Technology has become a permanent fixture in the world of toys and animation, a reality that producer Lindsey Collins says requires careful balancing. With credits including Disney and Pixar films such as A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and Turning Red, Collins emphasized the need to advance visual fidelity without losing the recognizable identity of the franchise.
During a panel at Deadline’s Contenders Film Los Angeles event, Collins explained the studio’s approach to modernizing the look of the characters. The goal is to utilize new capabilities without evolving the aesthetic so rapidly that audiences feel disconnected from the source material.
“We try to keep it so we’re not evolving it so fast or so much that people are like, ‘This doesn’t feel like the Toy Story I recognize or I know,'” Collins said. “But also make sure that we’re keeping it so that we’re taking advantage of all the things we can do.”
Custom Tools for Blaze’s Hair
One of the most significant technical hurdles in the fifth installment was rendering the character Blaze, a gift horse who appears at the end of the film. Collins noted that the production team developed a proprietary tool specifically for this project to capture the texture and softness of Blaze’s curly hair.
Creating realistic hair has historically been difficult for the studio. Collins pointed out that early restrictions in previous films prevented the inclusion of fur on dogs or tight clothing on characters. While the team had previously tackled curly hair in the film Brave, the requirements for Blaze demanded a new solution.
“We wrote a whole tool for the first time on this film to really capture the beauty and the gorgeousness of Blaze’s hair,” Collins said. The process involved extensive internal consultation to ensure the animation felt natural and visually correct.
The advancements in rendering power are evident in other scenes as well. Collins highlighted a sequence in the new film featuring 50 Buzz Lightyear characters riding 50 horses. She contrasted this with the original 1999 film, where rendering even a single Buzz Lightyear was a massive undertaking.
Deleted Ending and Character Closure
Beyond technical achievements, Collins shared details about narrative choices that did not make the final cut. One such option involved a meeting between the character Jessie and her former owner, Emily, now grown up.
The story centered on Jessie needing to reckon with her past. Collins described the creative debate over what would provide the most satisfying emotional closure for the character. Options included Jessie playing with Emily again or confronting the reality of aging in a world where toys do not age.
“These toys are like vampires; they don’t age. The rest of the world ages around them,” Collins said. The team ultimately decided that a scene involving buried treasure under a tree provided the necessary resolution, a choice that took the longest to finalize.
Collins also addressed the future of the franchise. While she expressed reluctance about the films potentially centering on artificial intelligence, she did not rule out a next installment that would complete the trilogy focusing on Bonnie’s years, mirroring the three-film arc dedicated to Andy.
Source: Deadline
