Why did Pixar never make Ratatouille 2?

As Toy Story 5 hits theaters today, a little rat continues to escape the madness of the sequels…

Woody and Buzz keep coming back. But Rémy, never!

While Toy Story 5 is released today in theaters and that Pixar will release soon The Incredibles 3, Monsters & Co. 3 or even Coco 2a cult character continues to escape the madness of sequels: Ratatouille. However, Brad Bird’s classic remains one of the studio’s biggest hits.

Released in 2007, Ratatouille grossed $623 million at the worldwide box office, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and is today considered one of Pixar’s masterpieces. But unlike most of the studio’s major franchises, Rémy’s adventures have never had a second chapter. According to Patton Oswalt, who lends his voice to the famous cook rat in the original version, this absence can be explained by a very simple reason: no one wants to make a sequel without a real idea behind it.

“Of course I would love there to be a Ratatouille 2“, confides the actor in the podcast Obsessed of Daily Beast. But he immediately clarifies that it all depends on its creator, Brad Bird:

“There was never going to be a sequel to The Incredibles until Brad said, ‘Wait, there’s a story to tell.’ If one day he has an idea, then that’s the one I want to do.”

Oswalt insists he doesn’t want to see a sequel designed solely to exploit the success of the first film:

“I don’t want to be the one who says, ‘What if Rémy did this or that?’ I want it to be an idea that you can’t get rid of. I don’t want it to come from a meeting where we pull out the notepads to build a suite. A lot of films are made like this and it always seems artificial.“

The actor rather dreams of a film capable of surprising the public as certain sequels that have become legendary have done:

“I wish it was like Terminator 2 or Aliens. A story that truly expands the universe and deserves to be told. Not just a marketing stunt. Of course we like to make money, but you have to do it by telling an incredible story that opens up new perspectives that no one had thought of.”

In other words, if Ratatouille 2 still doesn’t exist almost twenty years after the first film, it’s not for lack of desire. Pixar, Brad Bird and even Patton Oswalt seem to be just waiting for the right idea. And at a time when the studio is increasing the returns of its most popular franchises, fans can always hope to see Rémy one day return to service in Parisian kitchens.