Buzz Lightyear shows up in Nemo, as do characters from two upcoming Pixar films, 2004's The Incredibles and 2005's Cars. In addition to providing hours of freeze-framed entertainment for today's DVD generation, this character cross-pollination, says Stanton, is also a sign of a TV kid in the 1960s. "We all remember when the Beverly Hillbillies went on Petticoat Junction, or when the Green Hornet was on Batman," he says. "That rocked our world when we were kids, so we said, 'Why not?'"
The Pizza Planet truck, which played a key role in Pixar's first feature, 1995's Toy Story, has become Pixar's most recurring image, popping up, Hitchcock-like, in every picture the studio has made. Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed Finding Nemo, explains to the L.A. Times that "We have two rules in our movies. Get the Pizza Planet truck in there somewhere and always have John Ratzenberger be a voice." The former gets its most fleeting cameo ever in Nemo, whizzing past a dentist's office where a major part of the film is set, while the latter, whom Stanton calls "our good-luck charm," gives voice to an entire school of fish. Calling upon a favorite actor is understandable enough, as are artists inserting animation equivalents of Hirschfeld "Ninas" just for kicks. But how did a rent-a-wreck junk-food wagon wind up as the unifying icon for the studio's oeuvre? "It happened by accident for A Bug's Life," says Stanton, who co-wrote and co-directed that film. Running short of both time and money to design and create one shot of a human dwelling, under which Bug City would be revealed, the Pixar team hunted through existing images to reuse, settling on a beat-up camper. Needing a vehicle to park beside the camper, they decided to recycle the Pizza Planet truck. "That started it going and from then on we said, 'Well, can we put it in again?' " Stanton says. That ramshackle camper, incidentally, makes a return appearance along with the truck in 2001's Monsters, Inc. as the bayou dwelling where the villainous Randall gets his comeuppance. The best showcase for the Pizza Planet truck--the Pixar folks officially dubbed it a 1978 Gyoza--came in 1998's Toy Story 2, in which Buzz and the toy pack commandeered it to chase greedy toy dealer Al to the airport to rescue Woody.
From Animated News
The Pizza Planet truck, which played a key role in Pixar's first feature, 1995's Toy Story, has become Pixar's most recurring image, popping up, Hitchcock-like, in every picture the studio has made. Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed Finding Nemo, explains to the L.A. Times that "We have two rules in our movies. Get the Pizza Planet truck in there somewhere and always have John Ratzenberger be a voice." The former gets its most fleeting cameo ever in Nemo, whizzing past a dentist's office where a major part of the film is set, while the latter, whom Stanton calls "our good-luck charm," gives voice to an entire school of fish. Calling upon a favorite actor is understandable enough, as are artists inserting animation equivalents of Hirschfeld "Ninas" just for kicks. But how did a rent-a-wreck junk-food wagon wind up as the unifying icon for the studio's oeuvre? "It happened by accident for A Bug's Life," says Stanton, who co-wrote and co-directed that film. Running short of both time and money to design and create one shot of a human dwelling, under which Bug City would be revealed, the Pixar team hunted through existing images to reuse, settling on a beat-up camper. Needing a vehicle to park beside the camper, they decided to recycle the Pizza Planet truck. "That started it going and from then on we said, 'Well, can we put it in again?' " Stanton says. That ramshackle camper, incidentally, makes a return appearance along with the truck in 2001's Monsters, Inc. as the bayou dwelling where the villainous Randall gets his comeuppance. The best showcase for the Pizza Planet truck--the Pixar folks officially dubbed it a 1978 Gyoza--came in 1998's Toy Story 2, in which Buzz and the toy pack commandeered it to chase greedy toy dealer Al to the airport to rescue Woody.
From Animated News