What it's like to voice a cartoon character at Pixar Studios

It's much much harder than it looks

Bagging an invite to Pixar Studios is like winning a golden ticket - it just doesn't happen.

Except it does; last month, we ventured to Emeryville, California to go behind the scenes of the biggest (and most successful) animation house of all time (you can read an account of our experience here).

While there some intriguing discoveries were made that definitely didn't know about the makers of Toy Story, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Dory.

1 - Recording voiceover is harder than it looks

If you were under the illusion that a quick spot of voicework was the easiest of acting paycheques, think again; I waltzed into the voice booth believing the same. Unbeknownst to me, there's a level of concentration that goes into this facet of filmmaking I never banked on. It probably hit me on my third attempt that getting through an animated feature would probably be impossible should I not be able to get through one line of dialogue. As far as auditions go, this wasn't my finest hour.

2 - There's cereal everywhere

A common sight walking around Pixar Studios is employees clutching plastic cups filled with breakfast cereal, regardless of time. I'm talking all kinds of cereal: Fruit Loops; Cocoa Puffs; Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Pixar's secret has been discovered - they're powered by sugar.

3 - The gift shop is genuinely real

The Pixar gift shop is a thing of legend no more - I can confirm its existence; it almost bankrupted me. It's stocked to the brim with items you can't get anywhere else in the world (save for eBay at an inflated price): clothing, badges, inflatable Luxo balls. You name it, you can (slash will) buy it.

4 - Team Pixar are an athletic bunch

Despite being hard at work creating some of the greatest animated hits in the history of cinema, employees believe there's always time to indulge in a sports game or two. Exactly which sport is another matter altogether - with goal posts, pool tables and basketball hoops (there are even swimming pools and a volleyball court), you'll be left scratching your head with indecision.

5 - Scooters are the preferred mode of transport

The problem of being late for a meeting is savvily eliminated by the several scooters lying around the lot, tucked away in nooks and crannies of almost every area. All you have to do is grab one and ride like the wind to wherever you need to go.

Finding Dory is out on DVD and Blu-ray now. The studios' next film will be Cars 3 followed by 'love letter to Mexico' Coco, more details on which were released just this week.