Toy Story 4 Giggle Mcgiggles Alter Ego Ally Maki is a Ray of Sunshine

Giggle McDimples is the latest addition to the Toy Story gang and debuts as  pint-size cop from Mini-opolis with an acerbically biting wit.  Her alter ego, Ally Maki is the complete opposite.  Ally is literally a ray of sunshine with a childlike enthusiasm and wonderment which makes her perfect to voice an animated character at Pixar.

Right on the heels of Toy Story 4’s worldwide release, where Pixar has nabbed $118 million in the United States alone, myself and a room full of digital film enthusiasts sat down with Maki to discuss a variety of topics ranging from her being cast as Giggle McDimples to her feelings on diversity in animation.

ON THE PIXAR ANIMATION PROCESS…

Pixar told me “We just want you to be 100% YOU.”  Maki shared that actors are not sent scripts ahead of time and she had  “no clue what was going on…which  I think is so wonderful because it take you back to the main reason we love performing.”  The scenes are given in the form of thick cardboard templates and when done recording the Script Supervisor take them and puts them in the vault because there’s only one copy of each scene.

ON DIVERSITY IN ANIMATION…

“To be the first EVER Asian American female, woman of color and tiniest character in the universe is awesome…it’s really, really special.”   She proudly and emotionally shared, “As someone who grew up Asian American, we didn’t have a lot or representation in tv and film and magazines.  Toy Story 4 resonated with me so much because these characters are about borders and barriers.”

ON MEETING GIGGLE MC DIMPLES FOR THE FIRST TIME…

“I don’t know how to process it yet!  Ally exclaimed, “To be an incredible new character in the film is mind blowing…I can’t believe we’re here.”  “I keep telling them you know you hired the ultimate fan girl.”  The first thing Ally was shown was an animatronic version on a white background where her voice from another show was dubbed onto the image, which at the time was wearing a pink and purple dress with a pink bow.  She literally evolved from being prissy to a wise-cracking Cheif of Police wearing a uniform and shades.  Ally jokingly stated, “I was like tell me more about Mini-oplis!  That place sounds amazing!  Where is it?  What is it?  How do we get there?  I was telling them that we have to do Minioplis the spinoff.”

Ally Maki truly makes the Pixar universe a little brighter and so will this 4th installment in the Toy Story franchise. You got a friend in me Miss Ally and take the whole family and catch Toy Story 4 which opened globally on June 21!!!