The Big Picture

Once Upon A Studio is a 10-minute short that celebrates the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios, featuring 543 characters from over 85 Disney films. The short combines hand-drawn and CG animation and aims to take the audience on a roller coaster of emotion, with an all-star cast of beloved animated characters interacting with each other. The producers of the short, Yvett Merino and Brad Simonsen, describe their experience working on the film as magical, with the focus being on telling stories and connecting with people through their work at Disney.

[Editor’s note: The following contains some spoilers for Once Upon A Studio.]To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Animation Studios, the short Once Upon A Studio is nearly 10 minutes of utter joy, getting to watch an all-star cast of beloved animated characters interacting with each other. To be more exact, 543 characters from more than 85 Disney feature-length and short films appear, bringing back dozens of voice performers to reprise their famous roles, all while blending hand-drawn and CG animation and taking the audience on a roller coaster of emotion.

Collider recently got the opportunity, along with a variety of other media outlets, to preview this nostalgic warm hug on the big screen at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. Then, we got to chat with producers Yvett Merino and Brad Simonsen about what makes being a part of Disney’s 100 years of storytelling so magical, how they both ended up working on this short, the blend of live-action and animation, the pinch-me moment of hearing Richard Sherman re-record “Feed the Birds,” and the challenge of editing down the 12-minute first cut.

Collider: I feel like the success of this short should be measured by how much any given viewer cries while watching it. Even when I watched it a second time and knew what was coming, I still cried.

YVETT MERINO: If it makes you feel any better, we still get choked up, and we’ve seen it 400 or 500 times.

BRAD SIMONSEN: That’s wonderful. Thank you for sharing that.

Image via Disney Animation

Since we’re celebrating 100 years of Disney magic, what makes being a part of Disney storytelling magical to each of you?

MERINO: To me, it’s the people. I’ve been fortunate to work [at Disney] for a few years now and Disney Animation has a knack for hiring really good people. It’s very clear in the studio that we’re all [there] for the goal of telling stories and working on these films and getting them out the door. We put so much into these films and we’re so excited once we start sharing them, that they’re actually connecting with people.

SIMONSEN: Yeah, I agree, 100%. The people in the studio, the artists, everybody wants to elevate the movie. We create spaces that encourage everyone at any time to give a note, if they think it’s gonna make the movie better. What that does is create a collective and a consciousness and an awareness of the quality level that we’re all trying to hit and the legacy that we are shouldering on our journey. It really inspires literally everyone in the building to do their best and to contribute. We never stop trying to make it better, until we have to stop.

How were first made aware of this short and what was your reaction to learning about what it would be? It feels like such a tall task to take on so many animated characters in such a short amount of time, so were you ever worried that this just wasn’t going to work?

MERINO: Every day.

SIMONSEN: We had finished Encanto and we were both starting other things, and we saw the pitch. Dan [Abraham] and Trent [Correy] pitched the studio after they pitched [Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer Jennifer Lee], and we both saw it at the same time and we both asked to be on it. We both emailed our president at the same time, not knowing we were doing it, and then we were lucky enough to get selected. In those moments where you’re looking at the scope of it and trying to break it down and understand it, Yvett and I both have years and years of doing this and you really just ask yourself, “How are we going to do this? With the constraints we have, how do we do it?” You just keep pushing on it and asking questions. It’s the collective where our team works to figure it out together and make it.

Image via Disney Animation

One of the things that instantly struck me about this short is the blend of live-action and animation because it really celebrates the legacy of the studio by highlighting the relationship between the old guard and the newest generation. It’s also a reminder of those films that were live-action and animation hybrids. Why was it important to include that to represent 100 years of Disney, in that way?

MERINO: It was the vision of Dan and Trent, from the very beginning, to have all these characters interact in our space. When we were little and would see something behind the scenes at Disney, and we’d get a peek into how the artists work, it was so exciting to see behind the curtain. And so, from the very beginning, they said, “We want it in our studio to be able to share a little bit.” Our studio is a closed production set, so not a lot of people get to walk through it, so we get to a give a little peek of what our studio looks like, and then how, at night, our characters all interact.

SIMONSEN: Because of that inspiration that Yvett was talking about, how we literally were all inspired by peeking into and seeing behind the scenes on stuff, we wanted to make it something incredibly special for the audience and inspire them to be that next generation and feel like we did back then, getting a peek behind the curtain. We wanted to make it feel magical.

Being able to have Richard Sherman perform a new rendition of “Feed the Birds,” with that having been a favorite of Walt Disney, recording it where Disney’s original office was, and using the same piano truly is the definition of legacy. What was that like to experience? Do moments like that really help you appreciate what you’re a part of, on a daily basis?

MERINO: Making this film was full of pinch-me moments. Just getting to meet Richard Sherman was like, “Oh, my goodness!” But then, to be a part of a film that he’s a part of and getting to record that in Disney’s office was all just very surreal. We’re in jeans and t-shirts on most days, but that day, we all dressed up in our blazers and sport coats. It was really one of those days where you pop out of bed and you’re like, “Oh, my gosh, it’s happening today.” It was incredible to bring him in as a part of this. Of course, he was a part of this because he played such a big part in the music that a lot of us grew up with.

SIMONSEN: And I would just give a shout-out to Howard Green. He was like, “Hey, we’re gonna go have lunch with Richard Sherman for his birthday and we’re gonna tell him about the short.” Dan and Trent got so excited that we were like, “Well, can we show him the short?” This was a year and a half ago, and we showed him the short in the Team Disney building, and he was just so gracious and so fun. It was after that, walking back, where it all started to come together. We were like, “Oh, my God, we could have Richard Sherman.” “Oh, my God, that’d be amazing.” So, yes, every day was a pinch-me moment.

Image via Disney Animation

This is a short that’s eight minutes, but I could have easily watched 30 minutes of these characters interacting. How hard was it to have to edit this and lose character moments?

SIMONSEN: It’s challenging. The first cut came in around 12 minutes, and then we had to make some hard cuts. All the characters, if they’re in that 12-minute cut, they’re all in the end shot, for sure. We definitely didn’t get rid of folks completely. They just got moved for different moments because we had to keep the pace going. It became about keeping that drive of, “Hey, we’re losing the light. We’ve gotta get out to take the picture.” There was a very cute moment with Chip and Dale trying to get some peanuts out of a vending machine that made us all giggle, every single time. In the essence of time, we did have to cut that, but we moved them into the end shot and they’re there and we get to celebrate them.

Once Upon A Studio will debut on ABC during their “The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration” special on Sunday, October 15th.