Toy Story 5: "Smarty Pants Needs Batteries!" BTS — Pixar's Set the Scene

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: - Oh, forgot my keys. - The first time we saw the shot of this, the dog bowl, everyone screamed. It's a thin film of who knows what on top of it. [00:00:12] Speaker 2: - Anybody who owns an animal is super familiar. [00:00:23] Speaker 3: - Okay, so the drawer, how we get into this scene is, Jesse's awoken this early electronic device called Smarty Pants, who is a potty training device. [00:00:35] Speaker 4: - Blaze, I'm going out. [00:00:37] Speaker 3: - And it knows most likely where Bullseye is in the house. So they're sneaking in. - Get Bullseye, get out. - This sequence has been kind of our touchstone for the mood of the whole film. How we just want it to feel like Jesse's world, but you still have this Toy Story feel. And it's funny, it's become my favorite sequence. [00:00:59] Speaker 1: - It would be your favorite sequence. [00:01:01] Speaker 2: - Why? - Okay. If you were to guess the favorite sequence, [00:01:04] Speaker 3: this would be it. - What am I doing wrong now, Kenna? [00:01:06] Speaker ?: - Nothing. [00:01:07] Speaker 3: - Every day. - It would be the drawer. - Of course this is your favorite sequence. - Somehow I was embarrassing Kenna because I'm old. - Get Bullseye, get out. - Hey, cowgirl. - Get Bullseye, shh. [00:01:17] Speaker 1: - Oh, forgot my keys. [00:01:19] Speaker 3: - Blaze's mom, who you see at the beginning of the scene. - Very briefly. - His voice by Chris Marshall. I had worked with her for two seasons of For All Mankind and the minute she found out I was doing Toy Story 5, she emailed me and said like, "Put me in. Put me in, coach." [00:01:37] Speaker 2: - Ew. [00:01:38] Speaker 3: - Yeah. - Indeed. - And I realized this is a suppressed frustration because we couldn't do something like this in Toy Story. Sid singed Woody on his forehead and he had to go put it out. [00:01:50] Speaker ?: - Your Pop-Tarts are ready. [00:01:52] Speaker 2: - All right. [00:01:53] Speaker 3: - And we couldn't do water then. [00:01:54] Speaker 2: - All right. [00:01:57] Speaker 3: - And we couldn't even do any liquid. So we had to lie, just do it with a sound effect, see his head go past the bowl rim and then put Fruit Loops on his eyes. [00:02:05] Speaker 4: - Are you all right? [00:02:06] Speaker 3: - And that was the closest we could imply. - But now we can finally do what we'd like it to look like. [00:02:15] Speaker 4: - I really don't feel so good. [00:02:17] Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna reboot. - Jessie has a certain relationship with this house that we've been hinting at. [00:02:24] Speaker ?: - Quiet. [00:02:27] Speaker 3: - Even with all the newer furniture of this family, she can see the past. [00:02:32] Speaker 1: - We were all gobsmacked by all of this great work by the sets team. - Yeah. - Led by Han Cho. We had just a very distinct direction because Blaze's family is mixed. Her dad is Armenian. Her mom is black. And so it just adds a feeling and a warmth and a texture to the house that feels, I think, specific. [00:02:50] Speaker 3: - We wanted it to feel like an old house that was turn of the century. So you'll even see the sides of the drawer when they're pulled out. [00:02:59] Speaker 1: - The layers of paint. [00:03:00] Speaker 3: - The uneven floors. I mean, it's just insane. I, it's a thing of beauty. [00:03:07] Speaker 5: - This is where it all started. [00:03:09] Speaker 2: - I just love the moment where they each take in the house and kind of reminisce. - Yes. - And they have two different perspectives on it. - Hmm. - Yes. - The smarty looks right at the toilet. - It's all changed. [00:03:20] Speaker 1: - Smarty, no. - I just loved the shot when we first reviewed it. - Dean. - Michael Chen did the animation. [00:03:27] Speaker 4: - Juice. [00:03:28] Speaker 1: - Okay, where, where, where the-- - I think it just is showing off the great chemistry that Jesse and Smarty have. I don't know, they're almost Buzz and Woody-esque. [00:03:35] Speaker 3: - He's that annoying friend that you love to hate. [00:03:37] Speaker 1: - Yes. [00:03:38] Speaker 5: - Where, where, where are the batteries? Where do I find the batteries? [00:03:40] Speaker 4: - Bottom drawer next to the stamps. [00:03:45] Speaker 3: - Conan added next to the stamps. I loved that line. It's in the drawer next to the stamps. [00:03:51] Speaker 4: - Why, hello there. Pick a number. Is it number one? - Whoa, I feel great. [00:03:57] Speaker 3: Look at me. [00:03:58] Speaker 1: - Conan O'Brien. [00:03:59] Speaker 3: - Conan O'Brien. - But the whole world knows Conan by one minute. [00:04:01] Speaker 1: - Well, do they? - Yeah, they should. - Lighting art director. - No. - Conan O'Brien. - No. - Conan O'Brien. - Conan actually animated this shot. - Or the animator, Conan O'Brien. - Stop it. Conan O'Brien. [00:04:13] Speaker 2: - The voice of-- - The voice of-- - Of Smarty Pants. - No! Oh my god. The voice of Smarty Pants. Somewhere Conan's dying a death as he watches this. He's like, ah. [00:04:23] Speaker 3: - Thing about Conan is he took it so seriously, the role, he would always go, you got what you want, because I'll do it again. [00:04:29] Speaker 4: - Why, hello there. Pick a number. Is it one or two? Wow! I feel great! [00:04:35] Speaker 1: - I think we had to convince him, though, in the first session, Smarty is you. You don't have to act. So go ahead and yell. Go ahead and be as brash as you want. [00:04:48] Speaker 3: Just riff and try anything, like you would with anything that you do, you know. Early, early on, there was so much fun in the self-illumination of the eyes in that sort of limited early millennium kind of technology. [00:05:04] Speaker 1: - Lucas was testing out the on-screen animations. He just went for it. And then we decided, okay, hey, art team, do everything that Lucas is doing, because it's so good. - No! - Yes! - No, we are not doing this now, not now. - I am back! - Cut it out! - Snappy, Atlas, they're still here! - The reason why we wanted to put it in the drawer was for this exactly, because everyone has this drawer. [00:05:31] Speaker 3: - Even in the '80s, there was drawers like that, where they just put the spare batteries and adapters. [00:05:36] Speaker 2: - The cords that you don't know where they go to, but you're like, I'm gonna need this someday. I don't know what it is to, but I'm gonna just put it here. [00:05:41] Speaker 3: - This was our house, there would be like a bunch of Amazon gift cards, because-- [00:05:44] Speaker 2: - Oh, go to Andrew's house and go snag those Amazon gift cards, by the way. [00:05:48] Speaker 3: - Because there's too many kids' birthday parties you gotta go to, and you can't always have something ready. - My kids would not let those last. [00:05:53] Speaker 2: - You just need to grab an Amazon gift card. - My kids would be like, I don't care that you bought those for somebody else. [00:05:56] Speaker 5: I'm gonna buy those. - We have to turn it back on. - No! No way! The last thing this world needs is more devices. [00:06:02] Speaker 4: - What, what, what? [00:06:06] Speaker 3: - Even though she feels she has nothing in common with them. These devices, they actually have, like she has trauma from being stored in a box. It suddenly pierces her armor and gives her some empathy towards devices that she's threatened by. [00:06:21] Speaker 1: - Devices who have had the same kinds of experiences that she's had. - Yeah, that she never considered. - Loving a kid, and then feeling kind of trapped, feeling forgotten. [00:06:28] Speaker 2: - I'm just gonna say that if you haven't seen Toy Story 2, please do, because there's several nods in this scene to Jessie's past. [00:06:38] Speaker 3: - I just can't get past how good, look at that drawer. - Look at that painting. [00:06:41] Speaker 5: - Look at that dang drawer. [00:06:43] Speaker 3: - That's a real drawer. [00:06:45] Speaker 5: - Fine. - Fine. - Fine. - Fine. - Fine. - We gotta make this quick. [00:06:51] Speaker ?: - Ha ha! [00:06:52] Speaker 4: Yes! - Number one, you made number one. [00:06:56] Speaker 3: - Devices have been around for a while now. [00:06:59] Speaker 4: - Atlas! - Snappy! - Morty? [00:07:01] Speaker 3: - We wanted the sort of like the millennial kind of devices. Your own personal camera, your own personal geocaching device. [00:07:07] Speaker 1: - Yes. And just rapidly changing, 'cause in a very, very short amount of time, the shelf life was so-- - Yeah, so short. - So short. [00:07:14] Speaker 4: - Yeah. - Is it really you? Is it really me? - Oh my goodness, you look great. - The double A team is back! [00:07:20] Speaker 5: - Mom brought us inside after that tantrum blaze head, and we never saw you again. [00:07:23] Speaker 1: And we cast Snappy and Atlas, so Shelby Rabara and Craig Robinson with the trio in mind. [00:07:31] Speaker 3: - And then we recorded Craig and Shelby together. - Yes. - Because they're both improv artists. - Yes. - And so we would just try everything. [00:07:40] Speaker 5: - What's up? - It's been a while! - What's up? - You were right there, oh my god! [00:07:44] Speaker 1: - The whole time, I was here the whole time! - There's always an instinct, I think, in our business to make things clean and perfect. And then instead we were like, no, get in there, get on top of each other, 'cause it feels more real that way. [00:07:55] Speaker 3: - You want those kids in a van kind of feel. In my mind, they were bought probably the same birthday or Christmas, they-- - That's so cute! - They got along right away. - Oh! - And it's like meeting on the schoolyard of toys. [00:08:06] Speaker 1: - That's gonna make me cry, thinking about them bought on the same Christmas. [00:08:12] Speaker 5: - Well, there's the short. [00:08:12] Speaker 4: - So tell me, tell me, what did I miss? [00:08:14] Speaker 5: - Oh my gosh, well, we've been down a long time, too. - Oh, but look, I can show you how first and second grade went! [00:08:20] Speaker 1: - Oh yeah, please do that, oh yeah, look at her! - This is only a sneak peek of Blaze. Blaze is played by the wonderful Michael Michelle Harris. And I've always just liked that the drawer secretly hints at how important this character is going to be. - 'Cause of how important she is to them. - Exactly, yeah, you kind of get to-- - You meet her through her toys first. - It's all part of the drum roll. - There's something special about her. - You're hearing about them, and then you finally get to meet them. And she's just as great as you think she's gonna be. [00:08:46] Speaker 3: - She is awesome! - I'm waiting for you to like reference Fellowship of the Ring somehow for that. [00:08:50] Speaker 1: - Yeah, why would you do this? - Look at the way they introduce Sauron in "Lord of the Ring". [00:08:56] Speaker 3: - Blaze equals Sauron. Hmm, we could really mislead the audience now. [00:09:02] Speaker 5: - Okay, okay, I am glad you're all powered up and stuff, but we're wasting time I don't got. [00:09:10] Speaker 2: - I love that animation. [00:09:11] Speaker 5: - All the performances. - Taking time, I do not have. [00:09:13] Speaker 3: - Who did that shot? [00:09:14] Speaker 2: - Devan. [00:09:15] Speaker 1: - Is that Devan? I was gonna say that. - Dave Devan. - Very Devan. - I just love Dave 'cause he would come in and you would give him a shot and he'd be like, okay. [00:09:22] Speaker 3: - He would be the same if he was mad at you, happy, sad. [00:09:25] Speaker 1: - And then he would just turn in the greatest piece of animation that you've ever seen. [00:09:29] Speaker 2: - I'm gonna use that in my, I have time I do not have. [00:09:33] Speaker 4: - Guys, guys, guys, this is pushy cowgirl Jessie. She claims she's a sheriff, just go with it. - Blaze has her horse bonsai. [00:09:39] Speaker 5: - Bonsai! And I gotta get us back to our kid Bonnie now. She needs us, so where is he, Smarty? [00:09:45] Speaker 4: - Right, okay, I said I'd tell ya, so I'll tell ya. Drum roll, please. [00:09:49] Speaker 1: - Oh, wait, the tippy tappies. - Are they doing a drum roll? [00:09:52] Speaker 3: - Yes. - I also remember the first time somebody showed us the model test of Snappy skittering around on her tripod. - Yes. - So cute. [00:09:59] Speaker 1: - You screamed. - I screamed at a lot of things. [00:10:01] Speaker 3: - That's true. - With delight. [00:10:03] Speaker 1: - That's true. - Yes. [00:10:03] Speaker 4: - With delight, not fear. [00:10:04] Speaker 1: - I love the tippy tappies. [00:10:06] Speaker 4: - He's probably in the bedroom. [00:10:09] Speaker 5: - Probably in the bedroom? [00:10:10] Speaker 4: I could've guessed that. - And yet you did not, Dusty. [00:10:13] Speaker 5: - Dusty? [00:10:14] Speaker 4: - Yeah, you know, like ancient, elderly, mummified old fart, or as I like to call it, number 1.5. - Mr. Smarty. [00:10:20] Speaker 5: - You know what, I've had enough of your crap. - Oh, oh, wait! I just had an idea that could maybe help you get to Bonnie. - What? [00:10:26] Speaker 3: - Joan Cusack recorded the lines for Jessie. And I felt Jessie, just as a present-day character, had so much more to give. I felt she was teed up in "Toy Story 4" because Woody consciously gave her his badge. The next movie I was hoping would put her in a main character role. We've drawn everything we could out of Woody, and I realized, oh, she has so much in her history that there's just a lot to mine from. [00:10:54] Speaker 5: - I am done with this techno mumbo jumbo. No offense, but I'll be fine getting back on my own. - Offense taken! [00:11:02] Speaker 2: - This scene kind of leads you into what will become-- - Her goal. - Her goal. - Leading her both to her past and her future. [00:11:12] Speaker 1: - Andrew, why should everyone see this movie in a theater? [00:11:16] Speaker 3: - Why not? [00:11:17] Speaker 1: - Point taken. Lindsay Collins? [00:11:19] Speaker 2: - It has laughs, it has tears, it has great score, it has-- - It has poop jokes. - It has poop jokes. It has rapping. - Spoiler. - Spoiler. - That's okay. - Kenna? - Your thoughts. - It has pigs. [00:11:32] Speaker 1: - It has pigs. [00:11:33] Speaker 3: - It has a pig. [00:11:35] Speaker 1: - Toy Story, there's not a lot of movies out there that you have such a long established relationship with. This is a pretty big event. I've missed these characters a lot. And whenever it comes to all the characters in film that I miss, I just, it feels best to see them on a big screen, so I hope that you all do that. I've really committed to the pen as the microphone. [00:11:59] Speaker 3: - Can I stop talking, is that what you said? [00:12:01] Speaker 2: - We say that all the time to him. We're like, let me just stop talking. [00:12:04] Speaker 3: - Have you been hanging out with Kenna? [00:12:05] Speaker 1: - Drew, Lindsay says stop talking. [00:12:07] Speaker 3: - Kenna, will you tell Lindsay-- [00:12:08] Speaker 2: - Can you just stop talking for a second? [00:12:10] Speaker 3: - I'm talking, talking, talking. Can you hear me, hear me, hear me?