Walt Disney Investors Conference Results: Planes and Toy Story Toons

From last week's Walt Disney Investors Conference we got a storm of new details and updates on all things Disney and Pixar. Arguably the most substantial in terms of animated revelations is that concerning the upcoming straight to DVD/Blu Ray Cars spin-off, Planes.

As previously reported and speculated, Planes is NOT a Pixar production, it is indeed being made by DisneyToon Studios. The film is set to be a direct to DVD/Blu Ray one and is due for release in Spring, 2013.

To be honest, whilst I'm sure Planes won't be anywhere near Pixar level, I must admit I personally really want to see it. We have an official press release below:

The sky’s the limit as DisneyToon Studios proudly announces Planes – a spectacular, full-length CG animated comedy action adventure movie for everyone set high above the world of Cars. Planes will introduce an entirely original and hilarious crew of daredevils from every corner of the globe and draws inspiration from the immensely popular Disney/Pixar’sCars world. Planes will arrive on Blu-ray™ and DVD in Spring 2013.

“We had such a great time exploring the world of Cars over the course of two films, so it seemed only natural for us to see where our imaginations would take us in a film where planes were the main characters.   By expanding the Cars world, Planes gave us a whole new set of fun-filled situations and a great opportunity to introduce some fantastic new characters,” commented John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios.

“The team at DisneyToon Studios has done such an amazing job creating a heartfelt story filled with great comedy, adventure, and emotion.  I know audiences are going to love taking off into the wild blue yonder with these daredevil characters, as they experience a whole new kind of animated adventure.”

Planes takes off with an international cast of the fastest air racers around, in a comedy packed with action and adventure starring Dusty, a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race … despite his fear of heights.  With the help and support of a fleet of new and hilarious characters, Dusty wings his way into the biggest challenge of his life.

We have also been told that the next Cars Toon will set up for Planes and will involve Lightning and Mater crossing paths with airplane characters. This tenth Cars Toon is set to be released on the DVD and Blu Ray editions of Cars 2, some time later this year.

The other big item to emerge from the Investors Conference was new details on Toy Story Toons: we found out ages ago, that the first Toy Story short, entitled Hawaii, was to be attached to Cars 2. Now we know that the second - plot as of yet unknown - will be attached to The Muppets, released 23rd November.

However, on this note we got out first look at the first Hawaii short (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly) - above - we also found out that the film is set to be directed by Gary Rydstrom. This is great news to see Gary back on a project after Newt was tragically canned.