These thirteen things about The Brave Little Toaster may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but we guarantee you that they’re no burnt offerings.
13. During pre-production, Jon Lovitz was cast in Saturday Night Live. Jerry Rees, who had been writing the character of Radio with Lovitz in mind, pleaded with him to stay in Los Angeles long enough to record his voice tracks. Lovitz agreed, despite protests from his agency. he then hustled Lovitz into the recording studio, where his entire performance was captured in one, marathon session.
12. Halfway through filming, Donald Kushner thought that the nightmare scene should be cut from the film due to the clown being extremely frightening to younger children, as well as the junkyard scene “Worthless”, due to one of the cars driving into a crusher on purpose, using a suicide reference. For unknown reasons, the scenes were left in the film.
11. Was originally in development at Disney, with John Lasseter set to direct. Lasseter planned to use a combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and computer generated imagery for the characters, making it the first animated feature to attempt it. Executives, however, lost interest when the projected costs became too high. Lasseter was fired by Disney and then co-founded Pixar, while the rest of the team took the film outside and managed to produce it independently.
10. In 2006, the official website of Hyperion Pictures posted a image of a possible fourth film in CGI; however, that film was never produced.
9. When Blanky imagines the Master arriving home, there is a brief shot of him floating down the stairs. Behind him on the wall are four paintings, each representing the functions of the other four appliances: a candle, a radio, bread on a stick over a fire, and a broom.
8. The hanging lamp, voiced by Hartman, is based on Peter Lorre in both voice and appearance. The Air Conditioner, also voiced by Hartman, is based on the voice and intense acting style of Jack Nicholson.
7. Very few prints of the film were made for exhibition due to limited funding. The print that Disney ultimately used for home video release is believed by Rees to be one that extensively toured the festival circuit, due to the picture frame “wobble” very early in the film. Prim Leisure’s DVD in the UK uses a fresh transfer from an international print. The film has yet to receive a High Definition transfer even 30 years later.
6. This film is considered by many to be the prototypical Pixar film. Many of Pixar’s most important members, including Joe Ranft and John Lasseter, were involved with The Brave Little Toaster’s production. It contains tropes that have become common in Pixar films: objects with human-like qualities, a long journey that changes the characters, and dark adult themes hidden in the guise of a children’s film. Even the famous code A113, which is seen in all of Pixar’s films, appears as the Master’s apartment number.
5. In the scene where the TV tries to convince the Master to go to Ernie’s disposal, there is a shot of the character pulling paper out of a filing cabinet. One of the sheets of paper has a near-topless woman with stars covering her nipples on it.
4. Composer David Newman considers his score for the film to be the best of his entire career.
3. In a 2010 interview at Cal State, Northridge, Deanna Oliver revealed that at her son’s deployment ceremony to Afghanistan, some of the soldiers who were fans had brought their toasters with them for her to autograph.
2. The German and Serbian dubbed versions of the film swap the genders of two main characters: Toaster is voiced by a man, and Lampy is voiced by a woman.
1. Recording sessions did not take place at Disney; the crew found and renovated a small derelict property in Hollywood. Rees’ direction primarily consisted of ensuring the performances were as natural and realistic as possible, and ended up using many of the actor’s improvised lines in the final film.
