00:00Yeah, I think that was absolutely the choice, was to make sure, I mean I think it would have been
00:04easy in some ways to be very binary about it, that technology is bad and the toys are good, and
00:10then we kind of realized early on that that's not a very interesting story, and nor is it realistic.
00:15So I think we kind of backed out of that, and decided that we needed to treat Lilypad much more
00:21like we would a toy who's coming into the room with kind of good intention, she's there for a purpose,
00:27she has a real sense of what she thinks is the right thing to do for Bonnie, and it just
00:32happens to be completely in contrast to what Jessie wants or thinks, and it's flawed, I mean it's kind of
00:39a flawed philosophy.
00:40I think as writers we're always trying to understand the drive behind the character, what makes them do all the
00:48things that they do, the choices, the words, everything, and we've pretty early figured out like, yeah, she would want
00:54what's best for the kid too, she just has a very different idea of what best means, you know.
01:00And I think technology kind of does provide you this kind of ability to be a bit false or to
01:06kind of curate your image, if you will, and...
01:08Bright and shiny, wonderful, my life.
01:10Right, and I think again, it's the flip side of technology, there's this offer of connection that it gives, and
01:15I think a lot of people really take advantage of the ability to connect over tech, that it's very real,
01:21and it's very beneficial in many ways, but I think for Bonnie especially, there's this real sense of like, this
01:28kid is only going to connect through being, through play, and through imaginative play, because that's who she is, that's
01:34authentic to who she is.
01:35So for her, I think it was basically using kind of her as a person to kind of exemplify like,
01:42hey, there's this other way to connect, that is more kind of valuable and true.
01:46So I think it's true that you said, like it's an interesting kind of trap that we have to kind
01:52of say that, you know, connection comes through authenticity or vulnerability,
01:55but that that's a very easy thing to fake using technology, and so...
02:01Which I was just thinking, as you're talking, so many of us at Pixar really only know how to connect
02:05through making movies.
02:07Yeah.
02:08Like, we're very socially awkward and weird people, but when we all get together and we get to make something,
02:13then suddenly my best friends are from Pixar, you know.
02:17It's connecting through play.
02:18Yeah, it is.
02:18And so I do think that there is that ability and the gift of being able to find somebody who
02:26sees you authentically and who kind of appreciates you authentically and matches your kind of spirit authentically.
02:33That's the best, those are the best friends ever, and so I think that's what we tried to kind of
02:38gift Bonnie through Blaze.
02:41Childhood's more complicated for sure today, I feel for kids today.
02:46In some ways, I feel like, again, I think there are kids who really do benefit from tech as a
02:51connective tool, I think, for sure.
02:53But I do also feel like the flip side of that is that it can be very lonely, and I
02:59certainly have seen that side of it, too, and that it can be very isolating.
03:03Yeah, making friends in real life is hard enough, much less the ambiguity and, you know, like, does that smiley
03:10face, is that sarcasm or is that...
03:13Right.
03:14And when you lose that skill set, that kind of muscle of, like, okay, I'm just going to be and
03:19go over to you and say hi, like, that is a real kind of muscle you have to build up
03:23and get used to, and I think it's something that kind of weakens when you haven't kind of experienced kind
03:29of interactive, you know, real-in-life interaction.
03:31So, yeah, it was really fun.
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