What is a sequel? What are the central tentpoles of what a Pixar film is like? Can you talk to us about those early decisions?

We were learning as we went.

None of us had made a feature before when we made Toy Stories.

I remember the end of that run of the first one going, how did we do that? And the only thing I walked away with was trusting my instincts.

But then I remember going, they're going to ask us to do this again.

And I don't feel any smarter than I did when I started on this.

But now I know that I have instincts I can trust when we're in a hole again.

Okay.

yeah the only other person would be like Sandal Bergman who I think specifically is famous for this but she was kind of like a dancer also the fellow who plays the Mako I think his name was he plays like the other the third guy you know yeah the wizard yeah but yeah I mean this is a this is a this is the introduction almost to like Schwarzenegger the actor

Yeah, yeah, and he's incredible in this movie.

He's really great.

The thing that strikes me about this movie, and I think of all the movies on this list, I do love this movie, but I would consider this to be the least watchable of these movies.

In the sense that it's...

I feel like it's pretty long.

I know like the, the trend in movies nowadays is for them to be like fucking 17 hours long or whatever.

He has to say you shot out past a tennis ball.

Yeah

...

the first.

And then the biggest factor was we got literally the band back together.

We got everybody back from stem to stern that had made the first one.

So we were psychic.

So you just put us in.

... have shaken out? [laughs] Yeah.

Why was that so important for you guys to integrate into this film process?

I mean, it was really simple.

Like, technology's been around for a while now, and it's to the point that there's several generations.

You've got the millennial, not the generation, but the, like, post-2000.

You've got this early tech stuff that's already been and gone.

like Smarty Pants and Atlas and Snappy, your first digital camera, your geocaching, which came and went.

So I wanted to address that it's been in phases and that we're just in the most current sexy phase with LilyPad.

she's always like what if i fought you or what if i no i don't need to think i'll just do and that's what makes her so exciting to watch so i was always kind of

Tom, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, you know, they're probably aging

...

the, the writer in me loves the bravery of doing that with something.

I, uh, and, uh, so it's not off the table.

In my mind, it's being earned at some point in the history.

Who knows where these stories will go? Uh, but who kn- Uh, that's the exciting thing about it, like, I don't think there are any rules.

I, I know people make them out there, but I, I don't think there are any rules other than just trying to honor what's true to life about growing up.

I mean-

iPhones have changed everything.

Yeah.

Now I don't have to run to anywhere.

I can just throw it on my notepad or m- or my, uh, file that I have on my Google Doc or whatever, and I can just keep moving forward and letting the pieces fall.

And, uh, I put a lot of weight and value on things that stick, and it needs time for me to go, "Was that just a fleeting interest, or am I still thinking about it, you know, weeks later, days later, years later?" It's always tended to be the things that, uh, interest me that are most ready to be baked, uh, keep coming back at me.

So I just don't wanna forget them.

I'm, I'm, my, I have, I have a fear of forgetting, and that I had a good thought yesterday and I'll never have it [laughs] so I'm very dogged even more so about th- writing it down.

[whistles]

Yeah.

That really became like a key touchstone for me.

[gentle serene music] So then I started only listening to that-

[laughs]

She shines in a world full of ugliness She matters when everything is meaningless Fragile, she doesn't see her beauty She tries to get away Sometimes it's just that nothing seems worth saving I can't watch her slip away I won't let you fall apart I won't let you fall apart I won't let you fall apart I won't let you fall apart

Do you feel kind of a requirement to bring those characters back?

I do.

I, I feel like you spend four years on these films, you're not interesting in just writing the lines for the same cast, but it's a lot of mouths to feed.

But there is sort of this desire to go, "Who else and what else can we introduce to this world?" And because of the issues of devices, there was a natural need to bring in some more cast members.

Not just current devices, but we've been in an age of technology and digital since probably the early 2000s, so there's already been phases.

Original versions that now seem antiquated, that were their first digital camera, first digital geocaching device, things like that.

What was your thinking?

Well, we had been in the imagination of Andy before, which had a certain just believable look that wasn't that different than the movie itself, so that we kind of fool the audience.

I'm also I've gotten this is embarrassing but I've also gotten into the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City so I'm a little bit fangirling with that that's not a good one let's just put that one to the side we can cut that the latest Chloe season that just came out the fashion season yeah yeah yeah I know what you mean anyway go ahead

I'm boring I'm fangirling over Margot's got money problems and Michelle Pfeiffer's role is just to die for she's amazing she can do no wrong And another show called Widow's Bay, which is actually filmed in my hometown.

So I'm fangirling over seeing and recognizing everything in the background.

It's where I go.

So how much of that original feeling all those years ago when you held that first iPhone is in this movie?

Pretty much the same.

I mean, it was a prediction then.

I don't enjoy being right about that, but it has turned out to be exactly what we thought.

So why now?

Because they asked me.

I've been directing most of my career since Toy Story and writing.

So it's funny to look at it and go, I just think those two lines just finally crossed on a natural course.

So when they asked me and I stopped laughing for a minute because I didn't ever think I'd be in this seat, I said, let me...

Because I know...

The short answer is, I know I'd get pulled in one way or another, no matter who directed it, and said, well, maybe I do want to be in front of it instead of fixing somebody else's problem or something like that.

Maybe tell me a little bit about how you came to choose her.

Um, but for those who don't know, do you mind explaining what that is?

Well, you know, there's no simple answer to it, but, but the brain trust started because when we made, uh, the first three to four films at Pixar, it was one group of people that just kinda moved from one film to the next.

And so we were kind of this band that had a hive mind that we, just like a garage band.

And then we had to split apart because business-wise, we had to make more films.

We had to overlap with each other.

And we were like, "Well, we're gonna have to break the band, and that's the magic." But economics demanded it, and we didn't mind that some of us would get to helm our own picture, but we didn't trust we would make smart enough choices.

So we said, "Let's get together on each other's pictures periodically, like every few months," almost like doctors advising another doctor's patient.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, Weebles

...

I had two brothers, and I had, there was two sisters that lived across the street.

Theirs was Barbies, Playskool, and Weebles, so there was a Venn diagram where we meshed.

... that's when things started to really unlock possibility wise.

Yeah.

And it crossed over into f- the issue of just friendship and how it's such a developmental seminal point in your youth to start to branch out and risk making friends.

Was there a moment or idea that you remember that pushed you from should we do this to we have to do this?

You know, it's always been... waiting for something worthy to do it.

So it's never been, I don't think anybody's ever said we sh, you know, we can't or we won't or, and I've always ignored shouldn't because that's like, why? It's like, if there's an idea that good, then I'll be the first in line.

And so it's just waiting to, figure out that and that's all this was when they asked me to do five I'm like I don't know if there's a there there yet but let me go off and write in private what I think I would want to see as a fan and a lot of the ingredients the major ingredients that are in this were in the first draft and I always knew that Jessie would have a really deep well if we could we justify making her a main character so it just felt right just felt right once and once I started digging there nobody argued right

Why should families be so excited to see this on the biggest screen they can?

We try to make all of our films, but particularly the Toy Story films, feel as cinematic and as engrossing from the perspective of a toy as possible.

And you're seeing some Pixar artists at just the top of their game getting to fully realize their talents on this film.

So it holds up to the largest screen possible and the best sound system possible.

Yeah

... and just about timing and rhythm, and that was also with animation.

So I've always been right brain driven, and, and I, I, I li- when I listen to a song, I know the music for years, but it, I maybe never listen to the lyrics, and somebody will say, "You know that's about incest, right?" And I'm like, "I have no idea." You know? I'm so music driven.

Um, so it's one of my favorite aspects is the audio end, uh, portion of a movie, and I think it's, it's the s- not so secret ingredient to what can make, can lift a movie to a whole nother place.

And it's, and it's one of the major elements of storytelling, to me, if it's done right.

Yeah, I saw that.

And, and I've done more content than I, in my entire, than my entire animation career, uh, in, in those 10 years.

And so I've learned a lot, and every job I took, I learned more about, uh, just, uh, not only tricks of the trade, but just the muscle memory of how to work in live action, how to be a better director with actors, how to be a better director with the crew.