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The cast and creative minds behind "Toy Story 5" join CinemaBlend's Jeff McCobb to discuss technology and AI in the movie business, Taylor Swift's new track for the film, Jessie's emotional arc, and so much more. Watch our full interviews with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Greta Lee, Director Lindsey Collins and Director Kenna Harris.
Transcript
00:00Why would it work for me?
00:01That's what I say around the house all the time.
00:04I heard that the film was made primarily with the use of AI.
00:09I'm just kidding.
00:10We're all like, where the f*** did you hear them from?
00:19I mean, it all, there's never a plan up front on messaging,
00:24or at least certainly not how these filmmakers all worked and this crew worked.
00:28I think that the journey of the film was, you know,
00:32we started working on Toy Story 5,
00:34and everyone comes loaded with these kind of intense feelings about tech in their lives.
00:39Like, we're all dealing with it in our own unique way,
00:41whether it's a personal relationship or a parental relationship.
00:46And even though it's like, I think emotionally sometimes it's like,
00:51wouldn't it be great if we could just make the movie where,
00:54and then Lilypad is destroyed.
00:56And they all went, boo!
00:59It was like, that's not what our life is right now,
01:02and we're a technology company.
01:04Yeah, so that didn't feel authentic either.
01:06And it also ultimately doesn't feel all that interesting,
01:08because I think from a, the reality is, obviously,
01:11is that if tech were pure evil, none of us would have it in our lives.
01:14And so I think as a, and so when we talk about her even being an antagonist,
01:18it's like the best antagonists are coming in with some good intent.
01:22Yes.
01:22And just, it's just wrong.
01:24Like, somehow it's gotten twisted.
01:25And I think that's the case with Lily,
01:29is that she comes in with a good intent.
01:30She's like, I'm here to help.
01:31Like, what's the problem?
01:32And then the fun of it is to start to have her kind of realize the flaws of her own
01:38kind of philosophy
01:39on how to kind of do what's best for Bonnie,
01:41and how that counterbalances with Jesse's.
01:44Well, I heard that the whole film was made using AI.
01:49Is that?
01:49Get out!
01:50No.
01:51How about that?
01:52That remains the, now, okay, potentially, I guess we could say,
01:56go ahead, use our sounds and our things later on.
02:00I don't know.
02:00That hasn't happened yet.
02:01It's terrifying to me, because I've said it.
02:03You've probably said every word in the English language, so we have it.
02:07Could you put it into structure so it made sense?
02:10Yes, our producer, our studio doc, she said it would be very impossible,
02:16even AI, because the way the inflection changes at the end of sentences,
02:19it would be very stuttered to do that.
02:22I don't know that that's impossible.
02:24I don't know that AI couldn't eventually mimic my voice.
02:27I don't, I don't know that AI would understand emotion.
02:31Here's a question.
02:32Could they, and by, I don't know if you want to talk about this or not,
02:35could someone come in, deliver the lines with passion,
02:38and then have AI turn our voices into what they say?
02:41I don't know.
02:42That might be possible.
02:43That might be.
02:43And I hope it never, ever happens.
02:45But in this place where people, like, make things with their brains in their hands,
02:48it almost feels like they're commenting on it with the technology thing, right?
02:51Yeah.
02:51Which I think is, isn't that subversive?
02:53I think it's wonderful that they, I said, I read it, I go, you know, you guys do this.
02:58When I read it, I go, and they weren't thinking like that,
03:02because I don't think they believe it, but they do this, and they'll probably make that lily pad.
03:07Yeah.
03:07And I said, because at the end, and I say it when lily pad realizes that she can be of
03:13real value
03:14by helping humans, not dictating to humans, and she makes that decision,
03:19I've got an idea.
03:21And there's the firmware and software update scene that really pissed me off because I don't have it.
03:27That got us out of the pickle of the story, but I don't have a USB port, so I can't.
03:32I'm going all the way through, and when I drive home, I go, wait a minute.
03:35I'm like the old guard here.
03:37I can't do that.
03:38I think they touch on a lot of these things subconsciously, too, you know?
03:41Because they have their finger on the pulse of everything that's going on.
03:45Exactly, yeah.
03:46And in all honesty, when they say, would you like to do another toy story?
03:50And my question was, well, why?
03:52What are you going to talk about?
03:53And Andrew had the thing of, well, we're sort of going to take on tech because Bonnie now has a
03:57device.
03:58Got it.
03:59Got it, totally.
04:00And really low-key, wasn't like a real...
04:02Oh, yeah.
04:03Yeah.
04:03I go, wow.
04:04All the writers and the producers are, you know, preoccupied with other stuff that's going on.
04:08Sure.
04:09They just kind of give us the bare bones of what they're doing.
04:11Yeah, it was amazing.
04:11My sister's name is Shannon, and growing up, my mom would always be like, all of my dolls were named
04:18Shannon.
04:18All my favorite dolls were named Shannon.
04:20I always knew that I was going to name you Shannon.
04:21So when that came up in the film, I cried.
04:25It hit me, like, so deep.
04:27And I was wondering if that was, like, a cathartic moment for you, having lived as this character for so
04:33long,
04:33and what your first reaction was when you read it.
04:35You know, feeling some of that stuff was pretty intense, actually.
04:42And it was surprising.
04:46And I don't really know how we orchestrated it, but Kenna and Andrew, you know, had a real vision for
04:57what that scene and those moments were about.
05:03And I just felt like I was in good hands, so I just went for it.
05:10Yeah.
05:10They were intense feelings, which is, you know, what actors love to do.
05:18It's like, oh my God, give me a chance to really feel something.
05:23I'll show you.
05:25And you did, girl.
05:27You did.
05:28I think the thing that's kind of interesting is the specificity of that moment, especially in regards to naming,
05:35was something we found a little bit late in the development of the movie.
05:39Oh.
05:39We, if anything, Jesse's arc was all about momentum while we were developing.
05:45We knew.
05:45It's like, oh, this is a character who has this deep, deep well of emotional backstory, just so much richness
05:51to her.
05:52But what is going to be an ending that she is, it's deserving of her?
05:57And we tried.
05:58What does she need?
05:58Yeah, what does she need?
05:59And so we tried several times while screening to guess what that was, and there were a couple of guesses
06:05that weren't right.
06:05That was very literal, and you were like, no, that's not what she needs.
06:08It's like, what is it that she's searching for?
06:09What's going to feel like a healing resolution for her?
06:13Yeah, and it just, we luckily, with some time to spare, landed on the idea that we have now.
06:18And it just was something that felt right with us and with the people we screened it with, where suddenly
06:23it was like, oh, this is what she needed.
06:26That feels pretty amazing, because it's the best way to show the impact of kind of what you had on
06:33somebody that you had no idea without having to be super literal about it
06:37or having it have to be spelled out for you or having to revisit that person specifically.
06:41It's like, what greater impact or gift than to have you name your child after that?
06:47The KK, yes!
06:50So did you have a similar emotional response to that one?
06:53Yeah.
06:53Oh my gosh.
06:54It's so amazing, and especially when people see the moment in the movie where we get to hear her song.
07:01It's perfect.
07:02It's perfect.
07:03And it's such a good song.
07:06Yeah.
07:06And it's got like a folksy vibe, like a Randy Newman vibe.
07:08Oh yeah.
07:09She didn't go tall.
07:09Harmonica.
07:10Oh yeah.
07:11Perfect.
07:12Like, how'd she do that?
07:13I think there's multiple aspects where we did make these exciting discoveries.
07:17We love the new path forward we've made for curly hair textures in this film.
07:23And the reason I just, I'm so happy because I hope that audiences similarly just fall in love with her
07:30as a character because she's so appealing.
07:32And that big, old, like just mass of hair that she has, she's so free-feeling.
07:38And it's because we were finally able to build a tool that is suitable for curls of that type.
07:43And then there's a lot of the outdoors in this film.
07:46I mean, yeah, I mean the Bambi moment for me is like one of my favorite scenes just because it
07:52is so A, surreal, and B, such a specific, very literal in many ways, ode and nod to Bambi with
08:01the music and everything.
08:03And it's a beautiful scene.
08:05It's a beautiful scene and it took work actually to dial in because pics are so good at hyper-realistic,
08:10but we were actually really trying to go for like, how do we recreate these, you know.
08:14Like the softer, pastel, you know, surreal-feeling backgrounds.
08:18So, oh my gosh, it was so much fun to make.
08:20If there was a Joan Cusack toy.
08:23Yeah.
08:23Had a drawstring.
08:24Uh-huh.
08:25What would it say?
08:26Oh, God.
08:28Oh.
08:30And then vice versa.
08:31Oh, um.
08:33I like, oh, hello.
08:37It's a little simple, but I feel that way.
08:41Yeah, oh, hello.
08:42Yeah.
08:43Yeah.
08:43Do you have one?
08:44I don't know.
08:45I'm thinking.
08:46I'm, well, it's so hard to separate yee-haw from, because it's such a good one.
08:52But what would your drawstring be?
08:54For myself?
08:55Yeah.
08:56Oh, I know what, like, people would say.
08:58What?
08:59Sweet birthday baby.
09:01Mm-hmm.
09:01That line from Russian Doll.
09:03Oh.
09:04Yeah.
09:04Oh, that's fun.
09:05Yeah.
09:06I could tell you what it would say.
09:08Why would it work for me?
09:09Why would it work for me?
09:11That's what I say around the house all the time.
09:14Exactly.
09:14Back to the technology thing.
09:16Yeah, exactly.
09:16What would yours say?
09:17Huh?
09:19I would have to go.
09:20Wait, no, do the high voice.
09:22No, wait, but let me get it.
09:23Wait, wait, wait, hold on, give me a second.
09:26When they tried to repair, I had a custom-made hot rod done, and I hit the fender of it.
09:31The guy, because it was all, long story short, very deep enamel, and they said,
09:36we've got to fix the headlight molding.
09:38I go, how much is it?
09:39He told me, I went, hold on a second.
09:42Just, that's weird.
09:43That would be just for me.
09:44So there's a degree of frustration that goes into both of our drawstrings.
09:47Having an iPad kid, or having a kid like Sid.
09:51Like, what's worse?
09:52Oh, iPad kid.
09:53100%.
09:54Yeah.
09:54I would take 100 Sids over 100 iPad kids.
09:57What's Sid?
09:58Remember Sid?
09:59Sid was the bad boy who lived next door.
10:02He would blow up toys and stuff.
10:04He would break up.
10:05Oh, yeah.
10:05You know why?
10:06You know I was the same.
10:08Yeah, same.
10:09I mean, not like fully.
10:11What is going on?
10:13Oh, God, now I've ruined my friendship with Joe.
10:15Oh, my God.
10:16I'm really revealing myself here.
10:18She blew stuff up.
10:19I didn't blow things up, but I was that kid.
10:21I liked to dismantle toys and put them back together in interesting ways, and like, put
10:26them in different scenarios.
10:28You're just a little punk rock.
10:29A little bit, yeah.
10:30But you're a little punk rock, too, so you were probably a Sid.
10:33Probably not really, no.
10:35No?
10:35No.
10:35Wow, you were so punk rock.
10:37I was shy, and I had a friend whose skirt was always on backwards.
10:42But that is so punk rock.
10:44That's punk rock.
10:45Yeah, that's totally right.
10:46Yeah.
10:47That's exactly what it is.
10:48Counterculture, it's a little, you know.
10:49Yeah.
10:49You weren't the kid in the group chat making fun of everyone.
10:52No.
10:53It's good to see them fighting again.
10:55It sure is.
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