‘There’s a lot of restraint’: How ‘Toy Story 5’ balances new technology with nostalgia

Pixar’s technology has evolved a lot since Toy Story debuted in 1995, leading to a major advancement Toy Story 5the filmmakers intentionally held back to maintain the visual style of the franchise.

“There’s a lot of restraint,” producer Lindsay Collins told me during an interview at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. “We don’t want to suddenly feel like we’ve jumped so far ahead technologically that these characters no longer feel like the same characters or the same world.”

But that didn’t stop the studio from improving its animation tools in other ways. In Part 2, Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of the Toy Gang face an existential threat when Bonnie gets a new character. tablet His name is Lilibad. It’s a timely novel that explores how technology and creativity can coexist — a familiar theme for Pixar, which has combined technological breakthroughs with emotional storytelling. 40 years.

“We’re a technology company, so we don’t sit here and say, ‘Oh no, how dare you technology?'” Collins said. Instead, the filmmakers of Toy Story 5 delved into the nuances of how technology and gadgets shape our lives, highlighting their benefits and drawbacks.

Each Pixar film expands the studio’s technical capabilities, bringing increasingly ambitious worlds and characters to the screen – from Coco’s expressive skeletons to A very realistic rainstorm in Toy Story 4. Toy Story 5 pushes the boundaries once again with visual improvements that lean toward the minimalist: sunny pastures, stylized gameplay sequences, and even a completely new hairstyle. New technologies expand what’s possible on screen while maintaining the series’ character designs and environments that have defined it for more than three decades.

Bring new characters, settings, and styles to life

In Toy Story 5, we meet Blaze, a brave, animal-loving human character. She has curly, tight hair, a look Pixar has never done before. So, the team worked to develop the tools needed to make the vision a reality. This technology can now be used in any upcoming production, which could lead to more diverse characters, Collins said.

Another highlight of Toy Story 5 is the simplistic, watercolor-like gameplay sequences that take us inside Bonnie’s imagination as she plays out scenes with her toys. Sequences unfold like a dream, with soft edges and muted pastel colors. It was among my favorite moments in the film, evoking a sense of strangeness and childlike wonder.

“We wanted to give it a much more mental-eye feel,” said Toy Story 5 co-director Keena Harris. “This is something Pixar hasn’t had a lot of practice on.”

Despite the simpler look, it took a lot of time and effort – and a lot of internal testing – to perfect the unique animation style. Early in the filmmaking process, Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton realized the need for a dedicated team focused on improving that aspect of the production, Harris said.

Harris noted that Stanton also “wanted to handle much of our production as he handled his live productions.” This approach meant lighting was incorporated very early in the animation process. A new lighting tool called Luna allowed animators to light multiple shots across different settings at once, giving them a clearer sense of what the scene would look like instead of having to fill in those gaps later.

Toy Story 5 was also the first feature film to use Pixar’s newest projection system, Renderman XPUwhich now combines central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) processing. Artists can preview near-final versions of scenes very early in production, making it easier to fine-tune any details.

(Reach) The sky is the limit

In its early days, Pixar often had to work around technological limitations, limitations that sometimes inspired creative solutions. In the original Toy Story, for example, the animators depicted rain as Smudges on the window Instead of individual drops because the technology didn’t exist yet – which makes Toy Story 4’s rainstorm even more impressive.

Now, it’s less about what the studio is He can do and more about where he chooses to devote his time and energy. In Toy Story 5, for example, an army of high-tech Buzz Lightyear toys pursue a supposed Space Ranger mission, which at one point culminates in a horseback sequence.

“Fifty Buzz Lightyears on 50 horsepower is not a cheap spectacle, but it is important to the movie,” Collins said. “We’re passionate about it, and it’s worth every penny, so let’s do it. These are the types of conversations that are happening more and more.”

Pixar’s animation prowess doesn’t just lie in its flashier sequences. Sometimes, quieter details can have a greater visual impact.

“Toy Story 4 has taken our photography to this level, it’s clear we can make it look real,” Harris said. “At the beginning of development (Toy Story 5), it was like, ‘Okay, this isn’t what we want to do for the sake of doing this, so what’s going to differentiate the visuals of this movie?’

One area the filmmakers focused on was making the lighting appear more profound, especially in the scenes depicting the farm where Blaise lives. With rolling green pastures and golden hour sunsets, these were certainly the most evocative scenes, capturing the serenity and solitude of being in nature.

“We’ve spent some time outdoors with the games, but this movie sticks around in that world for a while,” Collins said. “We actually have the technology to do that now.”

For Pixar filmmakers, scenes like this highlight developments that have kept the studio at the forefront of computer animation.

“We’re really celebrating how far we’ve come,” Harris said.

Looking forward while staying rooted

Artificial intelligence continues to do so as well Reshaping the film industry And other industries, Pixar has remained open to exploring how technology can play a role in future productions. One of the studio’s notable uses of machine learning is Visual noise removal Producing a clearer final image.

“Our DNA has always been a technology-first company,” Collins said. “There’s this really symbiotic dynamic between technology and creativity, and that’s the same philosophy with which we approach AI. The purpose of technology is to help us on the creative side. It’s not replacing it, it’s not taking artists away. It’s allowing artists’ jobs to be easier (and) to get more creativity on screen. As long as it does that, we’re all involved.”

However, amid conversations about new tools and emerging technologies, Collins pointed to a constant that Pixar has defined for decades: artists and storytellers working side by side.

“We are the last studio where everyone in this building works together to make these films,” Collins said. “This is something we are very proud of. It is something we would never change under any circumstances.”

Toy Story 5 hits theaters June 19.