“Toy Story 3″ was a huge box office success, but it almost wasn’t. Back in 2005, “Toy Story 3″ was close to becoming just another direct-to-video Disney flop, thanks in no small part to a company called Circle 7. Here’s the story.

Between 2005 and 2006, while Disney and Pixar were in a bit of a tiff, a special company was created by Disney (Circle 7) to rush production of Pixar’s most beloved characters (since Disney still owned the rights) and create home market sequels before Pixar knew what hit ‘em. Thankfully, differences between the companies were eventually settled and Disney bought out Pixar for a little over seven billion dollars.

The funny thing is, during that year of litigation, several months of pre-production and storyboard work was done on “Toy Story 3,” in which Buzz Lightyear is recalled to Taiwan and the gang has to travel overseas to rescue him.

Although Circle 7 was shut down immediately following the Pixar buyout and all was right with the world once the real “Toy Story 3″ hit theaters, it’s still pretty interesting to see what might have been.

Via Slash Film, images and storyboard concepts by Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir and art director Ric Sluiter.