http://chud.com/nextraimages/toy_story3.jpgJohn Lasseter, the big man at Pixar, appeared at Disney’s shareholder meeting (held in New Orleans, I guess as a way to throw some bucks in the direction of what is incredibly still a disaster area) and announced, “We are finally in production on Toy Story 3.” He then gave a date for the release: 2010, the same year Roy Scheider had a dolphin in his pool.

Toy Story 3 is written by Michael Arndt, the guy who won an Oscar on his first script, Little Miss Sunshine. This is not a bad way to start out in the business, one assumes. And joining the team at Pixar as a follow-up – again, doesn’t look like a mistake on his part. Nobody is talking about what the story is, Lasseter says it’s “great.” And if you can’t trust the guy who runs the company when it comes to the quality of his product, who can you trust? Tim Allen and Tom Hanks will be back as Buzz Lightyear and Woody. I wonder who will own them? If the films took place in real time, Andy could be in his mid to late 20s in 2010. Of course, I realize that some of you reading this are in your mid to late 20s and have quite a collection of toys, so maybe they’re still with Andy.

I have to admit that reporting on movies that will be released in the second decade of the 21st century makes me feel, in this order, old, futuristic, and very close to the Mayan predicted end of the world in 2012.