Toyota Pickup Recreates Toy Story‘s Pizza Planet Delivery Truck

By Brett Foote - June 20, 2019

2019 year review YotaTech

School buddies get together and create an amazingly faithful recreation of Pixar’s most famous Toyota pickup.

If you’re a fan of the uber-popular Toy Story franchise (and who isn’t?), this Toyota pickup probably looks more than a little familiar. In all fairness, the Pizza Planet delivery truck has made a cameo in every single Pixar movie to date (save for The Incredibles) and has even landed in video games. And even though the movies refer to it as a “1978 Gyoza Mark VII Lite Hauler,” that distinctive “YO” on the tailgate is a dead giveaway as to what the movie makers based the truck off of.

So you can imagine our giddy surprise when we came across this faithful Pizza Planet delivery truck recreation at the 2019 Nitto Auto Enthusiast Day. And we were pleased to learn that the truck’s owner is rather passionate about Pixar movies and classic Toyota trucks. He also documents his exploits via the web, as this special recreation has its very own site. Sadly, however, the truck has yet to actually deliver a pizza.

But that doesn’t mean this ’80 model Toyota doesn’t get driven. “It just turned over to 244,000 miles,” the owner told us. It’s also quite the basic piece of transportation. “Four-speed, no air conditioning, no radio,” he continues. “It’s been a fun little project for me and my friends from high school and college. We originally built it to deliver a pizza and film a quick prank video.”

Funny enough, Pixar was rather pleased with their work. “We put it online that we were going to do a road trip. Park outside and take a picture before security’s called. We went up there and we were able to get in. There was a tour, they showed us around. We met a lot of people who worked on the trucks and what not.”

You certainly can’t blame them, given this truck’s amazing level of detail. Little things like the grape soda can and tennis ball in the bed, the custom license plates, it’s all there. The crew has been working on this Toyota for eight years, trying to get it as close to the movie truck as possible. And those efforts have been rewarded, as the truck has appeared at multiple Disney and Pixar events. So, be sure and check out their blog so you can catch this amazing recreation as it continues to travel the show circuit!