The director of Toy Story 3 promises laughs and tears. By Raven Snook.

It’s been 11 years since Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang last romped onscreen, and during that time fans of the first two Toy Story flicks have grown up and started families of their own – as have the creators of the series. Inspired by the theme of maturing, ‘Toy Story 3’ finds Andy, the owner of the playthings crew, leaving for college, and his mother donating his toys to a daycare centre. Industry bigwigs who’ve seen the movie have reportedly been moved to tears.

Keith Unkrich isn’t surprised by their reaction. ‘The film is very emotional in a way that the first two weren’t,’ he says. Preschoolers will coo over the characters, especially newbie Lots- O’-Huggin’ Bear. Tweens will love the comedy, like Ken and Barbie meeting. And teens and parents will be affected by Andy’s journey. A self-professed movie geek, Unkrich shares a bit about his own Hollywood story.

On deciding to become a film-maker: My mom took me to see lots and lots of movies when I was growing up, probably more than most kids. But my father was a fine artist, so I thought that was what I was going to do with my life, too. Somewhere in high school I started thinking about film-making as a career. The Shining, actually, was the pivotal film for me. It made me fall in love with the idea of making films. There are actually a handful of Shining references in TS3. They’re very obscure, though, so parents need not worry. Some of them may never be discovered.

On joining Pixar: I had a weird journey that brought me to Pixar. While I always ap- preciated animation, I’m not an animator. I came from a tradition- al live-action background. In fact, I’m the first non-animator to direct a film at the studio.

On helming TS3 without franchise creator John Lasseter: To be honest, I think people who are big Pixar fans are aware of the fact that John directed the first two movies and not the third. But most people in the world don’t know that. They’re just looking forward to a new TS installment, regardless of who’s making it. John was involved throughout the making of the film, so he’s very much a part of it.

On his children: My kids are 12, 10 and five. I never thought I’d have three children. I’m an only child, so every day is a new adventure. They’re excited about me finishing the film because they’ll get me back again! It’s been all consuming for the last four years. I definitely think my kids influenced the movie. Just having kids and living with kids brings a lot of truth to the storytelling. I personally haven’t gone through the experience of having my kids go off to college, but that’s just around the corner. My daughter’s going to be in high school next year, and I feel like we just brought her home from the hospital, so I know that college is just a hiccup away. Time goes fast, and we explore a lot of those feelings in the movie.