Favorite Animated Movies From Each Year Of My Life Part 2/5

 2002- Lilo and Stitch

Dr. Jumba Jookiba (David Odger Stiers) is on trial for creating an illegal genetic experiment named 626 (voiced by director Chris Sanders). He is bulletproof, fireproof, can see in the dark, think smarter than a supercomputer, and lift objects 3,000 times his own size. His only instinct is to destroy everything he touches! Because of this, the United Galactic Federation plans to send 626 to a desert asteroid and Jumba to a prison cell. 626, however, escapes, hijacks a police cruiser, and crash-lands on Earth. The Grand Councilwoman (Zoe Caldwell) has no choice but to send so-called Earth expert Pleakley (Kevin McDonald) and Jumba to Earth and retrieve 626. Back on Earth, on the island of Kauai, there live two sisters: 19-year-old Nani Pelekai (Tia Carrere) and 6-year-old Lilo Pelekai (Daveigh Chase). Both of their parents died in a car accident, so Nani is doing all she can to take care of Lilo and trying to get a job. When Lilo mistakes 626 for a dog and names him 'Stitch', the state of Hawaii gets turned upside-down.

Lilo and Stitch is easily the best animated Disney movie of the 2000s with a strong emotional story, great character animation, a rousing score from Alan Silvestri, and engaging and relatable characters. In fact, I often compare myself to Lilo Pelekai, and my sister to Nani.

2003- Finding Nemo

In the oceans of Australia, a clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brookes) has a son named Nemo. On his first day of school, Nemo touches a boat against his dad's orders and gets kidnapped by a scuba diver. Now Marlin, along with a forgetful regal tang named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) have to search the whole ocean to find Nemo, while meeting characters like vegetarian sharks, a school of moonfish, hypnotic jellyfish, and hippy sea turtles. Meanwhile, Nemo gets dumped into a fish tank in a dentist's office with four captive fish named Bubbles, Bloat, Gurgle, and Deb, a sea star named Peach, a French cleaner shrimp named Jacques, and a feral Moorish idol fish named Gil (William DeFoe). Gil, who has tried to escape countless times, agrees to help Nemo escape back into the big blue before he becomes the pet of Darla, the dentist’s niece who kills every fish she gets.

Finding Nemo is Pixar’s best movie with amazing animation, a highly engaging story and characters, a great score from Thomas Newman, and tons of memorable quotes.

2004- The Incredibles

The Incredibles takes place in a world of superheroes and supervillains. After being saved, who didn’t want to be saved, by a superhero named Mr. Incredible, the man sues Mr. Incredible, and all superheroes are banned from Metroville, or live a normal life as a modern-day citizen. Fifteen years have passed, and Mr. Incredible (now known as Bob Parr) is married to the super-stretchy Elastgirl (now known as Helen Parr), who gave birth to three kids, each with different powers. When a new villain named Syndrome (who’s actually a rejected fanboy) plans to destroy the city with the Omnidroid, a special robot that only he can defeat, it’s up to Bob and his family to come out of hiding and save the world.

The Incredibles may be more mature and violent than previous Pixar films, but it’s still a fantastic movie with an imaginative and compelling story, great animation that aged like fine wine, engaging characters, an ‘incredible’ score from Michael Giaccino, and an accurate depiction on how married couples act.

2005- Corpse Bride

 

In Tim Burton's follow-up to The Nightmare before Christmas, Victor Van Dort (Johnny Depp) is betrothed to the lovely Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson). However, after practicing his vows in the forest, Victor accidentally marries a corpse named Emily (Helena Bonham Carter) and gets sent to the colorful Land of the Dead, inhabited by zombies, skeletons, and creepy-crawlies. However, Barkis Bittern, who killed Emily years ago, hears about Victor's sudden disappearance, and plans to marry Victoria against her will to inherit her money.

I’m aware that others would pick Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit over Corpse Bride, but I chose this movie for its simple and charming story, catchy songs from Danny Elfman, strong character animation, and a more threatening villain.

2006- Happy Feet

Every emperor penguin has a song. When they have the right song, they have the right mate. Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood), however, has an awful singing voice. Instead, he can tap-dance. The elder emperor penguins find this a disgrace to penguin-kind, and they blame Mumble for the fish famine. Mumble gets banished from his colony, and the only friends he has are a group of 5 Hispanic Adele penguins (the leader voiced by the late Robin Williams) and the all-knowing rock-hopper penguin, Lovelace (also voiced by Robin Williams). Together, they go on an epic adventure to find out where the fish really went.

Even though the movie has a story that drags on longer than it should and mature religious undertones, Happy Feet more than makes up for it with animation that aged very well, a powerful score from John Powell, engaging and relatable characters, and top-notch voice acting.

I’m totally aware that other people would pick Over the Hedge, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Paprika, or even Cars for their favorite animated movie from 2006, but for me, Happy Feet is a metaphor for autism (which I have). Mumble is different from other penguins since he can’t sing well. Instead, he has a knack for tap-dancing that the other emperor penguins can’t stand. This can be viewed as a parable for stimming, which many autistic people, myself included, do a lot. If that isn’t bad enough, Mumble has trouble connecting with his dad Memphis! In fact, the only other emperors who accept Mumble for who he is are his mom Norma Jean and another penguin around Mumble’s age, Gloria. Luckily, since this is a family movie, everything turns out right in the end.

Along with all that, Mumble has a strong sense of moral justice: When Lovelace has his talisman (which is actually a six-pack) stuck to a heavy bell, Mumble dives head-first to rescue Lovelace, even though he doesn’t really like Mumble. To top it all off, there were hungry orcas in the water!

2007- Ratatouille

Ratatouille tells the story of a French rat named Remy (Patton Oswalt), who has a good sense of smell and a passion for cooking. He follows in the footsteps of the deceased but legendary Chef Gusteu, the greatest chef in Paris. When he finds himself underneath the restaurant of Gusteu's itself, Remy befriends a nincompoop named Alfredo Linguini. He has no idea how to cook, but Remy does. Remy teaches Linguini how to cook by hiding under his hat and literally pulling his hairs. However, the devious Chef Skinner becomes aware of Linguini's secret, and will do anything to expose Linguini's secret.

Ratatouille is as delectable as the food in the movie with an engaging story, outstanding animation, likable characters, and another tasty score from Michael Giacchino.

In Part 3, you’ll see movies featuring pandas, foxes, princesses, and wolves!

Favorite Animated Movies From Each Year Of My Life Part 1/5

On April 10th, 1996, yours truly was born. To celebrate the occasion, I decided to tackle an ambitious project: A favorite animated movie from each year of my life so far. For the next couple of days, I’ll tackle 30 animated movies from 30 different years. Without further ado, let’s go!

1996- The Hunchback of Notre Dame

To be honest, picking a quality animated movie from 1996 was tough- Beevis and Butthead Do America is too crude, James and the Giant Peach is too strange, and All Dogs Go To Heaven 2 is a disgrace to the original film. That’s why I picked Disney’s feature that year, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, this movie tells the story of a deformed man named Quasimodo, who has been raised in the Notre Dame bell tower for 20 years. The only friends he has are three gargoyle statues named Victor, Hugo, and Laverne. On the Feast of Fools, Quasi asks his boss and caretaker, Judge Claude Frollo, if he could go. Frollo resents, but Quasi sneaks out anyway. When the townspeople see Quasi, they laugh at his ugliness and throw fruits and vegetables at him. However, he gets rescued by a beautiful gypsy named Esmeralda, and she helps him escape. Enraged by this, Frollo seeks revenge by burning down all of Paris to find Esmeralda so he can kill her.

Despite having annoying gargoyles, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an improvement over Pocahontas with top-notch animation, another great score from Alan Menken, songs that have no right to be this good (except for maybe A Guy Like You), and a strong message about accepting others for who they really are.

1997- Anastasia

I know some people would pick Hercules or Princess Mononoke for 1997, but I decided to pick Don Bluth’s feature that year, Anastasia.

This movie is about a young woman named Anya (Meg Ryan), who suffered from amnesia as a child. When she gets spotted by Dimitri (John Cusack), who is trying desperately to find the real Anastasia Romanov to earn money from the queen, he thinks that Anya is the real Anastasia, and not just an imposter, and brings her to France to prove to the queen that she's the real Anastasia. When the evil Rasputan (Christopher Lloyd) finds out that Anya is still alive, he won't rest until all the Romanovs are dead. 

Even though the film strays away from the real-life events, Anastasia is still a capable film with a well-structured story, songs that easily surpass weaker Alan Menken songs, a good score from David Newman, engaging characters, and top-notch character animation.

1998- Mulan

I know some people would pick The Prince of Egypt for their favorite animated movie from 1998, but at our house, Mulan is a favorite of me and my mom.

Mulan is about a Chinese girl named Fa Mulan, who unfortunately fails her matchmaker test. One day, her aging father Fa Zhu gets drafted into a war against the power-hungry Mongolian Huns. This is a bad idea for Mulan because he is sure to die, so Mulan steals her dad’s armor and participates in the war in Fa Zhu’s place. With the help of the lucky cricket Cri-Kee and the pint-sized dragon Mushu, Mulan has to prove what it takes to fight the Huns and save China without the other soldiers finding out her real identity.

When Mulan was first released 28 years ago, Roger Ebert called the film ‘an impressive achievement ranking with Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King!’ And he’s absolutely right: Mulan is a gem with brilliant animation, a compelling story, engaging characters, catchy songs from David Zippel and Matthew Wilder, and a brilliant score from the late Jerry Goldsmith.

1999- Toy Story 2

I know that some would pick The Iron Giant over Toy Story 2, but I felt that it would be sacrilegious to exclude a Toy Story movie.

In the sequel to the animation phenomenon known as Toy Story, Woody gets kidnapped by Al McWiggen (Wayne Knight), a greedy toy collector. When Woody finds himself in Al's apartment, he discovers that he was part of a popular TV series from the 50s called 'Woody's Roundup'. He meets a perky cowgirl named Jessie (Joan Cussack), a loyal horse named Bullseye, and a boxed prospector named Pete (Kelsey Grammer). Little does Woody know that Al wants to sell him and his 'Roundup Gang' to a toy museum in Japan! Now it's up to Buzz Lightyear, along with Hamm, Rex, Slinky, and Mr. Potato Head to rescue Woody and remind him what a toy's true purpose in life is.

Even after 26 years, Toy Story 2 is still one of the best animated sequels of all time with a story that really expands on what we loved about Toy Story 1, fun new characters, animation that holds up very well, great quotes, and another great score from Randy Newman.

2000- Chicken Run

Aardman's first feature film Chicken Run is about a British hen named Ginger (Julia Sawalha), who lives on a chicken farm owned by the wicked Mrs. Tweedy. Whenever the chickens stop laying eggs, Tweedy kills them. When a 'flying' rooster named Rocky (Mel Gibson) crashes into the farm, Ginger eagerly asks Rocky how he flew so all the chickens can fly to escape Mrs. Tweedy. They better do it quick- Mrs. Tweedy plans on making the chickens into pies.

Chicken Run is one of the best stop-motion movies of all time with fluid animation, a compelling story, likable and funny characters, a great score from John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams, and Aardman’s best villain to date: Mrs. Melicia Tweedy.

2001- Spirited Away

I’m sorry that I didn’t pick either Shrek or Monsters Inc for 2001, but it’s almost impossible to choose between the two films: It would be like picking between pizzas and tacos. I also wanted to include movies from different countries.

Spirited Away is about a 10-year-old girl named Chihiro, who moves away from her old town with her parents. While stopping at an abandoned resort town, Chihiro’s parents gorge themselves with food that turns them into pigs. Before she knows it, Chihiro gets spirited away to another world where the biggest monsters rule. Now, in order to change her parents back, Chihiro has to work at Yubaba’s bath house while also learning to love herself.

Spirited Away is Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece with a paper-thick story, lovable characters, astonishing character animation, and a moving score from Joe Hisashi.

In Part 2, you’ll see movies featuring aliens, fish, zombies, and penguins!

Movie Review: Hoppers

Movie Review: Hoppers                                                                                           3-7-26

Hoppers is about a 19-year-old Japanese-American girl named Mabel Tanaka, who loves animals but hates Mayor Jerry who plans on destroying the local pond to make room for a freeway. At Mabel's collage, the local scientists have created a new software called Hoppers, in which your brain can be transferred into a robot animal lookalike in order to survey the local wildlife. Mabel uses Hopping technology to transfer her brain into a robot Beaver, where she meets the beaver king George. Now, Mabel must work with the other animals, including a bear named Ellen, a lizard named Tom, and another beaver named Loaf, in order to save their home.

Hoppers is Pixar's best original film since Coco (And I mean it this time!) with a story that gets you immersed into Beaverton, high quality character animation that is Pixar's trademark, tons of fun Easter Eggs, the most surprising twists in an animated film since Zootopia 1, and engaging characters.

Hoppers has two major milestones for Pixar: It's the company's seventh original movie of the 2020s, and their seventh film to have a female protagonist. Speaking of whom, Mabel Tanaka is a great character, even if you've seen this archetype before. She loves animals and will do whatever it takes protect them, whether it's trying to foil Jerry's plans or even freeing the animals from the local school. Just like Flik, Miguel Rivera, and Elio Solis before her, Mabel lies to the pond animals about being a real beaver, and without giving away spoilers, this comes back to bite Mabel in the tail later. Also, am I the only one who thinks Mabel has ADHD?

Mabel after saving Loaf from getting eaten by Ellen.

If I were to nitpick one thing, however, I find it confusing that Mabel's parents aren't around at her house, yet she's still attending college and doing poorly in classes. Do Mabel's parents even know what their daughter has been up to?

"Guys, this is like Avatar!"

Regardless, Hoppers is still an excellent movie to watch this Spring. I strongly recommend seeing it in theaters, especially after what happened with Elio. Besides, there's not much out there as I'm typing this.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Plus what Tom has to say 

Author's Notes

Russell carrying over A Bug’s Life characters on a clay sculpture is based on how Pixar characters start out as clay sculptures, which the computer later scans.

I know Luca shouldn’t know what a mole crab is (since mole crabs can’t be found in Italy), but in his film, Luca knew what a catfish was, which lives in freshwater. Luca and his kind are saltwater monsters.

In Elemental, Wade is, in fact, afraid of sponges, since he got stuck in one when he was a kid.

In Inside Out 1, Bing-Bong had a magic sack that could hold anything. Joy and Sadness use the sack to store the Core Memories so they don’t have to carry them all the time.

Talk about letting the cat out of the bag.

The jingle that Joe plays on his phone is a special tune that would play during the Walt Disney Pictures logo in front of Toy Stories 1 and 2, A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, and Cars.

Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios (Version 1) - YouTube

A lot of people don’t know this, but Frozone’s secret identity in The Incredibles is Lucius Best.

I’m aware that there are some characters that I missed, but there just wasn’t enough room for every single Pixar character. I also made a rule for myself to include no humans from Inside Out.

The Good Dinosaur will forever be remembered as Pixar’s first box-office failure, causing a write-down of 85 million dollars.

If you're wondering where Bruce, Anchor, and Chum are, they’re in Pixar’s swimming pool. Don’t believe that Pixar has a pool? Click the link below!

https://www.instagram.com/p/DHtr-Ujyl4G/

The reason why I had the characters spell out ‘40 Years of Pixar’ in this story is because I wanted to differentiate it from Once Upon a Studio. I was also inspired by how in the teaser trailer for Toy Story 3, the characters make the logo for the movie out of whatever they can find, only for Buzz Lightyear to make a better logo.

I decided to have the Cars characters be outside because it would be physically impossible for most of the characters to fit inside a building without leaving tire tracks or destroying some of the building.

I was going to have the red and blue umbrellas from The Blue Umbrella to protect BURN-E and Ember from the big splash, but because of the technical restraints I had for my collage, I decided to use Questa from Elio, instead.

I was going to have Terry count every Pixar character in the photo, but I soon realized that it was just too ambitious of a challenge.

This is what Guido and Guilia’s Italian roughly translates to.

Tell my friends it's time to get ready for the group photo! They're sleeping in the parking lot.

Don't worry, Guido. We'll help you.

A thousand thanks!

It’s Guido.

We had a big party last night and everyone is exhausted from all the hard work.

Hector’s Spanish translates to ‘cowboy doll’ and ‘friend’.

Joe nearly getting run over by Chick Hicks from Cars is a nod to how Joe narrowly dodged death at the beginning of Soul before walking into a manhole.

For those unfamiliar, Rocky Gibraltar was a wrestling action figure that belonged to Andy in the first two Toy Stories.

Well, Part 1 of my tribute to Pixar is completed. Next week, I will review all of Pixar’s movies leading up to Elio, as well as the Toy Story specials. Stay tuned!

40 Years of Pixar

It was February 3rd, 2026 at 6PM. Pixar Animation Studios has just celebrated their 40th anniversary party, and now, the staff was heading home for the day. Daniel Chong, director of their next film Hoppers, and Pete Docter were having small talk as they were leaving the Steve Jobs Building.

“Can’t you believe Pixar was founded 40 years ago today by Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, and the one who shall not be named?” Asked Daniel.

“Yes, because we just had the celebration party.” Said Pete. “And I had the pleasure of meeting all three of them.” As the two left the lot, two toys, a cowboy doll and a space ranger action figure, were hiding underneath the windows of the main lobby.

“Are they gone?” Asked the cowboy.

“Affirmative, Woody.” Said the space ranger. “Round up the gang!” Woody turned around to face the lobby.

“Okay, everybody!” Said Woody. “The coast is clear!” Mabel Tanaka hops out of a painting, statues of the Parr family come to life, and 22, Wally B, and Gale popped out of computers.

“Wally B!” Said Woody. “Go search around the building to find everyone else. Tell them to meet outside the Steve Jobs building!” Wally B buzzed in agreement and flew around the studio to find other characters. As he flew around, other characters noticed that it was time.

“Can’t you believe it, guys?” Exclaimed Flik. “It’s been forty years since Pixar was founded today!”

“Forty years?” Said Emile. “Does that mean there’s been cheese lying around all this time? Remy told me that cheese gets better the more time has passed.” Soon, Gypsy, Manny, Dim (with Rosey on his back), Atta, and Francis flew off to head outside.

“You fired!” Said Tuck and Roll in unison.

“Sorry, but I have to get going.” Said Emile, as he scampered across the floor and down the stair railing.

“How are we supposed to get down?” Asked Heimlich. “I’m now a beautiful butterfly, but my wings are just too small!” As luck had it, a human boy with an egg-shaped head walked over and noticed the bugs.

“Look, bugs!” He said. “Good afternoon. My name is Russell, and I am a Wilderness Explorer. Do any of you need help?”

“Actually, yes.” Said Slim. “We need to get outside, but none of us can fly.”

“I could help you get outside.” Said Russell, looking around for something to carry the bugs with. “How about this clay sculpture?”

“Okay, but I don’t think that’s yours.” Said Flik.

“It’s alright.” Said Russell. “I promise that I’ll put it back where I found it. C’mon, hop on. A Wilderness Explorer is friends to all, make it plant, fish, or tiny mole!” The bugs hopped onto the clay sculpture, and Russell decided to bring the bugs down. While Russel was walking outside, Carl Frederickson and Geri were playing a heated game of chess, only to be interrupted by Mike Wazowski.

“What are you guys doing?!” He asked. “Don’t you know that today’s the day?”

“Alright, alright.” Said Carl. “Just let me and Geri finish our game. Checkmate!” This caught Geri by surprise, and he reluctantly gave Carl a vintage WW2 pin.

———————

Meanwhile, in the studio’s Brooklyn Building (which wasn’t in Brooklyn), the Finding Nemo characters gushed out of a painting, only to find out that most of them need water to survive. Luckily, Luca and Wade were walking by, with Nigel perched on Luca’s shoulder.

“Oh no.” Said Wade. “These fish are stranded on the floor with no water! This makes me want to…” He then started bawling.

“Don’t make a sinkhole out of a mole crab burrow.” Said Luca, getting a pitcher of water. “I can get you outside safely. Who wants to go in the bowl?”

“It’s technically a pitcher,” Said Hank. “But I call dibs! So long, suckers!” He jumped into the pitcher and made a big splash, literally turning Luca’s face green.

“Don’t worry, guys.” Said Nigel, flying off of Luca’s shoulder as the boy walked off. “I’ll carry as many of you down with my bill. Water Boy, fill me up.” Wade squirted water into Nigel’s bill, filling it up with water.

“It’s time to jump in, dudes!” Said Crush, who didn’t need to be put in water since he had lungs and could walk on land. Marlin, Dory, Nemo, and Gill hopped into Nigel’s bill, and he soon flew off.

“Guess that means you come with me.” Said Wade. “You can place anything inside me, but not sponges. I’m afraid of those!” He touched the characters with his hands, and they made it into Wade’s body.

“What about me and Bailey?” Asked Destiny. “We’re not chopped sushi, you know.”

“Sorry.” Said Wade. “But I have a limit. Maybe that elephant can help you.” He then walked off with fish, a shrimp, and a starfish inside his liquid body.

“Who are you?” Asked Bailey.

“I’m Bing-Bong, best friend of Riley Anderson!” Said the elephant-like creature. “And Wade got it wrong: I’m not all elephant. I’m also part cotton candy, cat, and dolphin! And if you’re wondering how I’ll get all of you down, I have a magic sack that can carry 100 jillion tons!” He scooped up Destiny and Bailey with his magic sack, and they magically disappeared.

“I think I’ll walk down.” Said Crush. “C’mon, Squirt! Time to join the jelly-man!”

“You got it, dude!” Said Squirt, and the two turtles scuttled over to the elevator, with Priya, Anton Ego, Barley, and JJ also inside.

—————-

Back inside the Steve Jobs Building, Hamm was on a skateboard with Mr. Potato Head.

“Alright, everyone!” Said Hamm. “You know the drill. All characters on wheels smaller than a station wagon must take the elevator, while everyone less than three feet tall who doesn’t have bones must be carried by someone larger! You don’t want to get stepped on!” WALL-E, Red the unicycle, and RC were waiting for the elevator to open, only for Guido to pop out. He rushed out and headed to the recording booth, where Joe Gardner, Miguel Rivera, and Giulia were all playing different instruments.

“Di' ai miei amici che è ora di prepararsi per la foto di gruppo! Stanno dormendo nel parcheggio.” Said the forklift.

“Do you have any idea of what he’s saying?” Asked Miguel.

“I do.” Said Giulia, since she was Italian herself. “He wants us to wake up his friends in the parking lot. Non preoccuparti, Guido. Ti aiuteremo.”

“Grazie mille!” Said the forklift.

“Sorry, but that’s a no.” Said Joe. “You two are only kids. I’m the only one of the bunch who can go out to the parking lot unsupervised. Let’s go, Guano.”

“E’Guido”. Corrected Guido.

——————

Meanwhile, outside the Steve Jobs building, Ember, BURN-E, Needleman, Smitty, and Rochelle have just finished working on a giant tank that would house the Finding Nemo characters. Wade, Luca, Bing-Bong, and Nigel have all walked/flew over to the tank. With the help of Hank, all but two of the Finding Nemo characters have been placed in the tank. Bing-Bong poured his sack into the tank, and Destiny and Bailey came out and made a big splash, turning Luca into a sea monster. Luckily, Questa flew by and protected BURN-E and Ember with her tail right before the water hit them. Crush and Squirt soon arrived at the area, and the older turtle noticed water on the ground.

“Did we miss something, dude?” Asked Crush.

“Just an elephant helping some fish, dear.” Said Ember.

“I’m a mammal!” Said Bailey. At the same time, Russel arrived with the bugs he carried.

“Now that you’re outside,” Said Russell. “Where do I put you all?”

“I can take them.” Said a Styracosaurus with a sandpiper, cat, raccoon, and some finches scattered all around his body. “They can rest on my horns with their friends.” Gypsy, Manny, Dim, Rosey, Atta, and Francis were all sitting on Forrest Woodbush’s left horns, with Hopper and Molt on the right horns.

“Hi, everyone!” Said Rosey. “If you’re wondering about Dot, she’s with that snow-globe near the giant log.” As Russell placed the bugs on Forrest's horn, Flik noticed an old human woman carving the word ‘Pixar’ out of the aforementioned log, along with other tools working by themselves. By the Witch’s feet, Dot was looking at a snowman in his snow-globe.

“You’re weird, but I like you.” She said.

—————-

Joe and Guido soon arrived at the parking lot, and the forklift was right: All the characters were sleeping.

“Ieri sera abbiamo fatto una grande festa e sono tutti esausti per il duro lavoro.” Guido explained.

“I have no idea what you said,” Said Joe. “But I know how to wake them up.” Joe got out his cellphone, put up the volume to the max, and played a familiar ring tone. This managed to wake up the Cars characters, starting with Mater.

“It’s the Ghost Light!” He shouted. “Drive for your life!” Mater took off like a bullet, and Lightning McQueen decided to follow him.

“I better follow Mater.” Said the race car. “Who knows what kind of mischief he’ll get into.” The other cars soon followed, with Chick Hicks nearly running over Joe! Luckily, Corey, the Manticore, swooped down to rescue Joe and bring him back to the group.

“A flying lion?” Asked Joe. “Now I’ve seen everything.”

“I’m a Manticore, actually.” Replied Corey. “Gotta exercise those wings every often.”

———————

Back at the front of the Steve Jobs building, Woody was with Buzz and Terry as they made sure that every Pixar character was available.

“Everything’s going great, guys!” Said Woody. “Witch, how’s the wooden letters going?”

“I’m a woodcarver, dear.” Said the Witch. “And it’s just about done.” She knocked on the log, and the sawdust fell to the ground to reveal ‘Pixar’ perfectly carved out of wood. Luxo Junior tried to jump on the ‘I’, but nothing happened, so Luxo Senior, Rocky Gibraltar, and Dim tried jumping along with LJ. Once again, nothing happened.

“I know how to solve this problem.” Said Violet, who also happened to be holding Jack-Jack. “Just make sure to get out of the way, first.” She grabbed a feather from Kevin, tickled Jack-Jack’s nose with it, and it caused him to sneeze. Jack-Jack fired a laser from his eyes, making the ‘I’ in Pixar disintegrate. Luxo Junior jumped on the ashy remains and proudly took the letter’s place.

“22!” Said Buzz. “Hold that piece of paper that says ‘of’!”

“This is so lame.” Said 22.

“Ian!” Said Woody. “Grab the blocks that Big Baby is holding.”

“What Big Baby?” Asked Ian.

“Look at your feet, dude!” Said Crush. Ian looked at the ground, and was mortified to see a creepy-looking baby doll holding alphabet blocks.

“What do you want me to do?” Asked the elf.

“Make them as big as doghouses!” Shouted Buzz.

“Alright.” Said Ian, grabbing the blocks from the baby. “Magnora Gantuan!” Ian aimed his staff at the blocks, and they slowly started to grow. After a minute, they were the size of doghouses, and they spelled ‘years’.

“Now, where do I put them?” Asked Ian.

“I got this covered, boy.” Said Lucius Best, or as you might know him, Frozone. “Bob! Panda girl! Lift these blocks while I make icicles to hold them up.”

“My name’s Meilin Lee.” Said a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl, turning into a red panda the size of a polar bear. She and Bob Parr grabbed the giant blocks while Lucius created the icicles.

“Are you sure they’ll support these blocks?” Asked Bob.

“They can withstand 5 tons!” Said Lucius. “Hurry up before it melts!” Bob and Mei walked over to the icicles and placed the giant blocks on them.

“Is that my cue, cowboy?” Asked Helen Parr, Bob’s loving wife.

“Not yet.” Said Woody. “Terry, do a head-count!”

“Let’s see.” Said Terry, pulling out an abacus from thin air. “Everyone seems to be accounted for... Wait!" She checks her abacus again. "That's weird. The count's off. THE COUNT'S OFF!!!"

“Who could be missing?” Asked Buzz.

“Let me see.” Said Terry, taking out a piece of paper. “It seems that the missing character is a sauropod named Arlo, from The Good Dinosaur. Does anyone know where Arlo is?” A feral human boy jumped off of Glordon and barked like a dog.

“Let me talk to him, Woody.” Said Jessie, sliding down Cruz Ramirez. “What is it, Spot?” Spot started growling and barking, but Jessie somehow understood.

“Arlo’s in the barn in the back of the studio!” Said Jessie.

“Great!” Said Woody. “Buzz, you’re in charge while I’m gone. Make sure that nothing goes wrong!”

“I got your back, Woody!” Replied Buzz, and Woody followed Spot to find Arlo.

————

The human boy and cowboy doll soon made it to a barn right behind the Pixar studios. Inside the barn was Arlo, who was sulking on a bale of hay.

“Arlo?” Asked Woody. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m the black sheep of Pixar films.” He said. “My film cost the company 85 million dollars, whatever that is. Anyway, I’m sulking in the barn because no one really cares about me.”

“That’s not true!” Said Woody. “I’m sure that there are lots of people who love The Good Dinosaur. Besides, our partner studio Disney has had lots of box-office failures in the past, and many of them have earned fans! In fact, Wish is recently huge in Japan! Besides, there has to be at least one Good Dinosaur fan out there. So, what do you say?”

“Alright.” Replied Arlo. “As long as Disney Publishing makes a book adaptation of The Good Dinosaur that stays closer to the original draft, as well as perhaps rerelease my movie.”

————-

When Woody, Spot, and Arlo made it back to the front of the Steve Jobs building, something was off: Giggles McDimples, Bo Peep’s pint-size best friend, was now human-sized!

“Giggles?” Asked Woody. “How did this happen?”

“Sorry, Woody.” Said Ian. “Your friend here insisted on making her larger with my magic. She was smaller than a newborn pixie, for crying out loud!”

“C’mon, Woodster!” Said Giggles. “The magic wears off in half an hour.”

“Pull my string!” Said Woody. “We need to hurry this up. Helen, spell out 40! The number, not the word!”

“Already on it, cowboy!” She said. “Mei-Mei, do you suppose you could hold me?”

“You got it, Elastigirl!” Replied Mei, poofing into her panda form to pick up Helen. The mom then stretched out to spell ‘40’, with Bob holding her head. It now spelt “40 Years of Pixar” with Helen spelling out ‘40’, the Giant blocks spelling ‘years’, 22 holding a sign that says ‘of’, and a wooden carving of ‘Pixar’ with Luxo Junior taking the place of the I.

“That’s great!” Said Woody. “Everyone in place, guys. Hector, did you bring the camera?”

“You got it, muñeco vaquero!” Said Hector, walking out from behind Embarrassment. He was just ready to take the picture, but then Buzz intervened.

“Wait!” He said. “What about Hector? He won’t be in the photo!”

“I got it covered, amigo.” Said Hector, ripping off his arms since he was a skeleton. Luckily, the dismembered arms still held the camera intact. The rest of Hector walked back into the crowd for the photo.

“Can you turn the Flash off?” Asked Ember. “I don’t want my family to look blurred.”

“Got you covered!” Said Hector, and the dismembered arm turned the flash off of the camera.

“Okay, everybody!” Said Woody. “Say Catmull!”

“Catmull!” Everyone said. Hector’s hands pressed the button on the camera, and it took a picture.

“Is it over?” Asked Helen.

“Wait for the photo to pop out.” Said Hector, and a photograph popped out of the camera.

“Now, let’s see how it went.” Said Hector, walking out of the crowd to take a closer look at the photo. “It looks great, almost as good as the one Goofy took three years ago.” Everyone cheered.

“Thank Jobs.” Said Helen, snapping back to her original shape with Arlo catching her with his neck. “You really are a good dinosaur.”

“Now to put this on the boss’s desk.” Said Woody.

——————

The next morning, Pete Docter went into his office and found a letter that said ‘To: Boss’. He opened the letter, and included was a photo of over 280 different Pixar characters throughout the years in front of the Steve Jobs Building.

“We sure have some dedicated fans.” Said Pete. “But why does it say ‘boss’?” Across the hall, Woody and Buzz were watching from inside a poster of Toy Story 2.

“Should we do this again when Pixar turns 50?” Asked Buzz.

“You got yourself a deal, partner." Replied Woody. “For infinity and beyond.”

THE END

Check tomorrow for Author's Notes! There are lots this time.