Critically acclaimed, beloved by fans, and huge at the box office, it would be fair to say that _Inside Out_and Inside Out 2 have proven to be something of a pair of dream productions for the folks over at Pixar. As such, it seems only fitting then that after the franchise’s sequel became the highest-grossing animated movie ever made this summer, the legendary animation outfit’s shiny new spin-off show is called, well, Dream Productions. A four-part limited series made in The Office‘s mockumentary mould, writer-director Mike Jones’ offering — the first of its kind for Pixar — returns to Riley’s mind, revisiting her and her Core Emotions (led by Amy Poehler’s Joy and Lewis Black’s Anger) whilst introducing viewers to the (literal) dream makers inside her head. Check out the new trailer below;
Set between the events of the first and second movie, Dream Productions — as this new trailer shows off — looks set to lean into the quirky high concepts on the periphery of Pete Docter’s movie and Kelsey Mann’s follow-up. So while we will be checking in with Joy, Anger, Disgust, Sadness, and Fear, it looks like Paula Pell’s Dream Productions director Paula Persimmon and Richard Ayoade’s pretentious daydream would-be auteur Xeni will be at the heart of Jones’ show. Amid a slew of gags involving dreamy harps, shooting stars, unicorns, and the dread “Brain Fart”, this high energy teaser promises friction between Persimmon’s team player mentality and Xeni’s delusions of grandeur (“The wind is your music,” he tells two whistling blobs dressed as trees.) All of which is to say that this feels very Inside Out, only unmoored from the high stakes expectations and grander designs of a tentpole animated feature.
Here’s the official synopsis for the show: “Riley is growing up and when her memories need some extra processing, Joy and the rest of the Core Emotions send them to Dream Productions. Acclaimed director Paula Persimmon (voiced by Paula Pell) faces a nightmare of her own: Trying to create the next hit dream after being paired up with Xeni (voiced by Richard Ayoade), a smug daydream director looking to step up into the big leagues of night dreams.”
Will Pixar’s first limited series be a dream come true? Or a total nightmare? Early signs are promising for the former, but we’ll find out for ourselves when Dream Productions arrives on Disney+ on 11 December. *Dream harp noises*