The hype around Toy Story 5 is huge. Just when we thought Pixar's longest-running franchise might be growing tired, we get the announcement of a Taylor Swift Toy Story song and the unveiling of a new character to be voiced by none other than Bad Bunny, fresh from his Super Bowl performance.
Alas, the reggaeton megastar's apparently cool and mysterious pepperoni-topped character is already causing controversy. One animator argues that the slick slice was inspired by a character in a cult Cartoon Network show from a decade ago.
Bad Bunny will voice the wonderfully named Pizza with Sunglasses in both English and Spanish-language versions of Toy Story 5.
If you've not already guessed, the character is effectively a slice of pizza that's wearing a pair of sunglasses. Based on the short reveal above, I'd say he's a rubbery toy slice rather than a festering leftover from a takeaway, but other than that, we don't know much about how big his role will be in the movie.
Nevertheless, the revelation of this sleek new character was quickly noticed by Pete Browngardt, creator of the Cartoon Network series Uncle Grandpa. Pete has suggested on X that Pizza with Sunglasses is a “rip off” of his character Pizza Steve.
Pizza Steve will forever be the GOAT pic.twitter.com/KjIRsi9JEhMay 27, 2026
The appearance of similar-sounding characters in animation is not exactly rare. At least Pixar isn't using AI. Amazon's recent launch of its GenAI Creators' Fund was widely mocked after one project was accused of being a KPop Demon Hunters mocksbuster and another of stealing a character design. But accusations of plain old human plagiarism can be just as unfortunate.
The surreal comedy Uncle Grandpa ran on Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2017 and had 153 episodes. As well as creating and writing the series, Pete also voiced the eponymous character.
Pizza Steve was indeed a slice of pizza wearing sunglasses. Voiced by Adam Devine, he was also known for a vain and arrogant temperament, sometimes referring to himself in the third person. He became a popular meme for a time.
Toy Story has a history of basing characters on real existing products, either directly in the case of Mr Potato Head, which it licensed, or through blending influences to create new characters.
The concept and personality of the rival pizza slices would appear to be similar, but that's not evidence of plagiarism. It is perfectly possible for different creators and artists to independently come up with similar ideas.
A side-by-side comparison (above) shows clear visual differences in the character designs. Pizza Steve has limbs for a start, which is even more surreal than a pizza with sunglasses when you think about it. Naturally, some of the difference in appearance is because of the different animation styles. Uncle Grandpa used a more traditional 2D animation style while Pixar continues to use the 3D realism that it made so popular.
It's also been pointed out that the concept of a pizza with glasses isn't exclusive to Uncle Grandpa. A character called Pizza Face, who wore regular glasses, appeared as a parody superhero in an episode of Sam Register's 2004-2006 Cartoon Network comedy Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi.
The pizza chain Domino's also once released a toy figurine of an anthropomorphic domino wearing sunglasses.
Toy Story 5 is set to be released on June 19, 2026. It seems unlikely that the Pizza with Sunglasses character design controversy will do it any harm at the box office given the huge recent success of Hoppers and Disney's Zootopia 2. What's less certain is the impact of the controversy over Disney's Hexed character design on the entertainment giant's next major animated movie.
