UPDATE: Hello to Jason Isaacs, Emily Mortimer, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson and Thomas Kretschmann. They're all in the cast too.

"Finn McMissile, British Intelligence."

IT'S MICHAEL CAINE!

That's pretty much the reaction of everyone when they see the new teaser trailer for Cars 2. Yes, The Caine will be in Pixar's animated sequel, playing a missile-toting, handbrake-skidding secret agent. He's a car, of course.

Now that doesn't sound much like the original Cars, does it? That's because it isn't. Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable) head to Tokyo for the world's first World Gran Prix. And promptly enter a world of international espionage.

"What about Radiator Springs?" some children with shiny lunchboxes will cry. Screw Radiator Springs! I hated the first Cars, so thank God they're driving in a completely different direction. Pixar's 12th feature length film promises "secret agents, menacing villains and international racing". So it's basically Speed Racer. Which might not be a bad thing...

Cars 2 is revving up next year on Friday 22nd July. Read on for the trailer. And then sign our petition for Larry the Cable Guy to stop voicing imaginary pick-up trucks and start fixing my Virgin Media box.

Remember Cars? That lacklustre piece of dull Pixar animation? The film with the cars? Well, now we have a teaser trailer for Cars 2. And surprise, surprise, it's got cars in it.

Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) are back in new secret agent roles, causing havoc and chaos with their incompetence. Which, you know, fits in nicely with the sentiment of John Lasseter's Route 66-loving original. Yawn.

Cars 2 (in 3D) will arrive in June next year. Lunchboxes will be available from Christmas onwards. 

With Toy Story 3 lighting up the UK box office, it's easy to forget about Pixar's other projects on the go. It's even easier to forget about the ones they cancel. Luckily for us, though, they've decided to publish some of the artwork behind a recent ill-fated animation, Newt.

The story of a lonely newt (with blue feet) who faces extinction, it would have seen our endangered hero attempting to keep his species going through a breeding programme - despite the reluctance of the last remaining female, Brooke.

Shut down in May, Newt was going to be the feature debut of director Gary Rydstrom - in-house sound guru and director of previous short, Lifted. Pixar haven't revealed why Newt was shut down, but they have done something even rarer: given their fans a chance to see what might have been.

The full-range of beautiful artwork is online at Pixar's Facebook page, but you can read on to sample a few of the most colourful pieces.

Director: Lee Unkrich
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, Don Rickles, John Ratzenberger, Ned Beatty
Certificate: U

It took Pixar four years to come up with a flawless sequel to an instant classic - Toy Story established an entirely new genre back in 1995, its technical innovation easily matched by the excellent Toy Story 2. But now Lee Unkrich faces the challenge of continuing that warmth and humour into the third of the trilogy. Is 11 years enough time to give Woody and Buzz a proper final outing? You bet it is.

From the people who brought you Cars: Planes! Yes, Pixar are still keen to follow up on their one piece of animated rubbish, and now they've reached the dreaded entry in the Disney Guide to Cashing In: spin-off.

Cars, which was a pet project of John Lasseter, didn't do that well - mostly on account of it being rubbish - but it did make a lot of money in the merchandise market. Even my 4 year old nephew has a Lightning McQueen car that he drives around the living room. But while they prepare the Tokyo sequel for next year, Pixar have come up with an idea for a straight-to-DVD spin-off. And called it Planes. Presumably because it's about planes.

Heralded as animated kings, Pixar have been prince of the pixels for years now, producing quality family entertainment with old-school values and ultra-smooth framerates. But a sequel and a spin-off for one of their duds? This is beyond 3-D, people. This is Pocahontas II territory, something we all thought we'd left far behind what with WALL-E and the decade-spanning work on Toy Story 3. As long as they don't follow it up with Trains, we'll be fine: then we'd be bordering on a rubbish cartoon version of Truckers, Diggers and Wings, which is still crying out for a film version to be made. Oi, Lasseter! Go read some Pratchett!

Directors: Ron Clements and John Musker
Cast: Anika Noni Rose, Bruno Campos, Keith David
Certificate: U

When Disney got sucked into CG animation with the rest of the studios, it was looking like the death of hand-drawn stories. Aside from Studio Ghibli, everyone had all but abandoned this beautiful art-form. But lo, even in the wake of Avatar 3-D, hand-drawing has been resurrected by Disney with this joyous New Orleans Jazz fest. Hurrah!

Director: John Lasseter
Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen
Certificate: PG

If you don’t know the story of Toy story, you’re either a baby or a retard. Toy Story will be 15 years old next year, so its legacy is now firmly established. It is one of the defining films of the past generation, without which we would not have Shrek or Nemo, or any of their pixelated pals. Beyond the obvious, however, Toy Story has had an impact on animation history that would have been impossible to forsee when it originally hit our screens. It was the last point at which Disney noticeably blazed a trail through the animation world, and was the making of writer-director John Lasseter.