Lee Unkrich embedded a Totoro plush in the daycare scenes as a signal: Pixar was learning from Hayao Miyazaki. The emotional pacing of Toy Story 3 — the willingness to let quiet moments carry weight, to let sadness breathe — is inherited from Miyazaki's understanding of how to make children's films that don't insult the viewer's capacity for feeling. Unkrich documented this influence in 2010 interviews. My Neighbor Totoro is available on Criterion Channel.
We watched a ton of prison break movies. We watched everything from The Great Escape to Cool Hand Luke, all the obvious ones. Even some not so obvious ones like a French film called A Man Escaped by Robert Bresson.
— Lee Unkrich · Collider - Lee Unkrich Toy Story 3 Interview
Films That Influenced Toy Story 3
