For about 25 years, Brad Bird has been behind some of the most beloved animated movies. His first feature, The Iron Giant, left a massive mark on audiences (despite it initially being a commercial flop due to poor marketing) before heading to Pixar to make The Incredibles and Ratatouille, among other hits. After four years away from moviemaking, Bird has gotten another animated movie off the ground, but no bobbing lamps will be involved. 

Yes, Brad Bird, who’s brand has become pretty synonymous with the Disney studio throughout his career, is not working with Pixar for his next project. The filmmaker is developing a movie called Ray Gunn with Skydance Animation instead, per Deadline. 

Bird is directing and producing Ray Gunn from a script he wrote alongside Matthew Robbins, who previously penned Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak and stop-motion Pinocchio film. Also among the producers is former Pixar head John Lasseter, who left the Toy Story studio in 2018 after a number sexual misconduct allegations came out. 

Skydance Animation did not disclose the plot details of Ray Gunn, but it’s said to be an “original story” by Brad Bird. The Ratatouille filmmaker shared he is excited to ”create a one-of-a-kind animated experience” with the movie, which he has been wanting to make “for a long time.” 

The animation studio is a branch of Skydance Media, which was founded back in 2006 and has previously produced Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, along with True Grit, Star Trek Into Darkness, the Jack Reacher movies and, more recently, The Tomorrow War. Skydance Animation is a young studio that plans to release its debut feature film, Luck, this summer for those with an AppleTV+ subscription. 

Luck will be directed by Peggy Holmes, who previously helmed Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning and The Pirate Fairy for Disney, among the many other animated films he's worked on. Skydance Animation is working with Apple TV+ on three other films, which are called Spellbound (set for release November 2022), The Fourteenth Goldfish and Pookoo. 

Brad Bird’s last animated film was The Incredibles 2, which became Pixar’s highest grossing film of all time back in 2018. While Bird is a beloved filmmaker, they haven’t all been winners. Among his collection of great films, his only real regarded miss is 2015’s Tomorrowland. Given the filmmaker has a sweet spot for science fiction and Ray Gunn sounds a lot like “ray gun,” I could see the upcoming movie to fit into that genre, but we just don’t have enough details about the project right now. 

In the meantime, Pixar is moving forward with a slew of new directors as of late that have ended up debuting their films solely on Disney+. Pixar’s next release is Turning Red, which will come exclusively to the streaming service on March 11. 

While the last year has been great for Pixar Animation Studios on the theatrical side of things, as Cars 3, Coco and Incredibles 2 have all been successful at the box office, behind the scenes, the company has been going through some shakeups. Back in November, John Lasseter, the chief creative officer at both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, announced that he would be taking a six month-long leave of absence after acknowledging "missteps" with his employees. Then a little under two weeks ago, it was announced that Lasseter will leave Disney at the end of the year. Now his positions have been filled, only rather than have one person filling both roles again, two different people will be leading the charge at Pixar and Disney animation divisions, respectively.

Pete Docter will oversee things over at Pixar Animation Studios, while Jennifer Lee will take over as the head of Walt Disney Animation Studios. Docter's been part of Pixar since 1990, and his notable credits for the company include Monsters Inc., Up and Inside Out. As for Lee, her first project at Disney was writing Wreck-It Ralph, but she made an even bigger splash as the co-director of Frozen, working alongside Chris Buck. She also drafted the story for Zootopia and wrote A Wrinkle in Time, taking over from Jeff Stockwell. According to Variety, both Lee and Docter had been rumored to be in the running for their respective roles, and now it's official.

As far as Pixar goes, it sounds like there wasn't a better candidate to take over John Lasseter's job than Pete Docter. Having spent nearly 30 years at the studio and been around for the entirely of its feature filmmaking endeavors, Docter's played a key role in in the Pixar's success, so who better to lead it into a new era. From writing and directing to animating and even lending his voice to a few characters, the man is clearly talented across the board. Then looking at Jennifer Lee, with all she's accomplished at Walt Disney Animation Studios so far, as well as returning to direct Frozen 2 with Chris Buck, it sounds like she's also quite suited to take on Lasseter's former duties in that area of the Disney empire.

While John Lasseter was an important figure at Pixar for many years, it came to light last year that his professional behavior left a lot to be desired, namely as he'd been accused of behaving inappropriately towards female employees. Following his sabbatical, Lasseter will have a consulting role at Pixar and Disney until 2018 wraps up, but when it comes to the future of these studios, Pete Docter and Jennifer Lee will be guiding them forward.

The latest Pixar release, Incredibles 2, is off to a great start, having made nearly $260 million worldwide so far. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend on all the latest surrounding Pixar and Disney's animated projects.

Late last year, John Lasseter, the head and chief creative officer of both Pixar Studios and Walt Disney Animation, announced that he would be taking a six-month leave of absence from his role at Disney. This sabbatical coincided with reports of possible sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior. In announcing his leave of absence, John Lasseter acknowledged what he described as "missteps." Now, after his six-month sabbatical, Disney has announced that John Lasseter will be leaving the company at the end of the year.

John Lasster will officially end his tenure as the head of both of Disney's animation studios at the end of the calendar year. THR reports that John Lasseter will have a consulting role at the company from now until his departure. This exit leaves the two animation studios without a captain. Disney has not yet named a replacement or replacements for the influential figure, but it is expected that Inside Out director Pete Doctor will take on added responsibilities at Pixar, while Frozen director Jennifer Lee's will have an increased role at Disney Animation.

In announcing John Lasster's departure, Disney CEO Bob Iger praised John Lasseter's contributions to the medium, his turnaround of Walt Disney Animation Studios and his assembling of a team of talented storytellers. For his part John Lasseter issued a statement where he cites his continued dedication to animation but seeing the end of the year as the right time to focus on "new creative challenges."

This brings a definitive end to a six-month period where John Lasseter's future at the company seemed very much in limbo. The #MeToo brought to light complaints about Lasseter's behavior and forms of expression. When he announced his leave of absence, John Lasseter addressed his self-described "missteps," saying that it had been brought to his attention that, while it was never his intention, some of his behavior might have made others feel "disrespected or uncomfortable."

John Lasseter leaves behind a legacy in animation that is hard to match. One of the founders of Pixar and the face of all Disney animation for over a decade, John Lasseter oversaw Pixar's highest highs, while also returning Disney Animation back to creative prominence. A champion of CGI animation, John Lasseter directed Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Cars as well acting as producer or executive producer on all Pixar movies and executive producer on all Walt Disney Animation films.

While this end is probably not what many, including Lasseter, might have imagined for the animation titan, he leaves behind two thriving animation studios. Pixar's Incredibles 2 may enjoy a record-breaking box office when it debuts in theaters next week and Walt Disney Animation Studios' Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2 arrives in November. Check out our guides for all of the upcoming movies from both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation.

Pixar's John Lasseter is the latest in a long line of entertainment executives who is stepping away from his job due to apparent misconduct. However, that leaves a hole at the top of a very important company. While Lasseter is only expected to take a six-month leave of absence, who will be running things at Pixar for the next six months? According to some rumors within Pixar, it appears that longtime Pixar vet Pete Docter will be the one taking over during Lasseter's absence.

Yesterday, it was revealed that John Lasseter would be taking a self-imposed leave of absence following what he characterized as "missteps" in regards to his behavior around some female employees. However, that leaves Pixar and Walt Disney Animation without a chief creative officer for at least that long, assuming that Lasseter returns to the job without incident next year. While no official replacement has been named, Vanity Fair reports that the rumor around Pixar is that Pete Docter will taking over Lasseter's responsibilities.

What's unclear is whether Pete Docter will be taking over all of John Lasseter's job, or just his responsibilities within Pixar. Lasseter was essentially in charge of everything involving animation within the entire Disney organization, leading to an era of impressive success within both the Disney and Pixar divisions of the company. It was a lot for one man to do, which means it's a lot for one man to take on.

Having said that, Pete Docter is certainly a solid choice if he going to be the interim creative head of Pixar. As much as John Lasseter has been given credit for the unprecedented success the company has seen over the last few years, the fact is that Pete Docter has been part of a lot of that success himself. He was a member of Pixar's original Brain Trust, alongside John Lasseter and other Pixar vets like Andrew Stanton. He directed Up, Inside Out and Monsters Inc. and was involved in writing numerous other Pixar classics like Wall-E and the first two Toy Story films. He's also credited as one of the story writers for the upcoming Toy Story 4.

Pete Docter's primary focus over the next six months will likely be grooming Incredibles 2 for release. The film is set to hit theaters in July, a couple months after John Lasseter returns, assuming he does so on time. Pixar's Coco hit theaters today, and Walt Disney Animation doesn't have a movie set for release until next November, with Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2.

The next six months will no doubt be an interesting period for Disney without John Lasseter, though, if he does return, the more interesting period could actually be what comes after.

Disney Animation head John Lasseter announced today that he is taking a six-month sabbatical from Pixar Studios as a result of "painful" and "difficult" conversations that he has had with Disney about actions he describes as "missteps."

In a statement that has been obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, John Lasseter says that it has been brought to his attention that he has "made some of you feel disrespected and uncomfortable." While he says that it was never his intention, Lasseter acknowledges that his actions around co-workers -- from "an unwanted hug" to "any other gesture they felt crossed the line" -- has created a rift in the creative culture at Pixar.

This announcement appears to arrive on the heels of a separate story at THR, where the trade reports that Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, the credited writers on Toy Story 4, left after Lasseter made an unwanted advance on Jones. The trade publication cites accounts by former Pixar insiders to say that Lasseter's alleged advance on Jones was not an isolated event. There are details in the THR piece about maneuvers Pixar employees would adopt to block unwanted physical advances from Lasseter.

John Lasseter's name has been associated with Pixar Animation Studios from the earliest days. He has been front and center as the animation studio rose from pioneering storytelling outfit -- with the release of Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Monsters Inc. -- to an industry behemoth with the ability to earn Oscars and box-office receipts with each new release.

Lasseter's name, however, now is caught up in the current string of allegations being levied at power brokers in Hollywood who might have a reputation for being aggressive with female co-workers and possible collaborators. The floodgate of accusations started around the time that Miramax co-founder Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual allegations. Since then, the list of potential aggravators has grown longer with each passing day.

Here is the memo John Lasseter sent to Pixar employees, as obtained by The Hollywood Reporter:

In 2007, John Lasseter shifted away from Pixar Animation Studios to oversee the films at Walt Disney Animation Studios, helping that division deliver such hits as Bolt, Tangled and Frozen. Pixar, meanwhile, has a new movie reaching theaters this weekend in Coco, a musical from Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich.

UPDATE: Rashida Jones has issued a statement to The New York Times saying that her and Will McCormack's departure wasn't a result of an unwanted advance from John Lasseter, but due to "creative and philosophical" differences, specifically because they considered Pixar to be a culture "where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice." The original story follows below.

Earlier today, Pixar chief creative officer and Disney Animation head John Lasseter announced that he will be taking a six-month leave of absence from the studio after acknowledging a number of "painful" conversations and "missteps" concerning his leadership role. Now it's come out that Lasseter is the latest entertainment/media figure to be accused of sexual misconduct. For instance, supposedly his behavior is what led comedy actress/writer Rashida Jones to depart Toy Story 4 a while back.

Rashida Jones, known for her work on Parks and Recreation, The Office and Angie Tribeca (among others), was hired in late 2014 to pen Toy Story 4 with her then-writing partner, Will McCormack, using a story crafted by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Lee Unkrich. Jones will still be credited as a writer on the next Toy Story movie, but according to sources who spoke with THR, both she and McCormack left the project early after Lasseter made an "unwanted advance." Neither Jones nor McCormack responded to requests for comment on this story, and while Disney didn't provide a direct comment either, a spokesperson said that the writing duo departed Toy Story 4 due to "creative differences."

Reportedly John Lasseter's encounter with Rashida Jones wasn't a onetime incident of sexual harassment, as other unnamed sources/insiders allege that he's behaved this way for a long time. Regarding Jones, however, this is a unsettling update in Toy Story 4's long development. Assuming that Pixar brought a different writer on board to adjust the script after Jones and McCormack's departure, it's unclear how much of the duo's work will remain in the theatrical release, though given that they're both still being credited, presumably there will at least still be some basic elements left intact. Lasseter was originally supposed to direct Toy Story 4, but he stepped down due to other commitments. He is still attached as a producer, and Josh Cooley was brought it to fill those directorial shoes.

After spending three movies, i.e. over a decade, in Andy's possession, 2010's Toy Story 3 ended with Andy giving the main characters to the young Bonnie before heading off to college. Toy Story 4 has been described as a standalone sequel "love story" that sees Woody and Buzz attempting to bring Little Bo Peep back home. Most of the main cast will reprise their roles, although Don Rickles passed away before he could record his Mr. Potato lines. As for newcomers, Patricia Arquette has been added to the cast as a "laid-back mom, who's described as a hippie."

Toy Story 4 will be released in theaters on June 21, 2019. Be sure to also look through our Disney movie guide to see what other projects from the Mouse House family are arriving in the near future.

Although Star Wars: The Force Awakens was certainly a dark tale, there were a fair amount of humorous moments in the midst of the action and tragedy. One of the movie's main sources of comedy was BB-8, the adorable ball droid who stole our hearts the minute we first saw him in the movie's teaser teaser. Among BB-8's more notable scenes was when he gave Finn a "thumbs up" using his built-in lighter. As it turns out, we have Pixar superstar John Lasseter to thank for that moment's creation.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens' 3D Collector's Edition will hit stores on November 15, and on its audio commentary, director J.J. Abrams revealed that the BB-8 thumbs-up scene was written during the movie's break period (brought on by Harrison Ford breaking his leg) after John Lasseter gave an important suggestion regarding BB-8 and comedy. Abrams said:

While John Lasseter wasn't directly involved in Star Wars: The Force Awakens' production, he's definitely someone you want to listen to when it comes to comedy for partially or completely animated characters. The man has worked on numerous Pixar and other kinds of animated Disney movies since the 1990s, whether as a director or executive producer. He's seen time and time again how the right kind of physical comedy can make a scene or even an entire movie more enjoyable. In the end, J.J. Abrams took Lasseter's advice to heart and had BB-8 give that sign of confirmation with his lighter when he decided to help Finn on the Millennium Falcon.

Obviously not having BB-8 make a thumbs-up wouldn't have altered The Force Awakens' story in any significant way, but for a few seconds, there was some welcome levity. I can't speak for everyone, but when I saw the movie in theaters, that moment drew a lot of laughs. It's also important to remember that since BB-8 only speaks in beeps, the only way he can express himself is through the tones of those noises and through his physical actions. It's a scene like that which makes him feel more like a character we can relate to, despite the fact that he's a machine.

We'll see more of BB-8 when he returns in Star Wars: Episode VIII, but for now, you can preorder Star Wars: The Force Awakens' 3D Collector's Edition before its November 15 release date.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the animated film that brought to life Andy’s room full of toys, and audiences' imaginations. Toy Story marks the first ever Pixar animated feature film, and the beginning of a now 20 years of iconic animated films that will forever hold the test of time. But, the initial versions of the Toy Story scripts featured many different character traits in some of our all-time favorites, particularly the good-hearted cowboy Woody. Apparently Woody was first created as the very detached, and not-very-nice toy of the bunch.

In celebration of Toy Story’s anniversary John Lasseter and president of Pixar, Ed Catmull participated in a panel discussion sharing stories about the making of the first-ever fully computer animated film (via Variety). Within the panel, Lasseter discussed some of the difficulties he faced in bringing his story successfully to life. He touched upon the many changes that had to go into the story, specifically, the character of Woody. Lasseter explained:

In the initial versions of Lasseter's toy room adventures, Woody was a cowboy ventriloquist dummy who spoke with a John Wayne-esque candor. The toy that we would later become beloved by all of his fellow toy friends in the Toy Story feature was at first a detached character who relished his position as Andy’s favorite toy. While we see Woody’s jealousy bloom when Buzz Lightyear takes the scene in the first film of the franchise, the initial version of Woody took it even further in actively trying to sabotage newcomer Buzz Lightyear.

The story was a bit more "adult" as Lasseter terms it, and the Disney Studio executives hated it. So he and his Pixar team went back to the drawing board with the mindset of creating a story that could attract to all audiences. That’s when they came up with the new story that we all quickly fell in love with. The film would go on to take in more than $190 million domestically, receive three Oscar nominations, and help to begin what we now associate as the absolute magic of Pixar films.

The character of Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks in the Toy Story films has gone on to become an all-time favorite Pixar characters. And though Sheriff Woody certainly had his quirks, and often let jealousy take the best of him, his kind-hearted nature, and leadership skills always won everyone back over. Woody makes mistakes, like anybody could, but he always redeems himself in the end, making him a well-rounded character that always makes us smile.

You can catch Woody and the gang head back to the big screen when Toy Story 4 hits theaters June 16, 2017.

D23 is happening in Southern California as we speak, meaning that every major Disney property is poised to reveal nuggets of news. And while that means Marvel and Star Wars fans are hunched over their laptops waiting for reveals on the next phase of those cherished franchises, Pixar is one of the first to provide clarity on a pending sequel.

We have been operating under the knowledge that the upcoming Toy Story 4 was going to be a romance. But we didn’t know if it would be between all new characters, or a budding relationship between established toys from Andy’s room. Now we know. John Lasseter spoke at D23 (via CNBC) and confirmed:

That IS news, John Lasseter! Thanks for clarifying. So instead of Pixar expanding into a new sandbox with a fresh set of toys, we’ll be returning to classic hero Woody (Tom Hanks) and his beloved Bo Peep, likely voiced by Annie Potts (as she was in the previous films).  

Now that we know this much, we can begin to fill in some blanks. Bo Peep actually didn’t appear in Toy Story 3, and was only seen in flashback videos that Andy’s mom made. At one point, when the toys are talking about toys who have either been given away or sold over the years, Rex mentions Bo Peep, and Andy gets visibly sad. This could hint at the direction of Toy Story 4. There could be an unexpected reunion. Or the toys could set off on a mission to find Bo Peep, for reasons we don’t yet know.

This isn’t the series’ first stab at love. Over the years, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl have become a full-blown item (after flirting as far back as Toy Story 2). And love birds Barbie and Ken took over the Sunnyside Day Care center after Lotso Huggin’ Bear was ousted from his dictator’s throne. So Woody and Bo Peep will be following a traditional path laid out by Pixar, and we can only hope that the casting of Annie Potts is the next major announcement to come from the animation house.

They still have time. John Lasseter is down to direct Toy Story 4, though it won’t be in theaters until June 16, 2017. For true love between the toys, we’re willing to wait!  

When watching the "Family Dinner scene" in director Pete Docter’s Inside Out, you may have noticed something interesting. While the young Riley is shown to have emotions of different genders – with Joy clearly being female and Anger clearly being male – the same cannot be said for the personifications of the emotions in the minds of her parents. There are probably many ways that this can be interpreted – including pragmatic reasons from a marketing and storytelling perspective – but it turns out Pixar Founder John Lasseter has a theory of his own about this interesting difference, and it all has to do with changes we go through as we get older.

Lassetter’s thoughts on the matter were actually shared with my by Pete Docter when I had the chance to sit down with him for a one-on-one interview a couple weeks before Inside Out was released. Discussing the genders of the emotions in both the mind of Riley and her parents, I explained how I interpreted it as people maturing into more gender-specific individuals, and the filmmaker explained that Lassetter had similar thoughts on the matter. Said Docter,

Explaining his own approach to the dinner scene in Inside Out, however, Pete Docter said that they were ultimately two things that were absolutely vital to the scene: clarity and comedy. Had Riley’s parents both had multi-gendered emotions like their daughter, the scene would have been going back between 18 different characters, and it was a bit unruly unless everyone was identifiable. Not only did making the emotions gender specific in the parents make the sequence easier to follow, but it also opened up an opportunity to create a few extra laughs. Explained the director,

When you saw Inside Out, how did you interpret the dinner scene and the differences between Riley’s emotions and her parents? Did you not think twice about it, recognizing it as a necessary story tool, or did you formulate your own special interpretation of what it meant? Hit the comments below with your thoughts – and if you haven’t seen the movie yet, go check it out, and then come back here!

We all know the story. We learn as children how the dinosaurs roamed the planet until an asteroid hit the Earth, which eventually led to the global extinction of some of the most fascinating creatures that have ever lived. So... what if it never happened? That’s the question that Pixar will be asking with their next animated feature, The Good Dinosaur.

Pixar’s latest feature, Inside Out, has just had its World Premiere at Cannes but that’s not slowing them down. 2015 will actually be the first year that we see two Pixar releases, after being left wanting in 2014. John Lasseter, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, hosted a presentation this week during the Film Festival where he presented Pixar's next feature, and posed a fascinating question:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this fall’s Good Dinosaur tells the story of a lost dinosaur, named Arlo, and an orphaned boy, who Arlo calls "Spot," who meet each other and travel together on an adventure. Lasseter called it "a boy and a dog story, but the roles are reversed."

Like with many Pixar films, while humans are present, they are not the focus of the film. It will be interesting to see what the interaction between humans and dinosaurs looks like. It certainly sounds like dinosaurs are still the "dominant" life form on Earth. Will the humans in the film play the role of sidekick, or pet? Lasseter is promising a "unique tone, unlike any animated film made" which is quite a statement.

While most of the attention being given to Pixar’s upcoming projects is focused on 2016’s Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory, comparatively little is known about The Good Dinosaur. The film has gone through some significant changes over the last several years, causing it to be pushed back from it’s original release date of last summer. The film will be directed by Peter Sohn, who has worked on several Pixar films as both an animator and voice actor, but this will be his first time at the helm. Originally Sohn was set to co-direct with Bob Peterson, one of the directors behind Up, but now he’s working solo. The voice cast includes Neil Patrick Harris, John Lithgow, and Francis Macdormond.

The Good Dinosaur is scheduled to be released on November 25, 2015 and will be accompanied by the animated short, Sanjay's Super Team.

For some time, Disney animation has come under fire as being the complete opposite of diverse with their animated characters. While films like Pocahontas and The Princess And The Frog have helped add some much needed weight on the other side of the scales, the canon of Disney characters have been, for the most part, white protagonists. Among those critics is none other than John Lasseter, famed animation director and chief creative officer of the Disney/Pixar family, and he's vowed that now more than ever the company is working to become more diverse in creating characters.

Variety saw Lasseter speak at a press conference during the Cannes Film Festival recently as he promoted Pixar's latest film, Inside Out. In the midst of that conference, the attention of the room was turned towards the issue of diversity in Disney/Pixar's films. Specifically, a reporter had asked Lasseter if a black character would ever be the center of their own Pixar film. It was then that the Toy Story director issued a very simple directive of the creative direction the company was aiming its collective talents towards. More specifically, he said,

Set to open out of competition next Monday, Inside Out is a very good example of the diversity that John Lasseter is talking about, as it focuses on the mind and emotions of a young girl and her tough time with moving to a new area. Not content to use Pixar's newest would be blockbuster as the best example of overturning business as usual, Lasseter also mentioned the upcoming film Moana - the first Polynesian princess story to be told by Disney – as an example of the exciting new material that the studio is looking to branch out with.

Disney/Pixar has definitely gone above and beyond when it comes to the act of storytelling, and their work on Inside Out and Moana are two huge strides towards leveling the playing field for stories of all nationalities and genders to be given a chance to shine. While the studios have a while go, as does the rest of the industry, before they can really shake the stigma of a typically white male dominated marketplace, they've obviously put some real thought into the matter when it comes to the content they produce.

What will be interesting to monitor, though, is how films like Inside Out and Moana handle their merchandising, especially after the debacle involving Avengers: Age Of Ultron's treatment of Black Widow. While neither film may have as all-out of a marketing strategy as Marvel's latest comic book opus, whatever merchandise either film will generate will be most assuredly watched with keen eyes. Again, it's not like Disney/Pixar is going to fix problems that have been inherent in the system with an overnight solution, but with enough thought and balance between business and equality, the road ahead should be a bright one for the animation powerhouse.

Inside Out thinks its way into theaters on June 16th, while Moana sails into history on November 23, 2016.

Inside Out is like nothing you’ve ever seen before from a Pixar movie, and that’s partly thanks to its animation. Following five core emotions that live inside a young girl’s mind, the film imagines its main characters comprised of energy, as opposed to physical beings. (Duh! They're emotions, not people.) This required some particularly expensive animating on Pixar’s part, which created the bubbling texture of their skin. If it wasn’t for Mr. John Lasseter's bold decision, Inside Out might not have ended up with this unique style.

While at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, Ralph Eggleston, the film's production designer, informed us of Lasseter's bright idea to brighten up the film's characters -- even at the expense of, well, the budget. He said, 

It's difficult to see what he means by "effervescent" just by looking at the trailers. If you take a closer look below, you'll see how Anger's skin prickles, compared to the non-effervescent texture of his shirt and teeth. Worth noting, though, is that this is a more exaggerated instance of the technique. That tends to happen when Anger loses his cool.

Inside Out stars Amy Poehler as Joy, Lewis Black as Anger (shown above), Mindy Kaling as Disgust, Phyllis Smith as Sadness and Bill Hader as Fear. Together, they influence Riley's mind and help steer her in the right direction. It was important for Pixar to make distinctions between the human world and its inhabitants, and the world of the mind. That was the biggest challenge, according to Egerton. The human world has Riley and her parents, and is generally duller in color and tone. The mind, on the other hand, is full of bright and bold colors, and fantastical settings. The sparkling forms of the emotions was just another small but effective finesse to help further differentiate them. 

If you want to learn more about Inside Out, get a sneak peek into its world and check back soon for more coverage of the film ahead of its June 19 release.

Lots of movies have titular lines, where one character or another says the name of the film in dialogue. One movie where you won’t hear this, however, is Pixar’s Toy Story. Magician Penn Jillette, best known as the vocal half of duo Penn & Teller, was one of the first actors cast in Toy Story, in a small part as the announcer in a Buzz Lightyear commercial. He talked about his experience on a recent episode of his Penn’s Sunday School podcast, and one of the stories he revealed was how he is partially responsible for the phrase "toy story" being excised from the movie, though in a roundabout way.

Jillette used to host Movie Nights in Times Square in New York, and one of the traditions at these screenings was for the audience to clap every time the title of a movie is said within a film. This didn’t sit well with writer, director, animator, and overall Pixar bigwig, John Lasseter. He didn’t want the Movie Night crowd to be able to applaud one single time, so he forbid the writers from using the phrase "toy story," and even removed the few instances that managed to sneak in from the script.

Though it doesn’t sound like Jillette is directly liable for the lack of "toy story" in Toy Story, a fact astutely highlighted by his co-host, but in an indirect fashion, you can place the blame, or praise, at his doorstep. And he seems to want the credit, so we’ll give him this one.

It’s probably for the best that no one actually says the title of the movie anywhere onscreen. Sometimes these instances occur organically as part of a scene. Who can forget Vincent D’Onofrio sitting on the can in the barracks, that wicked grin on his face, saying, "seven-six-two millimeter, full metal jacket"? It’s common practice for writers in any field to mine a script or story after the fact looking for a unique, memorable turn of phrase that could be a title.

But for every time this occurs naturally, there are just as many that are shoehorned in, and we’ve all sat in a movie theater and heard the audience groan when this happens. Too often it causes a diversion, and from the sound of Jillette’s story, Lasseter wanted to avoid any distractions or pulling the audience out of the movie at all costs. Working on the likes of Up, WALL-E, and so many more incredible animated movies, he certainly knows what he’s doing, and if you’ve ever seen Toy Story (and if you haven’t, what?), you know there aren’t many times when you’re not fully engaged. So please, hold your applause until after the film!

**UPDATE** We've compiled all the things we know about the next Toy Story 4 movie into a comprehensive article for your research enjoyment.

We thought the story of Toy Story had been told. The trilogy of Pixar films concluded in 2010 with the brilliant, entertaining and ultimately tear-jerking Toy Story 3. And here we are today, processing the news that Pixar is doing Toy Story 4. It already has writers, a director and a release date. Here's what we know about Toy Story 4 based on Disney's official announcement.

1. It's hitting theaters more than 2 years from now - The release date is June 16, 2017.

2. John Lasseter is directing: John Lasseter directed the first two Toy Story films, as well as Cars and Cars 2 and A Bug's Life.

3. Woody and Buzz will be back - Disney's announcement says it will "open a new chapter in the lives of Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the "Toy Story" gang." That's not a ton to go on, but it does vaguely confirm that Buzz and Woody will be at the center of this new story, as opposed to an entirely new set of toys.

4. No cast members have been announced yet - No actors have been confirmed for voice roles yet, but it seems safe to assume that Tom Hanks and Tim Allen would return Woody and Buzz respectively. It's impossible to imagine anyone else voicing the cowboy and spaceman.

5. The writing team has already assembled - Disney says the story was dreamed up by Toy Story veterans John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Lee Unkrich. Also attached to the project are Celeste and Jesse Forever writing team Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, along with Pixar's Galyn Susman, who's producing. Here's a look at the story team at work...

(Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)

6. Though it's unconfirmed, there's a good chance Bonnie will be back - (Toy Story 3 spoilers ahead!) There's no mention of Bonnie in Disney's announcement, but we know from the Toy Story TV special Toy Story OF TERROR! and the upcomingToy Story that Time Forgot (coming to ABC next month) that the TS toys are still in the care of young Bonnie, the adorable little girl who adopted Andy's toys at the end of Toy Story 3 (sniffle).

Assuming these TV specials apply to official Toy Story canon -- they do feature the original characters and voice actors -- it's likely that Bonnie will be the toys' current owner. But as we said, that's not officially confirmed yet. This would be barring a prequel or some other story inserted somewhere in Andy's timeline, (but let's hope that's not the case.)

7. Pixar's John Lasseter is really excited about this - From what Lasseter says, once the idea was conceived, they had to bring it to the big screen. Here are John Lasseter's exact words:

I get why people would be wary of a sequel, given how perfectly Toy Story 3 wrapped up. But Lasseter seems to appreciate that, and the optimist in me believes this sequel is happening because there's a great idea, and not just to give Disney more Toy Story box office dollars. With that said, Toy Story of Terror was a fantastic TV special, and evidence that there are more toy humor and toy adventures to be had among these characters.

While Toy Story 3 seemed like it was going to be the official end of the beloved Pixar franchise’s run on the big screen, that idea has just been trashed. As it turns out, Pixar is actually now working on a Toy Story 4, and it’s being helmed by none other than Pixar head John Lasseter himself.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger made the announcement during an earnings call this afternoon. The plan is to have the film in theaters on June 16, 2017. The feature will be the first that Lasseter has directed himself since 2011’s Cars 2 - though he did previously helm both the original Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who previously wrote Celeste and Jesse Forever together, are penning Toy Story 4's script.

It's true that 2010's Toy Story 3 was the last time we saw the likes of Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang up on the big screen, but the reality is that they haven't exactly disappeared from pop culture as a whole. In the years since, the brand has been kept fresh by a series of shorts and television specials telling stories about what's been happening with our favorite toys ever since Andy left them in Bonnie's care. The first short was 2011's Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation (which was attached to Cars 2 in theaters) and the second, Toy Story Toons: Small Fry, came out with the same year preceding screenings of The Muppets. In 2012, Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex was screened with Finding Nemo 3D. As for the TV specials, so far we've only seen one - Toy Story of Terror!, which came out in October 2013 - but soon the toys will be getting their own Christmas special, appearing in Toy Story That Time Forgot.

These past few weeks have been rather major for the Walt Disney Company. In addition to having Walt Disney Animation's Big Hero 6 in theaters this Friday, it was just two weeks ago that Marvel Studios put on a big show announcing their full slate between now and 2019. Hell, even earlier today we got some major Star Wars news in the form of the title for Star Wars: Episode VII: Star Wars: The Force Awakens. As a Pixar announcement, Toy Story 4 almost seems like a cherry on top.

Surely many will be upset that Pixar is making yet another sequel - as they already have Finding Dory being prepped for a June 2016 release date, but the company, but they have plenty of original work in the pipeline too. Coming out next summer will be Inside Out - a film where the main characters are emotions and most of the story plays out in the mind of a teenage girl - and following that is The Good Dinosaur - a prehistoric tale that is set in a world where a massive comet didn't hit the Earth and kill all of the dinosaurs. That being said, the animation company is also working on The Incredibles 2 and Cars 3, so the scales kind of even out.

Are you excited for Toy Story 4? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Let's think back to a time before Frozen had become a sensation across every form of pop culture, from film, to music, to television and theater. Before the film opened, there were grumblings about how far Disney's creative team had strayed from the inspiration for their latest Disney princess feature. In Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," the titular frosty royal was a villain. So how did Frozen's Queen Elsa turn out to be a hero? It's actually a touching story.

Wired recently sat down with some of Walt Disney Animation Studio's biggest players to discuss the studio's upcoming animated adventure Big Hero 6, but though Frozen is finally out of theaters, it's never far from our collective thoughts. So along with details on the candy-colored superhero cartoon, the magazine got some interesting behind-the-scenes details about how Elsa's character evolved.

In early versions of the film, Elsa was a flat-out villain, willfully using her icy powers to ravage her hometown. But Pixar's John Lasseter and others in Disney's Story Trust began to suspect vilifying her wasn't the best approach to Elsa's story. Lasseter in particular pushed that Elsa's struggle--to accept an aspect of herself she cannot ignore and cannot change--could be a relatable narrative for kids. He was particularly inspired by his 10-year-old son Sam, who grew very frustrated when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. To Sam, it seemed an unfair fate. Elsa's own story is one of affliction - not so much of her abilities to command ice and snow as of her fear that these things could injure her loved ones as they once injure little Anna.

This is charming. While we're always happy to report stories of how a movie inspired real-life kids, it's nice to hear that a real-life kid can inspire a movie that goes on to mean so much to so many.

Of course, John Lasseter's forged his reputation at Disney and Pixar on his solid notes on storytelling. As Big Hero 6 co-direct Chris Williams puts it, "When John's working closely with us, movies get better." In case you needed further proof, this Wired piece also notes another major Frozen contribution that was all Lasseter. You know the finale moment of "Let It Go," when Elsa literally lets her hair down before she struts confidently to the balcony for her final notes? Of course you do.

That was a Lasseter idea too. And in Big Hero 6, he's credited with a bit of physical comedy that is already making audiences fall for the balloon-like Baymax.

Good stuff.

Big Hero 6 opens November 7th.

Walt Disney Animation, the unit that's recently brought us the likes of Wreck-It Ralph and Tangled, has announced its next big animated project… and it sounds stranger than anything the studio has done since, uh, Treasure Planet maybe? During a presentation at the ongoing D23 convention Disney Animation head John Lasseter announced that the studio's 2016 release will be Zootopia, a story set in a world in which humans never existed, and the entire planet has been shaped around animals, who wear clothes and talk like those in classics like The Wind in the Willows.

Though Lasseter admits the 1949 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad as an inspiration, Zootopia will be an original story, a buddy action comedy between Nick Wilde, a fox, and Lieutenant Hop, a rabbit. The main conflict in this world is between the herbivores and the carnivores, which would put the rabbit and the fox directly in the middle of that divide. And though Zootopia takes place in a world where humans never existed, and where instead of cities there are places like Sahara Square (for the desert-loving animals) and Burrow Burough, where all the rabbits live. But there are still nods to what we might recognize as our own culture, including a palm tree that becomes a thousand-unit apartment building and a paper called the Wall Street Gerbil. Gotta love puns!

Tangled director Bryan Howard will be taking over Zootopia, and he says that after Tangled wrapped he asked Lasseter for permission to make a film inspired by a different Disney classic, Robin Hood. It's been a long time since the studio attempted another movie about animals dressed up in clothes and acting like humans-- 1990's The Rescuers Down Under seems like the last example-- but hey, everything eventually comes back around for a revival. Check out this scene from Disney's classic Robin Hood for a taste of what's in store, and look for Zootopia in 2016.

UPDATE: Disney has released the first concept art from the film! Check it out below.

Pixar has taken heat for years over the relative lack of female characters in their studio output-- while Disney has created unforgettable female heroines (and yes, princesses) in Belle and Rapunzel, Pixar's amazing films have focused almost exclusively on male protagonists, with the exception of supporting characters like Toy Story 2's Jessie and Monsters Inc.'s Boo. But next summer they're bringing us Brave, their venture into both a princess story and a female-driven adventure; the movie's heroine Merida, as we saw in the recent trailer, is both a badass warrior and a girl fighting against society's expectations from a "proper" female.

We have a few sketchy ideas of the projects Pixar has in the hooper to follow up on Brave, including the Monsters Inc. prequel Monsters University, and now John Lasseter has revealed that they've got yet another that will feature a female protagonist. Visiting the Charlie Rose Show, via The Pixar Times, Pixar chief John Lasseter revealed few details on the next project from Up director Pete Docter:

This project "set inside the mind" had been announced over the summer, but details were fuzzy beyond the working title The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind. Lasseter's reveal, not just about the gender of the mind in question but the fact that we'll be limited to the mind of a child, gives a better sense of just how this might work, beyond just being a movie version of the "Body Wars" ride at EPCOT (remember that?) If you saw the Pixar short that preceded Toy Story 3, "Night and Day," you might have gotten a preview of what Pixar plans to do in telling a story about completely ephemeral ideas like times of day or ideas. Or hey, they might be doing something completely, totally different. The great thing about these guys is you never quite know what direction they'll take.

As much as I know it's silly to expect a quota system in movies, and demand that Pixar tell stories about women solely because they haven't yet, I'm really thrilled to see that Pixar wants to dig into the brain of a little girl. They're maybe the most marketed-to group for animated films, but probably the least recognized or understood. Pete Docter created an unforgettable little girl with Monsters Inc.'s Boo, so here's hoping he can do it again.

Very few studios can get fans excited simply by announcing a release date without revealing a title, plot details or casting on a future project. But when Pixar speaks, movie lovers tend to listen.

So with the animation house’s anticipated sequel Cars 2 ready to rev its engines this Friday, Deadline reports that Pixar already has circled Nov. 27, 2013 as the release date for its next feature. It apparently will be “an original project, not a sequel,” but the story was mum on additional details.

That doesn’t mean Pixar fanatics have to wait that long for more animated magic from the wizards of Emeryville, California. The studio’s Brave, co-directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, has a June 22, 2012 release date, while Pixar also plans to release its Monsters Inc. prequel, Monsters University in June 2013. But after Pixar pulled the plug on Newt because of similarities to Fox’s Rio, details of future projects have been under wraps, so we’ll be anxious to see what this picture is, and which wunderkind storyteller will be at the helm.

After months of misguided, fanatical and baseless wishing from shortsighted idealists, Pixar headman John Lasseter has finally and unequivocally shot down the notion that the beloved animation company will produce a film based on Marvel superheroes. The wacky idea has been in play ever since Disney purchased the comic producers in 2009, but there has never been, nor will there likely ever be plans for a mash-up.

Speaking to IGN, Lasseter said Pixar would not be doing any movies based on Marvel characters because they've already “done superheroes” with The Incredibles. Later, he clarified further by admitting the successful studio likes to work with ideas and characters developed in house and that Disney was looking for “more of the same”. With any other company, more of the same might sound like a bad thing, but considering Pixar has never made a bad movie and continues to top itself, I think they're pretty comfortable with the formula.

The truth is many great things simply don't go together, even if they're owned by the same company. Little Caesar's founder Mike Ilitch owns both the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers, but it would hardly be advisable to throw Pavel Datsyuk out in right field. Kraft owns Nabisco, but it's unlikely you'll see diced up Fig Newtons inside your macaroni n cheese anytime soon. There's no reason why Marvel and Pixar can't peacefully coexist at a distance under the Disney umbrella. In fact, they already have for almost two years. Let's keep it that way.

Finn McMissile, suave super spy and daredevil extraordinaire, is the main event in this sneak peak at Cars 2. The footage is unlisted on YouTube, but has since been discovered and linked around, spreading like wildfire across the internet, as do most things that say “PIXAR” on them.

The video comes from a new viral Twitter account called @ChromeLeaks, which released the following viral video and has a special message at the :57 mark.

Did you catch the link? Follow it, and you'd end up at the clip embedded below, with special introduction by the man in charge, John Lasseter. It shows off new Cars hero Finn McMissile as he maneuvers a very tricky spiral ramp while being chased by seemingly endless waves of enemy cars until finally, in a particularly dardevilish move, he zooms off the edge of a helicopter pad and falls 10 stories into the water. Watch:

What's to become of Finn McMissile? You'll have to wait until June 24th to find out.

Cars 2 is slated for theaters (and drive-ins) June 24th, but it turns out Disney's got other plans for the world of anthropomorphized vehicles. Specifically, they're planning on turning their attentions to the skies above with a direct-to-DVD sequel called Planes. You'll have to wait a while, though; Planes won't be landing on Blu-ray and DVD until Spring 2013.

Naturally, since we're still almost three years out, there isn't much information available beyond the simple fact that it's, well, about planes. No casting news, definitely no word on bonus features, and nary even a solid release date. Still, you can read everything there is to know in the press release below (hey, that rhymed!).

"I've never been a toy before, hence I've never been to Toy Fair."

When Emily Mortimer took the stage in front of a crowd full of toy industry experts, media and hardcore Disney fans, in some ways she seemed at home-- decked out in a bright red ruffled dress ("For Valentine's Day," she explained), sitting on a couch for an interview in a setup that mimicked a late-night talk show, and discussing her new project, all familiar for a veteran actress. But then Mortimer was presented with a Lego version of her latest character, a purple sports car and spy named Holley Shiftwell. That part, she made very clear, was a totally new experience.

In Cars 2, the Pixar film coming to theaters on June 24, Mortimer voices one half of a British spy team that becomes convinced, for reasons unknown, that the dim-witted tow truck Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy) is in fact a brilliant international spy. Mater has traveled to Tokyo with his friend Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) as Lightning participates in the Grand Prix auto race, but quickly Mater is caught up in the international spy operation with Mortimer's Holley Shiftwell and Finn MacMissile, a sleek Aston Martin voiced by none other than Michael Caine. As Mortimer puts it she thinks Mater is a "rough diamond," and there may even be the beginnings of a romance there, though the two are probably too busy saving the world to take it very far.

Caine took the stage alongside Mortimer during the presentation, and both of them admitted the children (or grandchildren) in their lives were part of the reason they were there. "Otherwise they'll never see me in a film until they're 18," Caine cracked while talking about his grankids. (As it turns out, he made another children's film-- 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol-- so that his daughter could see it).

After the presentation, when Mortimer left the stage with her purple car under her arm, I got the chance to talk to Mortimer about her experience working on the film. She couldn't spill too many plot details, but that's mostly because she doesn't know them-- as she explains in the interview, the process of recording a voice for an animated film, especially one made with as much precision as a Pixar movie, means you don't really know where you fit into the whole. Read below as she talks about recording her scenes for director John Lasseter-- she says her husband accused her of having a crush on the Pixar founder-- and at what point she figured out that her part was pretty good after all. You can hear Mortimer and see Holley Shiftwell this summer when Cars 2 opens on June 24.

Pixar hasn't had a lot of female heroines in their movies. Is this your chance to step up and become an icon for little girls?

It's so strange, because it only dawns on you toward the end of the process what your role is, because it's such an organic process. You say yes without even reading the script. You're offered a part in a Pixar movie and you're like, "Yes, of course" You get to read something of it, but not really in a way that makes it clear exactly what the story is, because at that point they don't really know themselves.

You lay down a lot of dialogue in the first session, which goes on for many hours. And they're videoing you at the same time, and I think they use that in the animation, some sense of your physicality, so that you really start to become this character. Then they take that away with them and start devising the storyline kind of as you go along, and working out the role that your car is going to play. The scenes, they change all the time. It's not like every time you do a session you re-read the script again, because they come back with scenes that have changed from the initial recording. So it's hard to see what's going on around you. This film is being constructed around your ears, but you don't really have an overall feeling about it.

Until you get to something like this.

I know! "My part must be quite good, I get a car." So I don't know, I hope I'm an inspirational character in the movie. But that's what's interesting about it, you do your little bit then it gradually becomes clear. Then they keep asking you back, and you say "I must have a quite good part." But it takes a while. I didn't set out to be the sexy Pixar heroine. I just recorded myself doing the voice of an overenthusiastic British spy.

What's the time commitment like? Michael was saying earlier he worked on Gnomeo and Juliet for like 4 years.

This was comparatively a very quick one for them. I think I just had my baby, and she's a year and a month old. So it was over a year ago that I started recording it, but that's quite quick for one of these films. I've done about 7 or so sessions.

The first movie was very much Lightning's movie, but this one feels more like Mater's movie based on what we've seen so far.

All I know is that all of my scenes are with Mater. There's sort of two threads to the movie-- one is the spy kind of thing, and the other is the Grand Prix thing going on. He's always there, and I'm not quite sure how much of the movie that part of it takes up, and how much of it takes place in the world.

Did you and Michael Caine do any of your voice work together?

No, I hadn't seen him at all until today. It's so amazing, that part of it. There's somebody else reading the dialogue--Brad Lewis is generally the person reading the dialogue for the other characters. It's a very odd experience, but it's very liberating in some ways. At first you feel kind of self-conscious because you have to really go for it, you can't be shy. You have to be big and hope for the best. But it's cool, because it forces you to commit in a way to something, anything, something strong and definite, and you can experiment because there are no other actors there. There's only John [Lasseter], and he's so psyched about everything, and such an enthusiast. You can try things out you wouldn't have the confidence or time and luxury to do on a film set, where lots of people are waiting for a scene to be shot. You're much more restricted to what it is that you have in your head. This, you can do anything. The more you become aware of that, the better as it goes along, and the more liberated you get about trying anything and seeing where it takes you.

Yesterday at the big Toy Fair event for Cars 2-- held at the glitzy Chelsea Piers meeting center-- Disney didn't just announce all the snazzy toys they'll be releasing with the film this summer, but introduced two new characters who will play key roles in the film. The character of Italian race car Francesco Bernoulli had shown up online previously, but Disney confirmed for the first time that he'll be voiced by John Turturro. They also introduced the entirely new character of Miles Axlerod (voiced by Eddie Izzard), a former oil baron who now spends his life both researching alternative fuels and hosting the Grand Prix race, which has Lightning McQueen traveling all over the world in the sequel.

The introductions actually happened through a pre-taped message from Cars 2 director and Pixar chief John Lasseter, who describes Turturro's character Bernoulli "completely, wonderfully full of himself" and promised that the movie-- which sees Mater tied up in an international spy operation-- is "not a parody of a spy movie; this is a spy movie."

Check out the two brand-new characters below-- Francesco is the racecar, obviously, while Miles I guess is some kind of SUV-- and come back later today for my interview with Emily Mortimer, who voices the super-spy car Holley Shiftwell. Cars 2 opens June 24 this year.

Apparently, even John Lasseter can’t pass up a good moneymaking opportunity. As reported by Movieline, the Pixar head is moving forward with something he once adamantly opposed: sequels. No, the company isn’t planning Cars 3, but a direct-to-DVD Cars spinoff called Planes.

Before Lasseter made it to the top rung of the Pixar ladder, Disney dished out straight-to-DVD junk like Cinderella II and The Lion King 1 ½. The studio even originally planned for Toy Story 2 to skip theaters and go straight to video, and the same was true for the franchise’s adored third installment. But that’s when Lasseter stepped in a put a stop on the whole trash-for-cash effort and exclusively committed Pixar to quality.

The news is a little strange, not only because it breaks from Lasseter’s ideals, but because it does so with a film that isn’t really known for its high caliber, at least compared to other Pixar productions. While Cars didn’t make a killing in theaters, it did so with toys and other junk the kiddies absolutely had to have, and it looks like that’s exactly what they’re going for with Planes. The flick will be a semi-sequel/spinoff that is set to go directly to DVD, and I’m sure it’ll be accompanied by a massive toy line.

Without even being sold on Cars 2 hitting theaters next summer, it’s absolutely impossible to garner any excitement for Planes. However, I don’t think Pixar is looking to entice anyone over the age of 13 with this effort.

Last night Disney-centric blogger Jim Hill was invited by the studio to take a look at all the products they have coming for the rest of the year, which ranged from the mundane-- clothing and toys-- to some truly big news. Hill apparently learned that John Lasseter, the Pixar founder and Cars director, has stepped in as co-director of Cars 2 alongside Brad Lewis, who was making his directorial debut on the film after producing Ratatouille for the company.

This fits right in with a rumor we reported in February, claiming that Cars 2 was in trouble and Lasseter had stepped in to rescue the production. It's not time to jump to doom and gloom conclusions though; Pixar movies often go through laborious development processes, and even Ratatouille-- a perfect film in my opinion-- switched to Brad Bird as a director after years of development. Pixar has always acknowledged that the secret to their success is their willingness to tweak a movie until it's perfect, so while Lasseter's swooping in to Cars 2 might be evidence that the film is in trouble, it's also further proof that the studio will do everything to make sure their movies work.

Cars 2 is still set for release next summer, and after the enormous success of Toy Story 3 the pressure may be even greater for this to be yet another perfect sequel from the studio. I have my doubts, Cars being at the bottom of my Pixar list, but if anyone can fix it it's probably godfather Lasseter.

The 90s were a great time for movies but in my book the best movies of the 90s came not from an auteur like Quentin Tarantino or an iconic director like Spielberg, but from a goofy bunch of nerds at a little animation studio called Pixar. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 hold up like almost no other pairing of films and this weekend you’ll have the chance to revisit both of them in 3D in theaters.

But if you’re wondering what made those movies and all of Pixar’s movies so great, then look no further than John Lasseter. Disney has a new animation channel in which the Pixar godfather talks about the Toy Story films characters and subsequently the new toy lines they’re creating to duplicate them in real life. The toys themselves are cool but what really makes it worthwhile is what you’ll see in the embedded video below. In it, Lasseter talks about the origins of Buzz Lightyear. He explains the obvious, such as where they got his name (Buzz Aldrin of course) to why they chose lime green and purple as his colors. Lasseter is still a big kid and watching him talk with such obvious enthusiasm not just about his characters, but the toys for them, it’s easy to imagine him sitting down and playing with his Buzz action figure when his office door is closed and nobody else is looking.

If you’re a Pixar nerd, or if you just love Toy Story (and if you don’t what’s wrong with you?), click play below:

If you're a big comic book geek, you might be freaking out this morning. Disney has bought Marvel Entertainment, which means that Spider-Man and Thor will be snuggling up next to Mickey and Minnie every night. Already you've probably thought of the worst-case scenarios-- Hannah Montana playing Mary Jane, Marvel comics featuring cameos from Tinkerbell, a Muppet Avengers movie.

But seriously guys, calm down. This deal is mostly just corporate horse-trading, meaning a lot for Kevin Feige and company and not a whole ton for us. The most public face of Marvel, movie franchises like Iron Man and Spider-Man, won't be changing at all; the respective studios owning those titles will keep them for now, meaning even the Avengers movie will probably be happening at Paramount.

Still not convinced that Disney won't destroy everything you ever loved about comics? Here are five reasons not to freak out, at least on the movie angle of things (I have no idea how Disney will influence the comics, though I doubt it will be much). I'm no corporate expert, but these all seem like pretty obvious indications that it's all going to be OK.

1. Disney owns Miramax. The pseudo-indie isn't what it was when the Weinsteins were introducing mainstream America to indie edge in the 90s, sure. But Disney has owned the studio even since those days-- Pulp Fiction was released by Miramax when it was owned by Disney, for Christ's sake. Clearly this is a studio unafraid of edge when cordoned off in the proper sector.

2. Disney owns Pixar. The animation geeks were freaking out when this merger happened in 2006. But you know what's happened since then? Ratatouille, Wall-E and Up, plus a ton of money to make more movies like that by selling Cars-themed bedspreads to 5-year-old boys. Instead of curbing John Lasseter's vision, they put him in charge of all animation. Clearly this is a studio unafraid of creative license.

3. Disney knows from marketing. I mean, duh. If you think Iron Man and Spider-Man action figures are ubiquitous now, just wait until they come under the watch of the people who have made sure that every girl under the age of 10 has a Hannah Montana-themed something. Just like it was for Pixar, this isn't inherently a bad thing. Kids need toys and kids love the characters and more toys mean more storytelling opportunities for just those characters. Clearly this is a studio unafraid to make a bunch of money on ancillary stuff and spend it perpetuating the cycle.

4. Disney really wants boys to pay attention. This may be the biggest reason of all to hold your horses. With the exception of Cars, Disney hasn't really been able to tap into a young boy market, and they really have no cachet among teens. There's no way they would scare off Marvel's core fanbase of teen boys by cleaning up Tony Stark or toning down the action in Spider-Man. Not that those two characters will be under Disney any time soon-- Paramount and Sony are still hanging on to their respective deals-- but I guarantee they'll be using that model going forward with whichever Marvel character is up at the plate next. Clearly this is a studio well aware that you, the fanboy, are their golden calf, and you will not be sacrificed.

5. Disney still has John Lasseter. This really just applies to the spectre of straight-to-DVD animated Iron Man adventures, in which Tony Stark fights Tinkerbell or some nonsense. As head of Disney Animation, Lasseter has done away with that crappy treatment of Disney's characters. While there will likely be a lot more Marvel character animation, apparently much of it on the Disney XD channel, don't expect it to be as miserable as the fates that befell The Little Mermaid and Jafar in the 90s. Clearly this is a studio with more respect for its characters than it used to have.

For a few legit reasons you SHOULD freak out over the Disney/Marvel deal, go here.