Cars 3 Will Be A Very Emotional Story

While the first Cars was never the most beloved of Disney and Pixar's collaborations, it certainly finishes miles ahead (no pun intended) of Cars 2.

So it's arguably no surprise that with a third film on the way, they're aiming to replicate the race-heavy, emotional first movie, rather than the "cars-as-spies" idea of Cars 2.

"Lightning McQueen, he's awesome. We've got some great new characters, some great racing in it. It's a very emotional story. It's a little bit more akin to Cars 1, where you get into a deep emotion with him," Lasseter told EW. "It's really a special story. It's very emotional and his relationship with Doc Hudson, and his memory of Doc Hudson."

Doc Hudson, you'll remember, was the character played by Hollywood legend Paul Newman in Cars. When Newman passed away between movies, Hudson didn't appear in Cars 2, although Lightning and his best pal Mater had a weighty exchange at a museum dedicated to Hudson's racing exploits.

The first film centered on Lightning as an arrogant rookie racecar, who got stranded in a town in the middle of nowhere after being arrested for a number of traffic infractions. In the end, he learned humility and while he didn't win his championship race, he developed relationships and a skillset that would make him one of the greatest of all time.

In Cars 2, the now-champion McQueen would head to Europe and Asia for a series of world championship races, although really his racing career faded into the background against a foreground of dim-witted tow truck Mater being mistaken for a spy.

Lasseter is one of a number of Disney/Pixar names you'll see making the press rounds over the next few weeks in support of Finding Dory, another Pixar sequel due out later this month.

Cars 3 will be in theaters on June 16, 2017.