FILM · 1987 · USA
The Brave Little Toaster
35 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (35)
- #001
In a 2010 interview at Cal State, Northridge, Deanna Oliver revealed that at her son's deployment ceremony for Afghanistan, some soldiers who were fans of the film brought toasters with them to be signed.
- #002
During pre-production, Jon Lovitz was cast in a role on Saturday Night Live (1975). Jerry Rees, who wrote the Radio character with Lovitz in mind, begged him to stay in Los Angeles long enough to record the voice sessions. Lovitz accepted the offer despite his agency's objections. Rees quickly finished the script and took Lovitz to the recording studio. Lovitz's entire performance was later recorded in a single marathon session.
- #003
Halfway through production, Donald Kushner felt the nightmare scene should be cut from the film because the Clown was extremely frightening for small children. He also stated that the junkyard scene should be cut because one of the cars deliberately crashes into a compactor, using a suicide reference. For unknown reasons, the scenes remained in the film.
- #004
This film is considered by many to be the prototype Pixar film. Many of Pixar's most important members, including Joe Ranft and John Lasseter, were involved in the production of The Brave Little Toaster (1987). It also contains tropes that became common in Pixar films: objects with human-like qualities, a long journey that changes the characters, and dark adult themes hidden under the guise of a children's film. Even the famous A113 code seen in all of Pixar's films appears as the Master's apartment number.
- #005
Composer David Newman considers the score he wrote for the film the best of his entire career and stated that working on it was one of the most important moments of his life.
- #006
Art-house distributor Skouras Pictures was in the process of buying the film for a potential theatrical release in America some time after its Sundance premiere, but the Disney Channel planned a television release for February 1988. Faced with the possibility of the film being released in theaters and on television at the same time, Skouras dropped the deal.
- #007
It was first in development at Walt Disney Feature Animation, with John Lasseter set to direct. Lasseter planned to use a combination of traditional hand-drawn animation and computer-generated imagery for the characters, which would have made it the first animated feature to try this. However, when executives realized the film would not be cheaper with computer animation (they were only interested in CGI as a cost-cutting measure), they lost interest and pulled the plug on the ambitious project. Lasseter was fired by Disney and went on to co-found Pixar, while the rest of the team got the film out and managed to produce it independently (without any computer animation). The completed film was eventually bought by Disney, aired on the Disney Channel and became a cult hit. As for the animators, many eventually returned to Disney to work on films such as Beauty and the Beast (1991) and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), as well as some of Pixar Animation Studios' first feature films.
- #008
In the scene where TV tries to convince the Master to put him in charge of Ernie, there is a shot of the character pulling papers from a filing cabinet. One of the papers has a picture of a nearly topless woman on it (the original version has stars covering the nipples). In alternative Disney broadcast prints, the stars are replaced with a bra.
- #009
According to Jerry Rees, due to limited funding, very few prints of the film were made for exhibition. Rees believes the print Disney ultimately used for its home video release was one that toured the festival circuit extensively, because he remembers noticing the "wobble" picture frame from every screening very early on in the film. On the other hand, Prim Leisure's UK DVD (as well as Disney's 1991 laserdisc release) uses a new transfer from an international print. However, despite 30 years having passed, the film has still not received an official High Definition transfer.
- #010
The film drew great interest at the Sundance Film Festival but could not find a distributor. That same year, it aired on the Disney Channel and then appeared at the Park City Film Festival, finally getting a short run at the New York Film Forum in May 1989, but still could not find a distributor. It was in fact shown in installments as a serial at various cinemas week by week, and was distributed on video in 1991. In October 2003, a DVD release finally came out, along with two sequels.
- #011
The walls of the cottage are only cleaned up to the height that Blanky can reach.
- #012
Electronics manufacturer TDK invested in this film. As a nod, a TDK logo can be seen in the cityscape in one scene.
- #013
When Blanky imagines the Master coming home, there is a brief shot of him gliding down the stairs. On the wall behind him are four pictures, each representing the function of the other four appliances: a candle (Lampy), a radio (Radio), bread on a stick over a fire (Toaster) and a broom (Kirby).
- #014
David Newman approached the film's music keeping in mind that the characters were "real-life" rather than "cartoons," in order to create what he considered more original sounds depicting moods and emotions.
- #015
The film seems to refer to Toaster's childhood, but director Jerry Rees referred to Toaster as "he" both in a 2010 interview about the film and in his Reddit AMA. Deanna Oliver spent the entire production believing she was voicing a girl, and was never told otherwise. In the original book, the toaster clearly had no gender.
- #016
In the film, the address of Rob (The Master) and his mother's apartment is 2470 McBean Parkway. This is a tip of the hat to the California Institute of the Arts (24700 McBean Parkway), where director Jerry Rees studied animation. The apartment numbers are A113, which is also the room number of a classroom used by animation students at CalArts, where John Lasseter graduated. A113 also appears in other Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios films.
- #017
After recording her lines, Deanna Oliver came in for a day of ADR work. For the scene where Toaster runs through a field while being chased by forest animals, she was only able to record a two-second take of her breathing.
- #018
The vacuum cleaner Kirby is based on the 1969 Kirby Dual Sanitronic 80.
- #019
When the appliances are taken in by the store owner, they all begin singing a song about how scary their lives are, and one appliance that looks like a can opener with many other functions is based on Joan Rivers.
- #020
Jerry Rees described Timothy E. Day as an "amazing performer" who, before recording his lines, asked about his character's motivation and the content of each script. Day earned the nickname "one-take Timmy" because he so quickly delivered the emotional truth of the text, such as crying loudly or saying a line with a tremor in his voice.
- #021
According to Jerry Rees, "There are only four lines in The Brave Little Toaster (1987) that are actual lines from the book. The rest was invented, but I think in its spirit."
- #022
John Lasseter was fired from Walt Disney Animation Studios for pestering them to make this film with hand-drawn characters in a CG environment. It was considered not effective enough in terms of time or cost. A year before this film's release, The Great Mouse Detective (1986) used this method to great success, and it became one of the greatest assets for all future traditional animated films.
- #023
According to director Jerry Rees, the Air Conditioner sheds frozen tears.
- #024
The German and Serbian dubbed versions of the film change the genders of two main characters: Toaster is voiced by a man, while Lampy is voiced by a woman. Lampy is also performed as a woman in the Polish, Czech VHS and Brazilian Portuguese dubs, while Toaster is voiced by a man in the Finnish and Argentine Spanish versions. In most countries Blanky is voiced by a woman, while in the Hungarian and Serbian dubs a male actor voices him.
- #025
Jon Lovitz based his performance on radio announcers who made disgusting sounds, citing Walter Winchell as an example.
- #026
The names Toaster uses while leafing through the phone book to find the Master's address are references to other Disney films. (E.g.; Pan Peter, White Snow, Bambi Deer, Puppet Wooden, Flying Elephant, etc.) Other names include various place names such as York New, River Mississippi, Angeles Los, and the names of the appliances; Toaster Brave, Lamp Bright, Blankey Yellow, Vacuum Gruff, Radio Noisy and Master Young.
- #027
The Polish version cut the entire forest scene in some releases, likely because the scene was too scary for children. The scene of the appliances emerging from the meadow cuts directly to the waterfall scene in this version, with Lampy, who is female in this version, suddenly lighting up for no apparent reason.
- #028
According to the original short novel, the Toaster is a Sunbeam.
- #029
Jerry Rees ensured that Jon Lovitz did not take part in Radio's singing vocals because he was busy with Saturday Night Live (1975).
- #030
In the junkyard scene, one of the crushed cars is actually trying to get away from the crusher.
- #031
During pre-production, news came that Jon Lovitz had landed a spot on Saturday Night Live (1975). Jerry Rees, who wrote the Radio character with Jon in mind, begged him to stay in Los Angeles long enough to record the voice tracks. Jon accepted the offer despite his agency's objections. Jerry, who had not yet finished writing the Toaster's script, quickly wrapped up the third act and met with Jon during the recording phase.
- #032
Joe Ranft's first relationship with Walt Disney Studios came about when he was hired during the making of the film.
- #033
The Crazy Ernie commercial done by the television character is a reference to the Crazy Eddie commercials of the 1980s.
- #034
Chris's car vaguely resembles a 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite Mk I or a 1962 Austin-Healey 3000 Mk II. However, the rear looks more like the rear of a 1953 Austin-Healey 100, and it also resembles a Shelby Cobra.
- #035
The battery named "Junko" that the appliances use to travel takes its name from Randy Cartwright's wife.
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