ESPN, The Walt Disney Company and the NFL have collaborated on Toy Story Funday Football, a real-time transformation of the October 1 Atlanta Falcons-Jacksonville Jaguars game to the animated Toy Story universe. The action, from Wembley Stadium in London starting at 9:30 a.m. ET, is recreated simultaneously in Andy’s room, the setting for much of the movie.
Explains the partners, “Andy’s room will replicate the on-the-field gameplay from Wembley Stadium, where each Falcon and Jaguar player will have animated representation on a traditional looking field, catered to the Toy Story setting. Fans will view every run, pass, score and all football-related action through state-of-the-art tracking technology enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats player tracking data and Beyond Sports.”
All the surrounding aspects of the game, including announcers, graphics, scoreboard, penalty announcements and celebrations, will follow the Toy Story motif and take place in Andy’s room.
Toy Story Funday Football will be available live on Disney Plus and ESPN Plus. The regular game is on ESPN Plus too.
Toy Story came out in 1995. There are five movies in the franchise.
Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep, Bullseye, Bunny and other Toy Story characters will be visible throughout the telecast, participating from the sidelines and in other non-gameplay elements.
The halftime show sees Duke Caboom attempt a motorcycle jump.
Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, Louis Riddick, and Laura Rutledge will be inside Wembley Stadium for the real-life call.
The presentation is made possible by ESPN, ESPN’s Edge Innovation Center, Disney, NFL, Pixar, Next Gen Stats, Beyond Sports and Silver Spoon.
