Beloved composer Michael Giacchino hosted Pixar’s Toy Story That Time Forgot panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday and showed the public footage for the first time.

The packed room, clearly made up of Pixar fans, enjoyed a panel made up of Trixie voice actress Kristen Schaal and creators Galyn Susman (producer), Steve Purcell (director), and Derek Thompson (head of story).

Creating the story

Toy Story That Time Forgot was originally a six-minute feature that focused on new dinosaurs. When Pixar Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter took a look at it, he asked that it be developed into something larger.

“Before we got a chance to finish the six minute version, John said, ‘You know, these characters need more screen time. Make it a half-hour show and have it take place around Christmas.’ At that point I brought Derek Thompson in and we started growing this story and creating the additional characters, fleshing out the background characters – the heroes and the new ones,” Purcell explained.

Although you’ll see many new faces in That Time Forgot, Toy Story legends like Woody, Buzz, and Rex return for this special. Original voice actors – including Tom Hanks and Tim Allen – returned for this project too.

The presentation at Comic-Con revealed that the new dinosaurs are from a brand of toys called Battlesaurs, a new entity created by Pixar. In one of three clips screened at the panel, Trixie, Buzz, and Woody were introduced to the Battlesaurs’ complete play set which appears to be where the third act of the short film takes place.

Many Battlesaurs were introduced to us today including a nerdy creature named Ray-Gon (who has two brains and is in charge of arming the Battlesaurs), and the lead character named Reptillus Maximus voiced by Kevin McKidd (Brave).

Speaking about her adorable character Trixie who was introduced in Toy Story 3, Schaal offered what her character thinks about on a daily basis. “My touchstone is extinction – [the dinosaurs are] gone. Since she survived, she has a carefree attitude now.”

Schaal says most dinosaurs are ready to destroy, but not Trixie. “She doesn’t really have that in her. But she loves the outfit – she looks amazing.”

Trixie and Rex receive new outfits from the Battlesaurs in one of the clips that were screened, and the latter character receives an addition to his body that he’s been wanting for a long time. We don’t want to spoil it, but we will say that fans who’ve watched the Toy Story film series from the beginning will appreciate what Pixar decides to give him.

The clips gave the sense that Toy Story That Time Forgot is a much larger story than the one presented in the Halloween Special last year. We think this one will easily become a favorite amongst fans.

During the Q&A portion of the program, several young children stepped up to the mic to ask questions like how long it takes to make a Toy Story movie. One child asked if the new Battlesaurs will be introduced in a possible Toy Story 4. While Schaal was quick to give a “yes,” Susman hesitated to suggest that this Christmas Special brings us one step closer to a fourth installment.

The Christmas theme

There were not many hints of the holiday in the footage that we saw, other than the little scene you see in the picture at the top of this article. So at roundtables later in the day, we asked Thompson about how this story connects to Christmas to make it the “Christmas Special” that they’re billing.

“We were very conscious of trying to keep the Christmas ingredient integrated in the show in an organic way and not feel like a tacked on thing, so beyond the fact that it’s the setting of Christmas, we have the Angel Kitty. Her participation in the show actually expanded during the story development because she could represent the voice of holiday wisdom,” he explained.

“Charlie Brown Christmas does a great job of having a real heart about the values of Christmas, and we talked about values at the holidays like giving and surrender. This notion of giving is really important. Does a toy give themselves over to a kid when they’re played with? And Trixie’s issue in the beginning is she wants to be played with in a certain way. So she’s going on an adventure to give oneself over to their child.”

Pixar announced today that Toy Story That Time Forgot will premiere December 2 on ABC. A line of toys will be hitting store shelves too.