Pixar director Lee Unkrich settles argument over whether 'Toy Story's toys can die

There's absolutely no getting around the fact that in Toy Story 3 it all started getting pretty dusty out there when it looked like our heroes were done for.

No matter how much post-rationalising went on – surely they couldn't actually kill them off?! - in that moment, it looked terribly bleak for Woody, Buzz, Jessie and their toy pals, as they neared the flaming maw of the garbage incinerator.

But whether the toys of the movie series could actually 'die' or not has been something of a contested topic among fans, seeing as they're not technically 'alive' in the first place.

Now director Lee Unkrich, who worked as an editor on Toy Story, co-directed Toy Story 2 and solo directed the peerless Toy Story 3, has weighed in.

Remarked one Pixar fan on Twitter: “My girlfriend and i are having a big fight bc i think the toys from Toy Story are immortal and she thinks they can die.”

Unkrich himself then replied: “They live as long as they exist. But if they were to be utterly destroyed? Say, in an incinerator? Game over.”

Unkrich was also co-director on Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, an executive producer on Monsters University, The Good Dinosaur and Toy Story 4 and the director of Coco.

Plus he's been working at the Disney-owned animation studio since 1994.

So it's safe to say that he knows his onions when it comes to matters Pixar related, so if he says the toys can pass over to the big cupboard in the sky, then that's that.

Next up will be the jazz-themed Soul, featuring Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Daveed Diggs and Angela Bassett, due out in November.

Check the trailer below...