Almost 40 years after its debut The Brave Little Toaster« is available to watch on Disney+. For generations, this animated classic was considered lost media. It was last released on home media in 2003, as a minimalist DVD release, but before you congratulate Disney on restoring a lost classic, you should know that it was their fault it was locked away for decades. Most kids first encountered the film in 1987 on Disney VHS tapes or on the Disney Channel, but it's not actually a Disney movie. More accurately, it's a Disney movie, but... that's where things get complicated.
Millennials have something to rejoice about: the animated film "The Brave Little Toaster" is now available to watch online.
В cartoon "The Brave Little Toaster"« A group of household appliances—a toaster, a blanket, a radio, a lamp, and a vacuum cleaner—leave their summer house to find their young owner, Rob, who hasn't visited in years. Traversing through woods, scaling a waterfall, and, because it was the '80s, plunging into swampy quicksand, they risk life, limb, and dead batteries to reach their owner. Unbeknownst to them, so much time has passed that Rob, now a college student, and his girlfriend are trying to find them.
If only the cartoon «The Brave Little Toaster» If it had been made 10 years later, it wouldn't have been so traumatic. Other appliances are outrageous, from the Phil Hartman-voiced air conditioner that sets itself on fire to a repair shop for old, broken appliances. In one truly nightmarish scene, the Toaster involves insane clown firefighters and a giant bathtub full of water. Even the catchy musical numbers can't quite make up for the insane, nightmarish visuals. Still, it's a favorite cartoon of millennials for a reason, and you'll have to wipe away a tear at the end.
Disney kept the toaster in storage for decades.
The question arises: if «The Brave Little Toaster» — such a wonderful and beloved film, why did Disney keep it in the archives for decades? John Lasseter, the man who helped create «Toy Story» , wanted to make the film into the first full-length animated feature created entirely in 3D, more than a decade before Buzz and Woody. The proposal was so well received by Disney executives that they fired Lasseter.
This opened the door for two Disney employees, Tom Wilhite and Willard Carroll, to lead the film's development at their new company, Hyperion Pictures. Disney owned the rights to the film and co-financed it with CBS and TDK (an electronics company) with a total budget of just $5.6 million, which was very, very low for a full-length animated film.
Traumatize the new generation
Disney had the rights to release the films on home media and television, so they deliberately delayed the premiere.« "Brave Little Toaster"» on Disney Channel until theatrical release. You'd think that in the age of streaming, the release window for movies is incredibly short, but that was simply unheard of. If Disney wasn't going to profit from theatrical releases, it wasn't going to allow anyone else to profit from wide releases.
On May 26, 2026, Disney finally released The Brave Little Toaster« on Disney+, and it immediately shot into the service's top ten. Those who grew up with The Brave Little Toaster and his friends can now share this adventure with their children or, what's really hard to write, their grandchildren. It's one of the best animated films of the '80s, and after watching it, you'll understand exactly where John Lasseter got the idea for «Toy Stories» .
The Brave Little Toaster« is finally available to watch on Disney+.
Sequels have been available on streaming platforms for years, but we don't talk about them.