\t\t\t\t\tPete Docter during the making of Toy Story<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPixar<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDocter was recruited by Pixar co-founder John Lasseter to join the computer animation studio in 1990 fresh off graduating from California Institute of the Arts. He was the supervising animator on Toy Story<\/em> and went on to earn Oscars for best animated film for Up<\/em>, Inside Out<\/em> and Soul<\/em>. He appointed<\/a> co-chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios alongside Jennifer Lee in 2018, a year after Lasseter stepped down from the role<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI just am still amazed. It\u2019s on the top bunch of movies on Disney+<\/a>. Thirty years later you look at it, and to be honest, it sort of looks like a video game now given how far computer animation has come,\u201d Docter adds. \u201cBut I think that\u2019s just a testament to the great acting; that we had both great actors, the voice actors and the animation is kind of all over the map, but it was enough there to get people to fall in love with the characters. It\u2019s crazy to think it\u2019s been nearly 30 years.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tToy Story 5<\/em> was among the animation follow-ups announced<\/a> by Disney. The new film will be written and directed by Andrew Stanton, who took home Academy Awards for best animated picture for Wall-E<\/em> and Finding Nemo<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tReleased on Nov. 19, 1995, Toy Story<\/em> starred Tom Hanks as the voice of Woody, a classic pull-string cowboy doll, and Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz Lightyear, a new astronaut toy. The film earned a a total of $394.4 million worldwide and spawned three sequels and a spinoff, Lightyear<\/em>. (All are streaming on Disney+<\/a>.)<\/p>\n \n\tTo celebrate the franchise\u2019s 30th anniversary, Pixar is releasing collaborations including sneakers from Adidas, makeup from ColourPop and eyewear by Ray-Ban Kids. The collections also include Mattel figurine sets<\/a>, seven-inch Woody and Jessie action figures<\/a> and a Click Figs Buzz Lightyear figurine<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRay-Ban Kids x Toy Story<\/em> Buzz Lightyear Optical Frames.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRay-Ban<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tRay-Ban Kids x Toy Story<\/em> Buzz Lightyear Sunglasses Frames.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRay-ban<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n\tColourPop\u2019s new Toy Story<\/em> collection<\/a> ($10 to $99) includes eyeshadow palettes in character-inspired matte and glitter shades, lip glosses, volumizing mascara, lip masks and more. Adidas will release a Jessie-inspired kids Gazelle sneaker finished with cow print stripes.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tColourPop x Pixar\u2019s Toy Story<\/em> makeup collection<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tAdidas x Toy Story<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAdidas<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n \n\tDocter sat down with THR<\/em> to look back on Toy Story<\/em>\u2018s 30-year history, what fans can expect from the fifth film, where he sees the future of animation in the AI age and more. Below, keep reading and watch a new ad spot for Toy Story<\/em> exclusively at THR<\/em>, plus shop the just-launched movie merch and toys.<\/p>\n \n\tCompared to pre-1990s animated shows and movies, today\u2019s kids\u2019 shows feel so fast-paced. How will that play out in Toy Story 5<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIf you go back and look at Bambi<\/em> \u2014 I\u2019m picking an extreme that\u2019s kind of intentionally slow because it is about nature and watching the changes seasons and things \u2014 I think films have definitely sped up. Even Toy Story <\/em>one to Toy Story 4<\/em>, the level of visual sophistication, including the pacing, we\u2019re just trying to keep in touch with the rhythms of the world and it\u2019s definitely faster. So I will say Toy Story 5<\/em>, I think [writer and director] Andrew\u2019s done a really great job of letting moments breathe in unexpected ways. Things that you\u2019re like, wait, is this a Toy Story<\/em> movie? Just some of his choices, which I think we need at this point. We\u2019ve had four of \u2019em already. We got to keep people surprised, so it\u2019s going to be fun.<\/p>\n \n\tWhich was important to us at the time when Toy Story<\/em> came out, there wasn\u2019t a lot of films that did that. There were a lot of \u2019em that were like four kids and nothing really other than maybe from Japan or something for adults. And so our goal was to, in the same way Spielberg did with Indiana Jones<\/em> and Star War<\/em>s with George Lucas, we\u2019d love to bring animation into something that we as 20-, 30-year olds can enjoy.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat stood out to you when you were bringing all of the nostalgic toys to life in the first Toy Story<\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe most fun had unexpected casting. Being one of the writers on it, the ones that were the most fun had unexpected casting or flipped the way you see the character. I don\u2019t really remember how I used to see Mr. Potatohead, but as soon as [Don Rickle\u2019s] voice and the sarcasm and the sort of adult nature \u2014 he\u2019s a brilliant actor and an even more amazing comedian. And to be able to harness his sarcasm and dour, that was an unexpected marrying with that character I think at that time. That was really fun.<\/p>\n \n\tOne of the reasons I\u2019m in this whole thing is because of Disneyland, so to have Toy Story<\/em> at the theme parks is kind of a mindblower. We make this stuff and it all is inside the computer. It doesn\u2019t really exist for us. We\u2019ve animated the whole movie, but it\u2019s all kind of virtual. So to be able to walk around in the space at the Disney parks is like we\u2019ve had this weird dream and now it\u2019s real. It\u2019s so cool.<\/p>\n \n\tWhere do you see the future of animation, especially given concerns about AI?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI think we are at in so many ways, right? We\u2019re at this weird crossroads or a new horizon, a lot like streaming. It\u2019s not new anymore, but I think it\u2019s still a little bit of the wild west of what exactly the types of shows people are looking for and the delivery mechanism, the storytelling. I think we are at a place now where two, three generations have grown up on Toy Story<\/em> specifically. And so what\u2019s going to be new and surprising to them, I think we\u2019re always trying to reach for that. We\u2019ve got some cool stuff in the works that is an attempt to answer that question in our way, but I think it\u2019ll be really interesting. <\/p>\n \n\tAnd the technology, the same thing. Toy Story<\/em> was a real game changer for a lot of my peers that studied hand-drawn animation. That\u2019s how we thought. I pictured, I\u2019d be sitting at a desk drawing Mickey Mouse and instead I\u2019m with a mouse and I\u2019m moving a puppet virtually in screen. And people were like, \u201cWhat?\u201d at that time. And now that\u2019s become a commonplace. And I think the latest is AI that just makes people go, what? I type in polar bear in the city having a Coca-Cola and it happens. So how useful is that? I think the answer is that in the end, why do we watch these things? It\u2019s to feel something, to speak to our own experience as human beings. And AI can do that somewhat. And I think it\u2019s a great tool for people who know how to use it to say something about the human experience. And so I think it will be a game changer, but still most effective and most powerful in the hands of artists and storytellers.<\/p>\n \n\tMy experience so far in a lot of different ways, it\u2019s kind of like it takes something and sands the edges down, so it makes the blob average. And that could be very useful in a lot of ways. But if you really want to do something brand new and really insightful and speak from a personal angle, that\u2019s not going to come from AI fully. It only ever create swhat\u2019s been fed into it. It doesn\u2019t create anything new, it creates a weird amalgam of stuff that\u2019s been poured into it.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat are some of the most nostalgic toys for you? <\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI mean, we had Operation the game where you\u2019re supposed to pull the bones out without making it buzz. Friends of mine had a lot of action. My parents were anti-war folks, so we didn\u2019t have any GI Joes. But my big thing was when you go to a friend\u2019s house is the karate chop action and when you can push buttons and make things happen, that was cool. So Buzz is obviously a tribute to the best of action device kind of things. <\/p>\n \n\tI had a lot of puppets. I think I had a Slinky Dog. Of course, the Slinky Dog we created in the movie is a little different than the one that existed at the time. I just like mechanical stuff \u2014 when you put the slinky at the top of the stairs and it sort of goes shing-shing down the stairs.<\/p>\n \n\tLooking back on the first film, were there things that kids saw that adults didn\u2019t, or vice versa?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI think one of the reasons maybe the film speaks to adults is that we really saw the movie from kind of an adult point of view there. They\u2019re kind of parents, these toys, they\u2019re there to serve the kids and to help them grow up. And that\u2019s difficult in a lot of ways as being a parent. My wife said, \u201cFrom the moment they\u2019re born, our job is to prepare them, to leave us to go be successful in the world.\u201d And that\u2019s really difficult. But I think that\u2019s what the movie, that\u2019s maybe why it\u2019s got lasting power, it\u2019s not just a candy fluff. It\u2019s got some guts to it.<\/p>\n \n\tOne thing that was surprising to me when we made the film, we were battling back and forth. Is this Woody\u2019s film, or is it Buzz\u2019s film? Maybe it\u2019s both of them. We settled on what I think is pretty clearly Woody\u2019s movie kids, especially boys. It\u2019s Buzz all the way. It\u2019s funny because he\u2019s a diluted character who thinks he\u2019s a spaceman. I don\u2019t know what that says about kids.<\/p>\n \n\tAnd I think the adults really project onto Woody in the same way that we did as the writers. But the heart of it, which hadn\u2019t been done at the time was instead of making it a musical or a princess movie, it was a buddy film. It was these two characters who butt heads, who hate each other, who grow to love each other to the point of self-sacrifice. And I think that\u2019s a really beautiful story, and it\u2019s one we\u2019ve come back to several times. But Toy Story <\/em>was the first, so it really has a special place in my heart, and obviously for the studio, because none of this would\u2019ve been here had it not worked.<\/p>\n \n\tDiversity, equity and inclusion has been a big conversation topic<\/a> in the industry and beyond, and Pixar has been at the forefront with its variety of characters. What will be the approach moving forward? <\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tOur goal from the beginning was to reflect the world that we see around us. And I think we sort of did that partially at the beginning. Only in the later films have we really opened up and reflected a wider range of people that are out there. Here\u2019s the amazing thing about human beings. Everybody\u2019s got their own perspective. We all live in the same place, the same world. We interface with a lot of the same things, and yet every person has their own perspective and reality. And the more we can grab a hold of that, I think I really feel like that\u2019s the key to making our films fresh so that they don\u2019t feel like, Oh, this story again<\/em>, because everybody brings a different perspective to things. <\/p>\n \n\tI feel like that\u2019s our job as human beings is to open our eyes and our hearts to the way other people see things without being preachy. Obviously we don\u2019t want that in the movies. We don\u2019t want it to feel like you\u2019re going to school or getting a message. You\u2019re there to have fun, you\u2019re there to be entertained, but what better way, and this is the power of animation. I could, as an animator, I can be a bottle cap, I can be a toy, I can be a girl, I can be a boy, I can be almost anything. And so I feel like that\u2019s the real joy of this medium is to be able to bring that to the audience and let them see the world from a different perspective.<\/p>\n \n\tLastly, what are those two pieces of art hanging on your wall behind you?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThis is from the world\u2019s greatest unknown cartoonist, it\u2019s called \u201cCul de Sac<\/a>\u201d by Richard Thompson. And if you\u2019re not familiar with it, check it out. It\u2019s brilliant. The other one is Mary Blair, she was a brilliant animator at the Disney Studios, and this was from Saludos Amigos<\/em>. I just love the character of those birds.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t<\/a>\t<\/div> \t\t\t\t<\/a>\t<\/div>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDisney and Pixar Woody & Jessie Action Figure Pack\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n