'There's a Lot of Restraint': How 'Toy Story 5' Balances New Technology With Nostalgia
Key takeaways
- Pixar's technology has advanced so much since Toy Story debuted in 1995 that, for Toy Story 5, the filmmakers purposely held back to preserve the franchise's visual style.
- "There's a lot of restraint," producer Lindsey Collins told me during an interview at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California.
- That didn't stop the studio from enhancing its animation tools in other ways.
Pixar's technology has advanced so much since Toy Story debuted in 1995 that, for Toy Story 5, the filmmakers purposely held back to preserve the franchise's visual style.
"There's a lot of restraint," producer Lindsey Collins told me during an interview at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. "We don't want to all of a sudden feel like we've jumped so far ahead technologically that these don't even feel like the same characters anymore or the same world."
That didn't stop the studio from enhancing its animation tools in other ways. In the latest sequel, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toy gang face an existential threat when Bonnie gets a new tablet named Lilypad. It's a timely narrative exploring how tech and creativity can coexist -- a theme that's not unfamiliar to Pixar, which has paired technological breakthroughs with emotionally driven storytelling for 40 years.