Key Points
- ESPN, Walt Disney Company, and the National Football League have partnered for the ground-breaking event ‘Toy Story Funday Football’, presenting an animated presentation of a real football match.
- This first-of-its-kind event will feature beloved characters from Pixar’s Toy Story.
- This special showing will take place during the Atlanta Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars game at Wembley Stadium.
- Using cutting-edge mapping technology by NFL’s Next Gen Stats player and Beyond Sports, Andy’s room from Toy Story will replicate the live on-the-field gameplay.
- Characters like Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep, Jessie, and more will be seen participating from the sidelines and in non-gameplay elements.
- Playing with Disney synergy, ESPN’s NHL Big City Greens Classic served as inspiration for Toy Story Funday Football, tweaking things learned and building upon them.
- The project was made possible by a remarkable collaboration of heavy-hitters like ESPN, ESPN’s Edge Innovation Center, The Walt Disney Company, NFL, Pixar, Next Gen Stats, Beyond Sports, and Silver Spoon.
- This novel presentation will be played in over 95 markets live and/or on replay, and on-demand 24 hours after the live broadcast ends.
- Michael “Spike” Szykowny, Senior Director, ESPN Creative Studio, gave an inside scoop on the production process, sharing how the graphics package was designed with the Pixar team and how the gameplay will be animated in real-time.
The Realists Take
Andy’s room just became the new NFL hotspot ― at least in the animated world! Toy Story characters are finally getting the gridiron glory they’ve secretly dreamed of (we’re looking at you, Buzz). The Walt Disney Co., ESPN, and NFL are hosting an epic play date and everyone’s invited. The beloved toys will be given their animated football avatars and will engage in gameplay via state-of-the-art tracking technology. Just when you thought the NFL couldn’t get more exciting, Toy Story Funday Football offers the mind-blowing notion of Buzz Lightyear and Woody going head-to-head on the field. Meanwhile, we are cheering on daredevil Duke Caboom and his motorcycle stunts. Perhaps this could be a new career direction for him? Who needs to go “to infinity and beyond” when you can touchdown in Andy’s room?
https://d23.com/an-animated-behind-the-scenes-look-at-espns-toy-story-funday-football/
