When you hear that Pixar has a new short headed to Disney+ called Lamp Life, you might suspect it’s a sequel to the 1986 short film Luxo Jr. which features the lamp that became the animation studio’s mascot. But like Brick Tamland, Pixar loves lamp and there is another famous lamp in Pixar’s canon: Bo Peep. The short Lamp Life coming to Disney+ will reveal Bo Peep’s story before Toy Story 4. Check out the trailer below:
At the beginning of Toy Story 4, we saw the heartbreaking events that led to Bo Peep being split up from the Woody, Buzz and the gang of toys in Andy's room. Then when we and Woody reunite with the shepherdess and her sheep Billy, Goat and Gruff in the fourth film, we find that she has become a completely different toy than the one we knew.
No longer a damsel in distress, Bo Peep was a rough and tumble free spirit, living a far more adventurous life than you would expect from someone of porcelain constitution. Although there are hints at her post-Molly's room life and assumptions we can make, we've never seen her story play out. Until now that is. Lamp Life will fill in Bo Peep's missing years and show what she's been up to and how she became the toy she is today.
Based on the trailer for Lamp Life, although Bo Peep left the adventure-prone toys of Andy’s room and wasn’t along for the ride in Toy Story 3, she hasn’t exactly been on a relaxing vacation. The boring, static and dust-collecting life of a lamp turns out to be anything but as Bo Peep’s missing years are filled with parties, fires, blizzards and what appears to be a plague of moths.
As you might expect, Woody was curious about Bo Peep’s life and Lamp Life will see her telling him the story of everything that’s happened to her. Although in a fun little wrinkle, it turns out that Bo Peep might not be the most reliable narrator. The shepherdess stretches the truth and spins a few tall tales for Woody.
Bo Peep’s missing years are definitely something worth exploring and the Disney+ platform seems like a great place to do it. Pixar has been expanding the Toy Story universe for some time, with the studio producing a series of delightful shorts, dubbed Toy Story Toons, and television specials following Toy Story 3.
We don’t know if we’ll ever get a Toy Story 5. It doesn’t seem like it given the ending of the fourth film, but then again, we never thought we’d get Toy Story 4. But if the story has truly come to an end on the big screen, it would be cool to continue the franchise and spend some more time with these characters every once in a while through shorts like Lamp Life and series like Forky Asks a Question.
Toy Story 4 will compete at the 2020 Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature on February 9. Lamp Life premieres on Disney+ on January 31. To keep track of everything headed to theaters this year, check out our 2020 Release Schedule.
