Pixar and Porsche teamed up for the Sally Carrera project back in 2022. It felt like the logical move. You take Sally’s blue paint job, add some five-spoke wheels, toss in a few Easter eggs, and call it a day. Done.
Easy.
Their latest stunt isn’t that simple. This time around the teams are turning three Toy Story legends into road-going Porsche 911s. We are talking about Buzz Lightyear. Jessie. Woody. Bringing those personalities onto asphalt is messy work. Not straightforward at all.
The biggest trick is not pushing to the point where things become kitchy.
You might know the names behind this mess. Bob Pauley designed Buzz. He’s still deep in Pixar productions. Jay Ward runs franchise creativity over at the studio. He helped build the world of Cars. I caught up with them before the reveal of these three custom beasts. They wanted to talk about how you turn toys into steel without breaking them.
Bob Pauley sees it differently. Sally was car-to-car. That translation is natural. Everyone knew the outcome before they started.
But toys?
There are so many choices here. It mimics the film process. It is a struggle. You have to cling to creative ideals while the details get worked out. One car is one character. Three cars is a lot of work. Porsche builds these machines with so many parts that Bob admits he’s amazed they finished on time. There is so much going on under the skin.
Buzz came naturally.
Woody was the headache. Coordinating all those disparate elements took effort. It mirrors the daily grind at the studio. A real challenge.
Jay Ward worries about going too far. If you push too hard it looks cheap. Kitchy. These cars strike a tricky balance. You need to capture the materials. The feeling. The playfulness. You should smile when you see them.
This is different than Sally. Sally is Sally. Woody isn’t about slapping eyes, a mouth, and a giant cowboy hat onto a fender. So how do you say Woody without making a cartoon? That is the design problem.
The result works. They’re happy. But looking at a sheriff deputy rendered in German engineering leaves me wondering what else could fit into a 911.
