How the R-Rated Animated 'Sausage Party' Owes Its Existence to Pixar

It wasn’t the envelope-pushing South Park that most inspired Seth Rogen and the creators of the new R-rated animated film Sausage Party (though they did take notes from the cartoon mainstay’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, on how to sneak loads of lewd content by the MPAA). No, it was the family-oriented Toy Story-type films of the world.

“It was mostly born out of a love for animation, and a love for Pixar movies, and DreamWorks Animation movies,” Rogen told Yahoo Movies (watch above) when he stopped by our studios with costar Michael Cera. “All these movies have this theme of the secret life of everyday objects: cars, bugs, toys.”

Related: Seth Rogen Reveals What They Had to Shave from ‘Sausage Party’ to Get R-Rating from MPAA

So why not hot dogs, which are portrayed in the film as lovable goofs counting down the seconds until they’re brought home by a human (or a “god,” as they’re called in the film) to their idea of paradise?

“Well, that’s what we thought,” Rogen said. “And then we realized the reason no kid movie probably goes there is because it’s horrific is you really explore the idea to the length to the length at which Pixar explores their ideas. They hit a roadblock, ultimately, where they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s super-messed up what happens.’ And we plowed right through that roadblock.”

Sausage Party, which also features the voices of Jonah Hill, Nick Kroll, Kristen Wiig, Paul Rudd, Salma Hayek, and Edward Norton, opens in theaters Friday.

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