In the modern age of streaming, it’s pretty rare to find a movie that just has no presence at all. Every major Hollywood studio either has their own service where even their most obscure titles likely live, or they have a deal with the likes of Netflix or Prime Video where they can be found amidst a pile of other films. Disney+ feels like the best example of this now, with the company’s streaming service touted as the home for all things Disney ahead of launch, only for fans to discover multiple classic titles from the company (plus controversial ones like Song of the South) were nowhere to be found; and they still aren’t.
Despite all that, a rare example of a film lost from streaming for years actually happened a few days ago, with the title randomly appearing on Disney+ after years of absence. Just last week, 1987’s The Brave Little Toaster arrived with little fanfare on Disney+. Though it wasn’t exactly a well-publicized debut, it didn’t take long for fans to find this one, with nostalgic millennials flocking to The Brave Little Toaster for its streaming debut, pushing it up the charts and making it a certified streaming hit. But what took so long? And what’s next?
Last week, seemingly out of nowhere, The Brave Little Toaster made its streaming debut on Disney+, ending a drought of availability for the animated movie that most film fans likely didn’t even notice. No doubt thanks to its reputation for being a traumatizing experience for a certain generation, the film has shot up the charts, with FlixPatrol revealing that it has climbed up to become the #2 movie on the entire Disney+ platform in the United States. Only Marvel’s The Punisher: One Last Kill is ahead of the film, but currently The Brave Little Toaster is being streamed more than the likes of Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool & Wolverine.
Even wilder than the fact that a random ’80s animated movie has finally arrived on streaming and become a hit is the fact that The Brave Little Toaster was previously rejected by Disney. The story of how this film came to be looms large in the story of a major piece of Disney lore, Pixar. Well before Pixar had even been created, director and former CCO of Pixar, John Lasseter, was working at Disney when it bought the rights to the novella of The Brave Little Toaster. Seeing the potential in the story, Lasseter pitched the idea of making their adaptation as a fully computer-animated movie. Disney, however, rejected the idea, believing that there was no need to make a fully computer-animated film if it wasn’t cheaper or faster than a hand-drawn animation production.
Eventually, development on The Brave Little Toaster was instead transferred outside of Disney, to Hyperion Pictures, a newly formed company made up of former Disney employees. The film still received some financing from Disney, though, but in the end its budget was a mere fraction of what was being considered under the House of Mouse. As a result, the somewhat terrifying adventures of an anthropomorphic toaster and his fellow appliance friends were created without Disney oversight or a Disney budget. When a distribution deal couldn’t be secured, though, Disney stepped back in and exercised its ownership of the TV and home video rights to the film, airing it on the freshly-launched Disney Channel and then releasing it on VHS.
In the end, The Brave Little Toaster became a hit, not only earning an Emmy nomination for Best Animated Program in 1988, but traumatizing an entire generation with the concept of “existential dread” which propelled it to become a favorite from video stores (it eventually got two direct-to-video sequels, a sure sign as any that it was a hit). So, suffice to say, Disney distancing itself from The Brave Little Toaster when it was in development, only for the film to become a cultural landmark due to its bizarre storyline and terrifying imagery for young viewers, is quite funny. Add on top of that the fact that the film they previously tossed aside is now one of the most-watched movies on its streaming service, and you’ve got a great little slice of irony.
