6. A Whole New Story – Sort Of…

So what will be the story for the toys this time around?

Working from Lasseter’s rough template, but including ideas from several of the Pixar “brain trust” – Stanton, Lee Unkrich (who is making his solo directing debut with the movie), Pete Docter and more – Arndt’s script takes place around a decade after the second film.

As many of the toys feared, Andy their owner has grown up. He’s 18 now, and off to college. When asked by his mother what he’ll do with his old toys, Andy decides to donate them to a local nursery school.

There, they’re definitely played with – almost to destruction, and an escape attempt results in a subplot that’s eerily reminiscent of the aborted earlier version.

Buzz crashes at one point and the others must find a way to revive him. But instead of sending him away to be re-set, they decide to try it themselves, resulting in a Spanish-speaking hero who once more believes he’s the “real” Buzz Lightyear. “Return of the Astro-nut” is how Hamm sums it up.

As always, the film will dig deep to find the emotion in the story, with animation Angus MacLane commenting that they’re drawing on life experience.

"I feel like we've grown up making these movies, and each of the films represents where the filmmakers were at the time of making the films," MacLane says.

"Certainly we're approaching this film 10 years later, so I think we're sort of coming at it from the standpoint of Andy has grown up, and we've grown up with these toys, and we have a reverence for them, but we also have different things as a priority."

Short version: get the tissues ready. They’re going to try to make us cry again.

Oh, and they want to surprise us, apparently. “They took forever to get the script right, and they did such a great, emotional, wonderful job,” says Tom Allen. “I can't tell you more because I respect where they're coming from. It's kind of a Sixth Sense.

“The less you hear about it, the more you're going to be surprised. It's just like you expect it to be, but they really found a wonderful piece of business to make this thing run.”

Can’t wait. And the new storyline means some new friends, too…

Next: Voices From The Past - And Future