Dory will finally be hitting theaters later this year on June 17th, and you can be sure that we will have a ton more content related to the film here on CinemaBlend, so be sure to stay tuned!

There are a lot of elements that make Pixar movies special, but certainly one of the most important is their timelessness. The films not only try to avoid big, splashy pop culture references, but even hide elements of modernity in an attempt to make sure that the content can be as well understood by kids and adults today as they will be for future generations. Of course, this is a far from easy thing to implement, and is actually an issue that the filmmakers at the studio deal with on a regular basis.

Las month, I had the pleasure of doing an early press day for Pixar’s upcoming Finding Dory in Monterey, CA (the main setting of the film), and it was during a roundtable interview with a small group of journalists that director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins spoke to the problem that comes with the desire to make their movies timeless. The question I posed to the two filmmakers initially concerned pop culture references, though Stanton went on to explain why even elements of the everyday world create a challenge when considering the enjoyment of the film by children 100 years from now. Said the director,

Driving home his point further, the Finding Dory director referenced his work on the Academy Award-winning Wall-E, which has a particular moment with a piece of Apple technology that proved problematic for the filmmaker in retrospect – though it was an issue that he himself predicted. Said Stanton,

The good news is that when it comes to pop culture, there is a way to get around the "whole grandkids problem," and it happens to be something that the folks at Pixar excel at: Easter Eggs. Following Andrew Stanton’s comments, I asked the filmmaker if the timelessness factor of Finding Dory would prevent it from including any references to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, given that both movies use the Monterey Bay Aquarium as a key location in their respective plots. Fortunately, Stanton didn’t completely rule it out, saying,

Pixar’s thoughts regarding pop culture references and modernity obviously aren’t shared by everyone in the industry – with many studios pumping their movies full of them - but where do you come down on it? Do you like timelessness aspect of Pixar movies, or do you think it wouldn’t hurt for them to provide a bit more time and place?

Finding Dory will be in theaters on June 17th, and stay tuned for more of our early press day coverage!

Pixar has never been one to rush a movie just because, and when the Finding Nemo follow up Finding Dory hits theaters later this year, 13 years will have elapsed between films. They like to take their time to get things right instead of simply firing off a sequel. This goes for the script and story to the people they cast in their films, making sure everyone is the right fit. Case in point, Dory features It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Kaitlin Olson, and there’s a very good reason, the director loves her voice.

In Finding Dory, Kaitlin Olson plays a whale shark named Destiny, a character from the past of the forgetful Blue Tang protagonist Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. Talking to Yahoo, director Andrew Stanton, who has worked on Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and more for Pixar, revealed why he wanted Olson for the part. He said:

The plot of Finding Dory revolves around the title character, who, as you’ll recall from the first film, has some issues remembering things. Set six months after the fact, all of a sudden, Dory’s childhood memories come flooding back. Accompanied by Nemo and his father Marlin, she sets out on a journey to find her parents, a journey that takes her to the Monterey Marine Life Institute.

Destiny is one of the new characters Dory and the others meet along the way. A resident of the Marine Life Institute, she is also a new species for the franchise, as we’ve never met a whale shark before. As she’s also a face from Dory’s past, Destiny will be one of a number of characters who help her out on her quest to track down her family.

According to Andrew Stanton, though she was always there in one for or another, Destiny went through a number of evolutions as the story and script for Finding Dory grew and changed over time. At one point she had actually taken Dory’s place, having been adopted by Dory’s parents. In that scenario she may have been something of a rival, but as it turned out, when we see her on screen, Destiny will be a friend from Dory’s history.

Finding Dory features a ton of new characters, as well as a slew of notable names lending their voices. In addition to Kaitlin Olson, the cast also features newcomers Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents, Ty Burrell as a beluga whale named Bailey, and Ed O’Neill as the cranky octopus Hank, among others. There’s even a bit of a reunion of The Wire, as Idris Elba and Dominic West both join in as-yet unspecified roles.

Finding Dory opens in theaters on June 17.

Taking a film's side character and making them the center of the sequel is a risky proposition, as Pixar well knows after the disappointing, Mater-centric Cars 2. But Dory the blue tang fish from Finding Nemo remains by far the film's most enduring character, and the studio seemingly has no choice than to put her front and center in the planned sequel. So today they've officially announced Finding Dory, a sequel to the studio's second-most profitable film (behind Toy Story 3) set for a November 25, 2015 release.

Andrew Stanton, who directed Finding Nemo and the sterling WALL-E for Pixar before moving on to the disappointing John Carter, will be back to direct, with Albert Brooks returning to voice the ever-worried Marlin. The announcement promises appearance from Nemo and "The Tank Gang," but it's unclear if Weeds star Alexander Gould will return to voice an older Nemo, or if Allison Janney, Willem Dafoe, Brad Garrett and the other voice stars will return. (My money is on yes-- voice work is easy and Pixar is still the kind of company you want to be on board with).

Here's the rough plot description of Finding Dory, as outlined in the announcement:

We've been wrestling with some mixed feelings about a Finding Nemo sequel since it was first announced, and even with the Toy Story trilogy as shining example of how great sequels can be, Pixar still has us reeling from Cars 2. But if this summer's Monsters University turns out well, can it be a good omen for Finding Dory? Sound off in the poll below.

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With major successes under his belt like Oscar-winners Finding Nemo and Wall-E, we were eager to see what animation director Andrew Stanton would do with a massive budget of $250 million dollars and his first attempt at helming live-action. But John Carter proved a massive flop, failing to impress critics and resulting in a reported loss of $200 million for Walt Disney Studios after print and advertising costs were factored in.

While his Pixar colleague Brad Bird was celebrated for his dynamic leap into live-action with worldwide hit Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Stanton kept his head down flying to New York City, riding the subways and trying to make sense of it all. Well, The LA Times caught up with him, and while John Carter begins to find new fans on DVD, he reflects on the flop and his hopes for its future.

First off, where the studio is regularly portrayed as the bad guy in these situations - the one who ruined what could have been a great film - Stanton refuses to point the finger at Disney, saying, "I was left alone from Day One to the last day."

He admits he struggled moving from the Pixar method where the story boards and scripts are massaged and revised throughout a several-year production schedule to the reality of John Carter where a gargantuan crew runs the budget up $500,000 a day, making every delay or second thought costly. Stanton had tried to ease this workflow difference by building reshoots in the script, but reshoots—especially several—earn a live-action picture an often inescapable bad buzz. Shooting a movie with a huge budget that had plenty of eyes on it was very different from the super secret development process of Pixar pictures, making for a cruel learning curve.

Of course, we've recently recounted how it was a bad move on the marketing's part to change the original title John Carter of Mars to the far less evocative John Carter, but Stanton's kind on this point too, allowing:

The failure of John Carter understandably killed any chance for the sequel Stanton had planned, but he still believes in the movie he made and hopes this won't be the last we hear of the ambitious feature. In fact, he has hope the film will find its following eventually, like Blade Runner and The Wizard of Oz did. Both had unimpressive box office totals upon their initial release, but as years passed grew in audience and critical esteem and are now both regarded classics on some level. Could the same become true for John Carter? Only time will tell.

We still don't know much about what will happen in Finding Nemo 2, the upcoming sequel to one of Pixar's biggest hits that sees director Andrew Stanton returning to the studio for the first time since Wall-E. But now we at least know one character we can expect to see. Ellen DeGeneres, who voiced the blue tang fish Dory so well that many of us thought she ought to win awards for it, is in negotiations to reprise her role.

She's been open about wanting to participate in a Finding Nemo sequel in the past, according to The Hollywood Reporter, so it probably won't be tough to hammer out a deal. Stanton was only confirmed to be returning to develop the film last month, so we haven't gotten any story details yet, or any idea of which characters the film might include. But Dory probably makes more sense than anyone else to return. At the end of Finding Nemo Marlin and Nemo were content, having reunited and going back to their normal lives, but Dory had just started out living in their community and understanding the meaning of "home." Inevitably a sequel would disrupt that, but as a character with no short-term memory, Dory's adventures could spin off in any number of interesting directions.

But if Dory is set to be the film's main character, and not just a jabbering sidekick, we might run into trouble. Because what worked so well about the original film was the balance of stick-in-the-mud Marlin and flighty Dory, and how the two learned to complement each other and rely on each other. Pixar's already centered one sequel around the former goofy sidekick by making Mater the center of attention in Cars 2, and we all know how that turned out. Despite the various issues with John Carter, I still have faith in Stanton as a storyteller-- and he and DeGeneres are both talented enough to make a great movie even without the Pixar team. But until we hear about more voices being added to the cast, we might have to wonder just what they have in story for Dory, and whether it will work a second time around.

Finding Nemo 2 is currently set for release in 2016.

Finding Nemo isn't just one of Pixar's very best movies-- it's among the great road movies of all time. Yes, there's only a vast expanse of ocean in Finding Nemo instead of an actual road, but the elements are all the same-- two characters thrown together in a search for something specific, colorful and sometimes menacing characters met along the way, intriguing scenery, adventure and lessons, and a wallop of an ending that makes all that traveling worthwhile. Road movies span many genres and eras and messages (try fitting Easy Rider comfortably next to Dude Where's My Car?), but they all reach their natural end point when the journey concludes-- which makes them uniquely unsuited for sequels.

Finding Nemo is no different, which is why today's news that Andrew Stanton is returning to the Pixar fold and making Finding Nemo 2 is so conflicting and discouraging. On one hand, Stanton made both the original Nemo and WALL-E two of Pixar's most polished gems, heartfelt and funny and gorgeous and frequently revelatory in all the emotion and insight they crammed into a "children's" film. On the other hand, Nemo will mark the fourth sequel Pixar has developed in the last decade, a startling turn for a studio that often gives us the most bracingly original stories in Hollywood.

And, most importantly, Finding Nemo just isn't the right Pixar movie to get a sequel. So many of their films, from Toy Story (which led to two pretty terrific sequels) to Monsters Inc. (getting a promising sequel of its own next year) to Stanton's own Wall-E, have built worlds crammed with characters that seem ripe to be explored again, and leave the characters in a place that could easily lead to more drama in the future. And while Nemo's characters are rich and wonderful, and the film depicts the ocean as a limitless and fascinating place, the film's grandeur is in the story and the surprises it entails-- it's a journey that inherently can't be taken twice.

The road movie isn't so much a format as a license for characters to meander and find surprises, and Finding Nemo does that so perfectly-- with three characters utterly transformed by the end-- that both characters and the world feel ideally examined. Nemo can't get lost again, and the ocean can't be explored as a revelation again, and Dory can't join Marlin and find family again. New adventures are always possible, but the unique spark of the road trip will be missing in Finding Nemo 2-- and that's the very spark from the first film they're obviously aiming to recreate.

I don't like writing off movies before they exist, especially when they come from someone as talented as Stanton, a studio as reputable as Pixar, and source material as fantastic as Finding Nemo. I probably would have written this article about Toy Story 2 back in 1996, and look how wrong I would have been. But in all the years I've loved Finding Nemo I've never once wanted a sequel to it, and I can't help but wish Stanton's return to Pixar was to work on something equally as original and inventive, instead of returning to a well that seemed perfectly tapped the first time. Even if Finding Nemo 2 turns out great, I think I'll still be left wishing for whatever new thing they might have come up with instead.

After the resounding flop his live-action adventure John Carter made at the box office, director Andrew Stanton has decided to head back to more familiar waters, returning to animation and the world of his first Oscar-winning feature, Finding Nemo. Deadline reports Stanton has officially come on board to helm Finding Nemo 2 after offering a concept Disney is eager to develop.

Of course, Pixar is notorious for their secrecy of in-development projects, so they are giving up nothing as far was where this sequel might find Marlin the clown fish or his trouble-prone progeny Nemo. But regardless of the story, this is good news for Stanton as far as getting back in Disney's good graces. John Carter's failure at the box office is estimated to have lost Disney upwards of $200 million—factoring in not just the film's $250 million production budget, but also the price of its marketing worldwide—so it makes sense they'd want to double down on a film that made over $867 million in its initial release, and is expected to do quite well when it's re-issued as a 3D post-convert this fall.

Now, beyond being a garish cash grab, Finding Nemo 3D can also be used as a tantalizing promo for the eventual Finding Nemo 2, which like its source and John Carter could very well go the 3D route. If that's the case, let's hope they at least plan ahead this time, rather than post-converting. Still, it's disappointing to see Pixar continuing in the sequels route, rather than investing in new/more imaginative ventures. At least with Stanton, who was also a driving force in Wall-E, enlisted, there's cause for optimism.

There are three elements that I love about the Super Bowl. First there's the football (lets go Giants!), second there's the commercials, and last, but not least, there's the movie trailers. Every year, knowing that millions of people are glued to their television sets, studios release new looks - and sometimes first looks - at their major releases for the year. So far it seems like Disney is going all out. On Friday we learned that the studio will be airing a brand new spot for Marvel's The Avengers and now we know that John Carter will be getting the big game treatment as well. While you'll have to wait until a commercial break on February 5th to see the full thing, today the mouse house released a teaser trailer that not only looks cool, but also announces a very special new contest.

Check it out below!

Hard to go wrong using Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" in your advertising, right? Let's hope that there's even more of that when the full trailer airs during the game. But what about that chance to win tickets to next year's Super Bowl that the advertisement talks about? Read the press release below for the full details.

John Carter, directed by Andrew Stanton, arrives in theaters on March 9th. To learn more about the film head on over to our Blend Film Database.

When it comes to the debate of IMAX vs. 3D, we here at Cinema Blend are staunchly in favor of the former. Managing to create what appears to be actual depth instead of artificial depth, IMAX is the most immersive format currently available for filmmakers. Some of the best action sequences from last year came courtesy of Brad Bird using 65mm print for scenes in Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and we can't wait to see what other filmmakers do with it. Take, for example, Paul Thomas Anderson, who is apparently filming parts of his next film in IMAX.

In a conversation with Brad Bird on Twitter, director Andrew Stanton confirmed that Anderson is using 65mm print for his next project, which has gone by the name of The Master (though it is currently untitled). Even more interesting, apparently Anderson even lost control of one of the rigs at one point, as Stanton said that they nearly lost a camera while "shooting in the Bay." Supposedly a commentary on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, Anderson's film stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a World War II veteran named Lancaster Dodd who returns to the states and founds his own religion, taking a drifter, named Freddie Sutton (played by Joaquin Phoenix), under his wing. But as the religion grows, Freddie begins to question Dodd's actual intent. The movie also stars Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Lena Endre, Rami Malek, Kevin J. O'Connor, and Jesse Plemons.

What's really fascinating about this story is that the logistics don't really seem to add up. In addition to being incredibly expensive (The Master barely got financed as it was), IMAX is notorious for being noisy and hard to maneuver. What this means for The Master is a mystery at this point, but we can't wait to see the results.

The reviews keep rolling in for Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol and so far they've been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, Katey just posted her review in which she calls the film the best action movie of the year (having seen the film myself I can tell you that I wholeheartedly agree with her). It would seem that Brad Bird's transition from animation to live-action filmmaking has been an incredibly smooth one, but what about the other Pixar director about to make his mark? We're only a few months out from the debut of Andrew Stanton's John Carter and while nobody has seen the movie yet, it did just get a pretty badass new IMAX poster.

You can see the new one-sheet below and head over to Fandango to see it in high-res.

Unlike Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, none of John Carter was filmed using IMAX cameras, but after watching the trailer that debuted late last month its probably safe to say that the biggest screen you can find will provide the optimal viewing experience. In case you were wondering, the creatures that you see in the poster are called White Apes, and the titular hero must do battle with them while chained up in a gladiator arena.

The film will hit theaters on March 9, 2012 and stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Church, and Willem Dafoe. To learn more about it, be sure to head over to our Blend Film Database.

It's been reported that next Thursday we will get a new trailer for John Carter, the first live-action film produced by Pixar Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. It''s been a long wait since we last saw footage from the movie, with the first and only teaser trailer premiering in July, but with the film scheduled to hit theaters in March the marketing should pick up very quickly. Just last week we saw a brand new still from the movie premiere online, but now six more have arrived to whet your appetite.

Check out three of the new images below and head over to SFX to see the other three.

This past summer at D23, the Disney version of Comic Con, I had the chance to see four clips from the upcoming sci-fi epic and while it looks really cool, I'm curious how the whole thing will come together. My biggest concern is Taylor Kitsch, who doesn't seem to have much charisma, something incredibly important when you're talking about the lead in an action/adventure epic. The first teaser was brilliant, though, so hopefully the one that premieres next week will increase my confidence.

Based on the classic series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter is about a Civil War veteran who is transported to Mars. Though he is constantly on the search for a way home, he learns of a princess in danger and must decide if he will save her or continue his quest to return to Earth. Other than Kitsch, who plays the eponymous hero, the movie stars Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Daryl Sabara, Polly Walker, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Hayden Church, and Willem Dafoe. To learn more about the film, be sure to head over to our Blend Film Database.

Hopefully you've already caught the first half of my report from Barsoom Studios in Emeryville, California, where Finding Nemo and Wall-E director Andrew Stanton was on hand to show off the first footage from his next film, John Carter. The movie is a departure for Stanton on many levels, his first foray into live-action and his first attempt at starting a trilogy-- "Most people know me at Pixar as the guy that doesn't like to do sequels or very reluctant to do sequels. The irony wasn't lost on me when I asked them to do this first book to option the first 3." But one thing Stanton certainly didn't lose from his Pixar experience is a penchant for tons and tons of research.

Between the slideshow presentation that came before the footage, in which Stanton showed us how he transformed the Utah desert into a Martian landscape and other magic tricks, and the reams of concept art and props that surrounded us as we ate lunch at Pixar later that day, the John Carter team was seemingly laying down all their cards-- though since we weren't allowed to take any photos, and none of those images came with plot details, there's still plenty being kept close to the vest. Since I'm not nearly as good as Stanton at explaining the visual world he's created and what he's aiming for here, I'll mostly be relying on this words from here.

He started the presentation, in fact, by showing this anachronistic image, a Frank Frazetta illustration of John Carter and the Princess Dheja that Stanton admits has unfortunately become pop culture's main associations with the John Carter of Mars stories, which were first published in 1912. For his film, which keeps the main character as a Civil War veteran and is set in the late 1800s, Stanton relied on a more period look, even though this was mostly taking place on a planet whose history didn't actually exist:

That historical feel went into the costumes and props, of course-- one of the props displays involved notebooks, uniforms and battered suitcases that presumably belonged to John Carter on Earth-- but even the actual landscapes of the locations they used in western Utah. Saying he was inspired by Petra in Jordan, the building built into a rock and featured in the third Indiana Jones, Stanton showed us before and after pictures to show how he barely tweaked the Utah wilderness to give it a distinct alien feel:

In the concept art images included here you get a sense of what he's talking about-- the dusty old-fashioned combined with the impossibly shiny and new, and none of it quite looking like anything you've seen before. That goes double for the six-limbed Tharks, the alien beings who have in fact inspired pretty much every movie alien you've ever seen (right up to James Cameron's Na'vi) but who were the subject of exhaustive research and design from Stanton and company. He talked a lot about their design later at lunch, as we sat near a full-scale, 9-foot model and he explained how their five-pointed musculature works, but during the presentation he put a lot of emphasis on the motion-capture work, particularly the hell actors Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton and all the others were put through during the shooting process.

We didn't get much of a sense of the John Carter story at this visit, and that's probably going to be the biggest key in selling the film once people get used to the 9-foot Tharks and watching a film set on Mars. But with Stanton and his immensely talented co-writers behind it, I imagine story is going to be the least of our concerns-- hearing both Stanton and co-writer Mark Andrews, at a dinner the night before, talk about completely deconstructing the series and building it back up again convinced me they had no trouble tweaking the books they had grown up loving.

Below are some excerpted highlights from the Q&A with Stanton that followed the footage presentation, including talk about the process of reshoots for the movie and how committed the studio is to making John Carter as a planned trilogy. As you can tell, he's still pretty wary of revealing too many details, but is eager to talk about his process in putting together the film and how much enthusiasm he has for introducing moviegoers to a sci-fi world they don't know but have seen reflected in popular culture for the last 100 years. John Carter opens March 9 next year.

Did you try to avoid showing too much in that trailer?

Yes, I hate that. I feel that the audience is smarter than that. I don't care what their age is, what their demographic is, where they come from -- when they show a trailer everything in, I hear somebody whispering, "Well, that's the whole movie; it must not be good." All people see when they see that is you're not confident in what you have and you're afraid. You assume your audience is dumb or won't get it. If I have any say in it, I don't want to go with that.

Can you talk a little bit about the fact that this is not 3D?

AS: It's not 3D in the shooting of it; I have no say over whether it's 3D in the release of it, as far as whether they do prints there.

So you're saying it's an ongoing decision?

No, I think they've made their decision. It's going to be 3D. I've got to give them credit--they didn't force it on me. It was hard enough to leap to this medium and learn all these other things, and it was the same reason I didn't do it on Wall-E. It wasn't that I was so against it; it was more like I have enough to worry about -- I'm worried that it will be one more plate to distract me from trying to get the job done. It may just be the limitations of my brain, but it was the most I could handle.

How careful or aggressive do you have to be when you make one film but are already planning a trilogy?

You've got to know something's out there. The boxed-in world I've been in from Pixar for 20 years is -- we only have one mantra from Steve Jobs, which is just "Make it good." Everything else you're worrying about will come if you make it good. There'll be missed opportunities; there may be things that feel like you could have taken advantage of more; there could be bad first impressions you might make, but really all you have control over is how good you make it. That's really where I want to put most of my efforts and not get distracted by how much or what's been put up there.

I'm not in it for the 6 months now. I know I have to be to make sure people will even go, but I am a believer that if something is really good that people will get to it and they'll flock to it. Whether it happens on the schedule on the box office meter that everybody else would like it to, I don't have that control of that. I may even be a really horrible strategist on how to front-load these things, but I have to go with my gut as a moviegoer, and my gut is I want just enough to get a sense of what I think the film print is, get enough insurance that I don't think it's going to suck, and then you got me and I'll go. That's about how I'm going to play it, as much as I can control it.

How strong a commitment has the studio made to making all three films?

Strong enough that they said yes to optioning the first 3, but I think they're just being prudent, and I would be too. This may not be everybody's cup of tea; you'd still make it great and nobody wants to go. I'm not waiting for a green light to be working on everything in case we go forward, so nothing's going to be affected creatively for it in a bad way. I get the logistics of it: This is not a cheap franchise, and it's not a cheap world. To do it right, you have to go balls out.

You come from an environment at Pixar where a lot of the creative process happens in the post-production. I know you did reshoots for this, and it sounds like you're bringing that process to this.

It's been interesting to compare apples to oranges now that we're out there. I've always seen live action as the adults: They really get to make the movies, and we're just kids here doing our little thing. The shocking thing when I got out there was like, "Oh my god, we actually know how to do it better on a lot of things back here." I think some of that isn't because people are bad at their job but that people are stuck in a certain way that it's always been done. You can say that about any system. Pixar had this luxury of being ignorant and young and not knowing how it's done. We saw from afar how we thought movies were made, and we used logic -- turns out that's not used that often. Then the other advantage is we have a pseudo-studio system of the modern era: we have the same people working together again and again and again. It's like having the same team players on the same sports team for 20 seasons.

One of the other things that I realized is animation, because you can put it all up in drawing form that you're not going to keep, in the grand scheme of things it's a cheap way to make something. You draw it, you put your own voice on it, you cut it, and you don't like it, and you do it again. You do it every 6 months over 3 to 4 years. Every time you do that, that's the equivalent of a reshoot, so I've been taught how to make a movie with 4 reshoots built in every time. And you wonder why our movies are good? It's not because we're smarter, it's not because we're better, it's because we are in a system that recognizes that you don't go, "Oh my god, okay, I'm going to paint this, but I can only touch the brush once and I'm only going to make one stroke." I get to try it, play it, don't like that, play it again, no, play it again, record it -- most creative processes allow for somebody to go off into their shack, their studio, their recording booth, and try stuff until they figure it out and find it. This is such an expensive way to make something creative, which is a movie. People freak, and they want to hold it all in. They want to see, "Can you be really smart and think about it some more and plan some more? Just do it once. Or maybe twice." Most places now aren't even letting you think about it; they're like, "Just do it! Maybe you'll luck out."

My explanation to Disney when they were going, "Why do we have to reshoot, and why is this number so bad?" I said, "You're taking somebody who's learned how to do it 3 to 4 times and do it once." I tried to be as smart as I could and raise the bar as high as I could with the script before we went shooting knowing I wasn't going to get these same iterations, then tried to be as smart as I could about doing the reshoots. It's still less than what I'm used to. You start to understand the logistical problem trying to do that. It's such a gypsy culture: You don't get to keep the same people. They're not in that building; you can't grab them on a Thursday and go, "What if we do this?" All your actors are gone off. It's a real conundrum, and believe me, we're trying to think if we do another one, how can we improve upon what we've learned? We've managed to seduce some of that with our thinking on this, but there's huge room for improvement. It's a gnarly problem; I get it.

What did you keep from the first book A Princess of Mars and what had to go?

I didn't think of it that way. I didn't want to be trapped like that. I always treat it like an archaeological dig: Stories are already out there, and you just uncover them. You don't have a say when you find a bone and which bones you're going to find. You may have to face the music somewhere along the line that you dug up a different dinosaur than you thought, and are you going to have the intestinal fortitude to admit that instead of forcing it to be what you thought it was.

You could just tell by flipping through the book that I noted when things completely became cinematic to me and I could totally see that. Those became tent posts, and I knew the book so well and so did Mark and Michael that then we just looked at it from story analysis like we would do any of our stuff. "If this is the theme, if this is the character's arc, if this is where they have to go, how do you make that work?" You hopefully have dismantled all the pieces and all the scenes that are in the book and put them in this toolbox -- you can grab any of those to possibly use, but your goal is not to preserve that. It's like trying to preserve your first draft. I'm not saying Princess of Mars was a first draft, but I read it and I'm sorry, I know it seems to offend some die-hard fans, but it feels like a little bit of a train car: There's these little mini beginnings, middles and ends, sometimes within a chapter or a couple chapters together, and then it feels like it's just another train car situation. It's not a grand sense that it was all meant from an inner character arc and an inner thematic idea to happen.

That's what I do here is on people's projects to advise or whether I'm doing it on my own is to find those things and then strip away all the stuff that's not helping you in that, or repurpose it. That's all we did with this over 2 or 3 years. What I was shocked at was I didn't let myself look at the book. I didn't want to make anything sacred; I wanted to go, "What's best for this theme, this storyline, this character we're now telling?" That will make the best movie. Great if I can pull from that toolbox, but I was shocked was that when it was all up and we got the greenlight, I went back to look at the book like, "Oh, I thought we came up with that." It made me feel I could sleep at night, because I knew these things had a home -- they were just in the wrong scene or they were used improperly or this person should be combined with this person. They were things that made it a whole idea of saying as one. I tried very hard to always be considerate of where we were going to go on a meta level so that I wasn't biting myself in the butt for all these things I liked or thought were cool in other stories. It's easier to say than do, but we're trying our damnedest.

Though it's based on some pretty well-loved source material, the novel John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the upcoming John Carter is a pretty big question mark-- after all, it's not like a ton of your average moviegoers are up to date on their serialized characters from the 1910s. So as Disney starts marketing the film, which comes to theaters March 9 next year, they seem to be building up the mystery. At least that's what I'm getting from the first teaser poster, which debuted today at Apple, and gives us pretty much nothing beyond the stylized letters "JCM" and a dark photo of star Taylor Kitsch looking pretty concerned. Take a look below.

Kitsch plays the titular character, an American soldier inexplicably transported to Mars, but a lot of character actors you probably love round out the cast, including Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston, Thomas Haden Church, Samantha Morton, and Sinestro himself, Mark Strong. The film is the live-action directing debut for Andrew Stanton, who made two of Pixar's best films with Finding Nemo and Wall-E; he'll have a chance to bring some of his animation skills too, though, as many of the space creatures will involve motion capture animation. Below is the full synopsis for the film that came along with the poster; it'll probably be a while before we see actual footage from the film, but if there's not some kind of promotion at Comic Con next month, I'll be quite surprised.

Today Disney announced release dates for two of their upcoming features, John Carter of Mars and Frankenweenie. Mars, headed up by Andrew Stanton, will be the Pixar director's first time doing a live-action feature. Frankenweenie is an expansion of sorts on the Tim Burton short film of the same name. It's not officially been announced, but many expect Burton to take up the reins and direct this one as well.

Stanton's John Carter of Mars will be released on June 8, 2012. It's an adaptation of the pulp-adventure novels by Edgard Rice Burroughs. Specifically, it will center around the first of his stories to feature the John Carter character, A Princess of Mars, which was first published as a novel in 1917. The story finds Carter as a Civil War veteran who goes to sleep in a cave after being chased by Apache, and wakes up on Mars. It's definitely a fantastical take on Sci-Fi, and it'll be very interesting to see how Stanton brings his Pixar sensibilities to a live-action film like this. He's best known for directing Finding Nemo and WALL-E, so there's really no question no questioning his talent, but how will it translate to live action?

Frankenweenie is a different matter. Premiering on March 9, 2012, this stop-motion, black and white, 3D project has Burton written all over it. Currently he's listed as a producer, but according to Don Hahn in March, Burton was interested in directing as well. The original short follows a young boy named Victor Frankenstein who attempts to reanimate his dog Sparky after it is hit by a car. The production on the short is an interesting story in itself. It caused Burton to be fired by Disney after the film was completed. The studio then believed that the short was too scary for young audiences, and that Burton had wasted the company's resources and time. It was later given a home video release in 1994, after the success of Burton films like Batman and Pee-wee's Big Adventure. You can watch the entire Frankenweenie short in three parts, embedded below:

The movie version of Frankenweenie is set to follow the original story pretty closely, with some obvious expansion on the ideas and some new characters. Character descriptions in a leaked casting call include a Japanese boy who creates a Godzilla-like lizard and a middle-eastern boy who brings his mummified hamster back to life.

While I wasn't a very big fan of Burton's most recent work in Alice in Wonderland, there’s plenty of potential for this film to have an incredibly unique look in black and white and 3D. Add to this Burton's excellent stop-motion sensibility, having produced two films by Henry Selick and directed Corpse Bride himself, and we could have the makings of a really special and unique animated feature.

Though Michael Giacchino has done some of his best work as a composer for Pixar, and in fact won an Oscar on Sunday for Up, he's never worked with Pixar stalwart Andrew Stanton, who used Thomas Newman as the composer for his films Finding Nemo and Wall-E. That's all about to change, but outside of Pixar's walls. Movie Score Magazine reports that Giacchino will provide the score for John Carter of Mars, which will be Stanton's live-action directorial debut.

The adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel is filming over in the U.K. right now, starring Taylor Kitsch as the Civil War veteran who finds himself on the faraway planet. Any sci-fi geek of any stripe is already ridiculously pumped about this movie, and most of us are nuts for Giacchino anyway, given that he's provided the scary vibes and emotional uplift music for Lost for the past six seasons. It's a good match all around. I just hope Thomas Newman isn't offended.

You've been hearing casting reports on it for weeks, and you've been wondering ever since the project was announced exactly how Pixar genius Andrew Stanton would handle a live-action sci-fi movie. And now, it's finally happened-- John Carter of Mars is a reality!

Well, it's started filming at least, which means it will be a real live motion picture before too long. Disney sent out a press release today announcing the start of filming, and a whole lot of names are listed as part of the cast that I, at least, hadn't heard before. Along with lead actors like Tayor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe and Mark Strong, the cast is filled out with names like Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West and Daryl Sabara, who you'll remember either from the Spy Kids franchise or this summer's dark comedy World's Greatest Dad. So remember everything we've said before about how exciting this cast is? Yeah, double that.

Below is the full press release announcing the beginning of filming in London. Given that they're doing a lot of soundstage work to start with, it may be a while before we start seeing set photos, but we'll be anxiously awaiting them all the same.

Bryan Cranston is pretty much on top of the TV heap right now, having won two Emmys in a row for his role on Breaking Bad and earning some of the credit for turning AMC into, well, an actual network. And now he's taking some of that skill to another planet entirely. THR is reporting that Cranston is joining the cast of John Carter of Mars, playing a Civil War colonel who runs into the main character, played by Taylor Kitsch.

With a cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong and Samantha Morton, plus the distinction of being the live-action directing debut from Pixar's Andrew Stanton, John Carter of Mars sounds like it has potential to be completely amazing. How will Caranston look as a Civil War soldier? How are they going to turn Willem Dafoe into an alien and Mark Strong into a shape-shifter? Who knows! But don't you trust that Andrew Stanton will figure it out somehow?

Willem Dafoe is getting ready to pack up and head overseas to prepare for John Carter of Mars, the film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ science fiction novel. Dafoe revealed at a press day for Daybreakers, that he’ll be leaving for London next week to train for the role of Tars Tarkas, the first alien John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) meets when he arrives on the Martian planet.

Dafoe explained, “I can tell you that next week I go to London and start to train to prepare for it, and I think the 18th is actually the beginning of the production. I don’t think I’m shooting until February but I start preparing next week.” The action has yet to begin for Dafoe, but filming began in a Utah desert in the fall. Just the other day his co-star Mark Strong confirmed that shooting is underway.

As for what Dafoe’s training regimen will be, he didn’t really know. When asked he replied, “Well, I play a 10-foot Martian warrior.” Naturally the follow-up question was if he knew how this 10-foot Martian warrior fights, to which he laughed and said, “I don’t. Or speak, or move and what kind of rigs I’ll have on and what kind of rigs I won’t have on and all that.”

So no juicy details, but it’s great to hear that production is humming along. Perhaps this is one of few films we’ll actually get to see sooner rather than later!

It boggles my mind that Pixar is going to be involved in a live-action movie, even though it makes complete sense. These guys are masters of storytelling and imagine the stories they could tell with real life people. With Andrew Stanton sitting in the director’s chair for John Carter of Mars, just about anything is possible, even without the millions of options that animation offers.

Now, in addition to Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins, THR reports that Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy and Mark Strong have joined the cast of John Carter of Mars. For those who don’t know, the series follows John Carter, a Civil War vet who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where he finds himself in the middle of a warring planet. Thomas Haden Church will play a warrior looking to become a ruler. James Purefoy will play a captain. Mark Strong will play a godlike ruler from Mars.

I've been excited along with everyone else about John Carter of Mars, because who isn't thrilled to see bona fide Pixar genius Andrew Stanton take on a live-action project? But for some reason I'm not prepared for the knowledge that movie is actually going to exist. Like, soon!

Salt Lake CIty-area TV station KSL is reporting that John Carter of Mars will start filming this fall, with the Utah desert standing in for Mars, where Civil War veteran John Carter lands at the beginning of the film. There will be $28 million worth of work done in the state, with $5.5. million of that cost offset by tax incentives.

We all saw how Stanton can make a desolate landscape beautiful in Wall-E, and I really can't wait to see how much fun he has when he's filming with a real camera, not a computer program. Get out in that desert and make us something beautiful, Stanton.