We’ll just put this to you straight: The alternate version of Toy Story 3 that Disney was developing without Pixar can’t compare to what ended up hitting theaters.

“Alternate version?” You’re asking. A brief catch up: In the early 2000s before Pixar was acquired, Disney had a 7-film agreement with the animation studio that said they’d develop sequels to hits like Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo. Disney owned all of the characters in Pixar’s world, so they could choose to do what they wanted with them.

Things started going sour during that partnership, so when Pixar refused to make a Toy Story threequel, Disney created a new studio they used as a backup plan for developing these movies.

Circle 7 Animation, Disney’s new “Pixar factory,” if you will, then began work on Toy Story 3.

The concept art for the alternate Toy Story 3 was recently released by artist Jim Martin on his personal website.

This Toy Story 3 was very different than the one that you saw in theaters in 2010. In this alternate film, according to an EW feature from 2006, Woody and company decide to ship Buzz off to Japan for repairs after he begins to malfunction. After sending him away, Hamm reads on the internet that Buzz is part of a massive recall, so they ship themselves to Japan to try and save him.

The concept art primarily depicts the toys while they’re in Tokyo trying to save their friend. One scene that looked particularly interesting was the one where the toys are flying in a shopping cart. We also see the toys trying to fix Buzz themselves prior to shipping him overseas (reportedly against Buzz’s will).

The aforementioned 2006 EW report notes that John Lasseter’s revised plan for Toy Story 3, developed by Pixar after they were acquired by Disney, would wrap the franchise up definitively. While that ended up being true, Disney announced in November of this year that they’re developing a fourth Toy Story.

It’s nice to see that Pixar threw out Disney’s plans for Toy Story 3 entirely, because the plot doesn’t look nearly as good as the one that hit theaters. One of the biggest differences is that the alternate version seems to lack a lot of heart. Would this have been as big a tear jerker?

With that said, there’s no telling how good or bad this alternate version would’ve been. We suppose that it could’ve been emotional to see the toys realize that they are the cause of Buzz’s death unless they go and save him themselves.