Every Pixar film is an event, just for being Pixar. At the Visual Effects Society Awards, Pixar Studios president Ed Catmull was honored with the George Melies award. He previewed Pixar’s upcoming sequels Toy Story 3 and Cars 2, so in addition to being major Pixar movies, fans of the originals can specifically look forward to those stories continuing.

Toy Story 3 comes 10 1/2 years after Toy Story 2. “It’s one of those things where it’s good that we waited,” Dr. Catmull said. “We’ve in fact got all the same voices back, including Andy. It all fits together very nicely. It’s a really good film”

At the end of Toy Story 2, Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody decided to live out the rest of Andy’s childhood as his toys, even though he would eventually outgrow them. Now the time has come. The filmmakers were inspired by taking their own children to college and experiencing that milestone.

“If you look at the three films, they really represent something that comes out of the filmmakers who put it together,” Catmull continued. “You’ve got Andrew [Stanton] and Lee [Unkrich] and John [Lasseter] and [the late] Joe Ranft and a whole variety of artists and storytellers. They’re putting a lot of their personal experiences into it. That’s what makes the film good. They’re personal, they’re funny, they’re emotional.”

The classic toy doll Barbie entered the Toy Story world in the first sequel. Now they’ve added her anatomically incorrect spouse Ken. You’d think toy companies are lining up to get their toys in these movies. “Not so much,” said Catmull. “The story process leads everything so if they think of something, they’ll go to somebody but for the most part, it’s driven by what we want. If people ask to put them in, we don’t do that.”

Cars was not Pixar’s most acclaimed or successful film, but it will be the second Pixar film to become a franchise. “Our belief is if the director’s got an idea, that’s what drives it,” Catmull said. “It has nothing to do with whether it’s original or a sequel. It’s if they have an idea they fall in love with. If they do it, then we’ll make it.”

Just like Toy Story, car manufacturers must want their vehicles featured in Pixar’s film. They have the same philosophy with that series. “Yeah, it’s just driven by the story. Everything is driven by what they need.”

Toy Story 3 opens this June. Cars 2 is coming in 2011.

Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer Follow more of Fred Topel's Hollywood observations on Twitter