Toy Story 5 is one of those movies you want to see again and again. Or, maybe, it’s a movie your kids are forcing you to see again and again. Either way, if you’ve already seen it and want a new experience, Woody, Buzz, and Jessie have you covered. io9 can exclusively reveal that Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton has teamed up with the app TheaterEars to release a special, in-theater director’s commentary for the Disney Pixar hit, and it’ll be available on July 3.
“Toy Story is the franchise that made millions of us fall in love with the movies, so there’s no better film to bring the Director’s Experience into animation for the first time,” Dan Mangru, the CEO of TheaterEars, said in a press release. “Sitting in a theater and hearing Andrew Stanton walk through how the film was made, synced right to the screen, is exactly the kind of experience we built this for.”
This is the third such commentary to come to TheaterEars this year. The first one was by directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller for Project Hail Mary (which comes to streaming this week), and the other was with Jon Favreau for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Toy Story 5 marks the company’s first animated feature.
“Every frame of Toy Story 5 holds a decision the audience never sees,” Stanton said. “Getting to talk through those choices while people are watching the movie in a theater, that’s a way of sharing the work I’ve never had before, and I think fans are going to love hearing where these moments came from.”
So how does it work? Well, it’s pretty simple. You download the TheaterEars app, you go see Toy Story 5, and you open the app. Here’s a fun graphic to further illustrate.
Oh, and if you’re like me and the first thing you thought is “What if I hit play at the wrong time?” Don’t worry. According to TheaterEars, “the app listens for the film’s audio to sync the commentary track to the exact moment on screen.” Oh, technology.
Usually, you have to wait until a film comes home to hear a director’s commentary, so it’s pretty awesome that these are starting to happen when a film is still in theaters. As long as you are discreet with using your phone and keep the commentary at a suitable volume, of course. Let’s be respectable about this.
Have you tried a TheaterEars director’s commentary yet? Let us know below.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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