To infinity…and the endzone! The Toy Story gang is hitting the gridiron for a special collaboration between Disney, ESPN and the NFL called Toy Story Funday Football that will put today’s Atlanta Falcons-Jacksonville Jaguars game live inside of Andy’s bedroom. While we won’t see Buzz and Woody tossing Hamm around on the field, most of your favorite Toy Story characters will be featured elsewhere on the broadcast.
Through innovative tracking technology, animated characters will replicate what the professional football players do on screen, in addition to capturing scoreboards, sidelines happenings and penalty calls. Hey, at least we know Rex’s short arms will keep him safe from holding! As the Falcons-Jaguars game is being held at London’s Wembley Stadium, the game will air at 9:30 a.m. EST. All of the Toy Story football action can be found on ESPN+, Disney+ and NFL+.
To give an idea of the “magic” that goes into such a broadcast, ESPN Creative Studio senior director Michael “Spike” Szykowny (which sounds like a certain other Pixar character…) said, “Pixar gave us clips in a tool kit, and then we took those clips and said, “OK, Woody and Jessie are dancing. When would that happen in the game? Oh, on the sidelines after a touchdown!” So, then we had to build the correct background and put them in the correct environment. After a team scores a touchdown, we can cut to that clip, and it looks like because of the touchdown, Woody and Jessie are dancing on the sidelines.” And for halftime entertainment, Duke Caboom will attempt a daring motorcycle jump.
Toy Story Funday Football isn’t the first time that animated characters have overtaken a professional sports game, as back in March, they were integrated onto the ice in a Washington Capitals-New York Rangers game. Now with the blocks in place, the tech team can offer a more advanced presentation, giving the kiddos something to watch while dad gets hammered at 10 in the morning.
While the NHL game didn’t feature Toy Story characters – it was modeled after Big City Greens – putting this NFL game into that environment this time around was a no-brainer for the team. Added Szykowny, “We sat around in a room brainstorming until somebody said, “What about Toy Story?” Everybody looked around at each other and said, “Yeah, that’d be awesome!” We looked into it, and there’s research to prove how powerful the Toy Story brand is with a lot of different age groups. It just resonates with everybody, so it was a great property to use.”
While Toy Story Funday Football will certainly be a bigger hit than Big City Greens on Ice – Toy Story being one of the most successful franchises ever and football being the most widely watched sport in the U.S. – those behind the project are already looking at how to expand the concept even further.
What do you think of this concept? Which IP and sport pairing would be a perfect fit? Give us your pick below!