
We knew this news was coming since way back when Pixar and Disney kissed and made up:
Toy Story 3 is officially a Go.
Variety fills us in with all the details: Production on the third adventure of Buzz Lightyear and Woody the Cowboy is about to get underway, but
John Lasseter (director of
TS and
TS2) will not be at the helm this time. (He
is the Chief Creative Officer for Disney Animation, don't forget.) This means that directorial duties fall squarely on
Mr. Lee Unkrich, but this guy's more than earned the gig by now. (He was an editor/co-director on Pixar beauties like
Toy Story 2,
Monsters Inc. and
Finding Nemo.)
And here's another interesting tidbit: Seems that
Little Miss Sunshine screenwriter
Michael Arndt has been tapped to pen
Toy Story 3. (Hey, score one for the little guy!) Anyway, Disney says that
TS3 should be ready by 2009, which is kind of a long time to wait -- but, like most of you, I'm just thrilled that things worked out this way. We came kind of close to getting a Pixar-free
Toy Story 3, didn't we?