The choice for Woody is a clear one: live behind glass for the rest of his life, unloved but untarnished. Or return to Andy’s bedroom to be used and loved, but potentially destroyed. At the end of "Toy Story 2" Woody makes his choice to be loved. And so, too, have the folks at Pixar Studios, who, with 2010’s "Toy Story 3," are dusting off their old playthings and putting them back in the cinematic sandbox for one last adventure.

And one of those adventures may lead one favorite character to take center stage, revealed actor John Ratzenberger, who plays Hamm the Piggy Bank. "Hammy is a villain in the beginning of the movie," he said. "[But then], Hammy becomes a superhero. You’ll see."

Hammy was a villain at the beginning of "Toy Story" too - in one of Andy’s childhood play fantasies.

In February, the "Wall Street Journal" ran a story about video game licensing, where they casually dropped that the plot of "Toy Story 3" would follow Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang at a day care center, where they’re left when Andy, their owner, goes away to college. The plot line jibes with an original storyline for the first "Toy Story."

But whatever madcap adventures are in store, we can apparently expect one thing-a lot more Mrs. Potato Head.

"[It's] wonderful!" gushed Estelle Harris, who voiced the wedlocked vegetable. "I have a much bigger part. ‘Toy Story 2’ was my entrance, and I was a newlywed. But now, I’m still very much in love with Mr. Potato Head."

Forget about plot points though, there is one thing audiences need to know about "Toy Story 3" above all, said Harris - it’s gonna be amazing.

"You know the wonderful thing about Disney/Pixar movies I think is they believe in this above all, to thine own self be true," she said. "And they are."

Andrew Stanton revealed that he did some script work on the film last year. According to IMDB.com, the sole credited writer on the project now is Michael Arndt, an Oscar winner for "Little Miss Sunshine."

Bird on Toy Story 3 & Incredibles 2
Source: http://www.comingsoon.net Written by: Heather Newgen
June 22, 2007

ComingSoon.net got a chance to chat on Friday with director Brad Bird at the press day for his new animated-adventure, Rataouille. Naturally, we asked him about Toy Story 3 and a possible sequel to The Incredibles.

"It's going to be good," Bird said about the third "Toy Story." "We wouldn't do it if we didn't think it could be good." The third film, to be voiced again by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, is coming to theaters in 2010.

But would he do another "Incredibles"? "I do if I can come up with a story that is as good or better than the first one. If I can come up with a "Toy Story 2" with "The Incredibles," then I would do it in a second. I have pieces that I think are good, but I don't have them all together."

Bird said sequels aren't part of Pixar's business plan. "We've made one and we're going to make another... We don't make it for any reason other than if it's a movie we want to see and a story we're excited to tell, we will go after it. We don't do it for money. Walt Disney once said that he doesn't make films to make money, he makes money to make films. That's very much Pixar's philosophy. It's why we're in the game."

Toy Story 3 News
01/19/2007
Source: variety.com

Toon studio is extraordinarily tightlipped about its upcoming projects, but it is known to be working as well on "Toy Story 3," most likely as a 2009 release. Disney was developing "Toy Story 3" inhouse but abandoned that effort after acquiring Pixar in late 2005. As part of the deal to install John Lasseter and Ed Catmull as the heads of Disney Animation, Mouse House agreed to let Pixar produce the third installment.

Toy Story 3 Cancelled
January 25, 2006

As the subject line read, John Lasseter and Ed Catmill announced to Feature Animation employees today that the "Toy Story 3" production will end effectively today. They said that sequels should only be made if there is a really great story that demands it, and should be the domain of those who created the original film.

In other words, if Pixar wants to make a sequel to its films, it will. If Disney Feature wants to make a sequel to its film, it will. But the two will not cross.

They said they were interested in the talent assembled for Circle 7, and would try to accomodate that talent--they were sort of vague. But they said they held no prejudice at all towards those who were at Circle 7, and wanted to find a way to use their talents.

Hope this works out for the best for all the talented folks at Circle 7.

"More on Disney’s animation future, sequels to Pixar’s films"
03/22/2005

In what appears to be an extended version of last week’s article from the Orlando Sentinel, Magical Mountain has a bit more on Disney’s new Glendale-based unit created for sequels to Pixar’s films. According to the article, a proposed script Toy Story 3 was “so good” that it is getting serious consideration for Toy Story 4. In fact, around 40 screenwriters have pitched sequel ideas for Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. to Disney executives. Disney animation chief David Stainton declined to comment on the new studio’s plans, instead speaking on Disney’s core animation unit. Stainton comments, “The energy of the place has really improved.” Additionally, studio chief Dick Cook states, “Our momentum is back. There’s enthusiasm and commitment to regain our rightful place as the leader in animation.”

Toy Story 3 plot revealed
03/16/2005

The Orlando Sentinel has a very up-to-date article regarding Disney’s new animation division in Glendale, California, created especially for the production of sequels to Pixar’s films. Included in the article is a brief plot for Toy Story 3, directed by Bradley Raymond (The Lion King 1½) and produced by Roy Conli (Treasure Planet, The Hunchback of Notre Dame). The sequel “follows adventures of Buzz after he is recalled to the Taiwan factory where he was built.” Toy Story 3 is expected to be released in 2008.

"Toy Story 3 gets a story"
01/19/2005

Variety [paid registration required] indicates that Disney Feature Animation will go ahead with plans for Toy Story 3, using a story from a young writer by the name of Jared Stern, a member of Disney’s Feature Animation Writing Program. It had been previously believed that the story would come from the Meet the Parents movies’ scribe James Herzfeld, while other writers turned in ideas for the sequel as well. Toy Story 3 is aiming for a 2007 release.

"Toy Story 3 becoming a reality"
11/16/2004

Yahoo! News reports that Disney’s long-rumored production of Toy Story 3 without Pixar’s involvement is now under way. Apparently Walt Disney Feature Animation is “in the process of setting up a digital animation facility in Glendale — not far from the digs of its bitter rival DreamWorks Animation.” Let’s all cross our fingers and hope it is done well.

"Toy Story 3 in pre-production?"
09/06/2004

Moviehole reports that the folks behind the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command animated series know a bit about what is happening with Toy Story 3. The film will be made at a “different camp”, with the movie already in the planning stages. As expected, Toy Story 3 is still on track to be theatrical.

Disney studio chief sees big-screen "Toy Story 3"
Friday March 26, 4:42 pm ET

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, March 26 (Reuters) - "Toy Story 3" will be big.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - News) studio chief Dick Cook said on Friday he was leaning toward making the third installment of "Toy Story," Pixar Animation Studios Inc. (NasdaqNM:PIXR - News)'s 1995 hit, as a feature movie rather than a straight-to-home video project in a few years.

Pixar and Disney plan to part ways after two more films together, but Disney retains the rights to make the sequels to the movies they have already produced, including the two "Toy Story" movies.

Pixar, which has said sequel rights were a sore point that helped torpedo contract extension talks, could take part in "Toy Story 3" but has said it was unlikely to do so.

"My hunch is big screen," Dick Cook, the studio chairman, told Reuters in an interview. But he said that no decision had been made and that the movie was a few years or more away.

"We are nowhere on it right now," he said.

Disney's sequel to its own hit "The Lion King" went straight to video and DVD this year. DVD sequels work well for studios that can build on a household name without major investments, but Cook said the "Toy Story" sequel was worth a bigger release.

"I think it deserves it. These are two of the most beloved characters in the last generation. Buzz and Woody are fantastic characters, and I think that is something that would fit on the big screen nicely."

Cook was in San Antonio, Texas to promote "The Alamo," which debuts April 9.

Disney hopes the historical adventure, which cost just under $100 million to make, will prove to be a hit with audiences after the studio delayed it from a planned year-end release.

Disney's Dick Cook on films and the future
03/03/2004
Source: http://www.animated-news.com

Taking the stage to talk at the Disney shareholders meeting, Studio head Dick Cook played up the upcoming releases from Walt Disney Pictures, including such tent-pole pictures as Hildago, The Ladykillers, Home On The Range, The Alamo, King Arthur, M Night Shyamalan's The Village, The Princess Diaries II and, of course, The Incredibles, to which the gathered crowd were treated to a rough full trailer. Looking ahead to 2005, Cook called Chicken Little an "outrageous comedy", again presenting rough trailer footage, as well as mentioning the upcoming A Day With Wilbur Robinson, Glen Keane's Rapunzel Unbraided and American Dog. Commenting on the controlling of the Pixar library of films, Cook announced "new and exciting movies and products based on those wonderful stories, including Toy Story 3, now in development at Walt Disney Feature Animation".

Disney Set To Make Sequels to Pixar Films
February 12, 2004
Source: Dow Jones Business News
By Dwight Oestricher

NEW YORK -- Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - News) has every intention of producing sequels to films it made with its soon-to-be ex-partner Pixar , and "Toy Story 3" will be the first one up.

Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said Wednesday that negotiations to keep the co-producing deal with Pixar alive failed last month after 10 months of talks because of economics. Pixar reportedly was looking for a deal where Disney would just be a distributor of the films, receiving a fee of about 10% to 15%, with Pixar financing 100% of the films. That would mean no more sharing in the profits of the films on a 50-50 basis after co-producing them with Pixar and distributing them.

What they were offering "wasn't something we felt we could live with, that would be fair to our shareholders," Mr. Cook said at a meeting with analysts and investors Wednesday. He added that the deal being proposed by Pixar "didn't recognize the value we brought to the partnership."

Pixar Chief Executive Steven Jobs said earlier this month that his company felt "sick" about Disney doing sequels to the movies.

Pixar was seeking to include the two movies left under its deal with Disney, " The Incredibles," due this year and "Cars," in 2005, under a new distribution deal with the film rights to all co-produced films eventually being granted to Pixar.

Saying that Disney has the talent and technology to make quality computer- generated films, Mr. Cook said Disney will evaluate the library of Pixar films, including "Toy Story" and its sequel, "A Bug's Life," Monsters Inc." and " Finding Nemo," and figure how they fit in Disney's production schedule. While he said "Toy Story" would be a theatrical feature, Mr. Cook didn't rule out direct- to-home-video sequels. These sequels, which include "The Jungle Book 2," and the recent " Lion King 1 1/2," were labeled "embarrassing" by Mr. Jobs.

"We will nurture and grow these franchises with new stories," Mr. Cook said, promising that characters from Pixar films will live in new movies, television shows and theme park attractions, among other things.

Mr. Cook said Disney's direct-to-video animated films will generate more than $1 billion in their lifetime, with each movie costing less than $20 million and providing "healthy" double-digit returns.

All the animated films on Disney's theatrical slate are computer generated, Mr. Cook said, but it will keep its foot in 2-D animation with its direct-to- video releases.

The Pixar relationship has been lucrative for Disney, and that showed up in Disney's first-quarter earnings, which included the home video release of " Finding Nemo," which had done about $792 million in worldwide box office and sold more than 20 million home video units by the end of 2003. Disney's studio entertainment revenues in the quarter rose 57% to $3 billion and operating income rose to $458 million from $138 million.

"Finding Nemo" was a large contributor to studio entertainment revenues, but because of the profit sharing with Pixar, Disney's own "Pirates of the Caribbean," home video was a larger contributor to operating income, Mr. Cook explained. Disney has started planning a sequel to "Pirates," he added.