'You will not have to act!' Read Conan O'Brien's hilarious Toy Story 5 offer letter
Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton wrote to Conan O'Brien to offer him the part of potty training gadget Smarty Pants.
Conan O'Brien was told he would "not have to act" for potty training Toy Story 5 role.
The late night legend has been cast as old school gadget Smarty Pants in the latest movie in the iconic Pixar franchise, and he didn't need much convincing to play the toy, which looks like a roll of toilet paper hanging from a holder.
Director Andrew Stanton revealed his offer letter to Entertainment Weekly, describing it as "one of the greatest things I've ever written".
He read: "Dear Conan,
"Smarty Pants is a toddler's learning device for potty training who makes Jessie the yodeling cowgirl's life a living hell.
"He has only two buttons: No. 1 and No. 2. He had one job in life and he completed it in record time. Since then, he's been left outside in an abandoned play school shed, batteries run down, lying in sleep mode like the town drunk.
"Smarty is sarcastic, brash, funny, slightly embarrassing to be around, but beneath all that crap, he has a heart of gold.
"You will not have to act for this roll."
The spelling of "roll" was a deliberate pun, and the Finding Nemo filmmaker revealed Conan "said yes right away".
The comedian himself joked: "When he said, 'Look, you're a toilet-training device for children, and all we want is for you to be yourself,' it does give one pause, you know?
"It does make one think, 'What if this how people see me?' Maybe it is, but I decided I was gonna take it as flattery."
Conan insisted he had "no formal training" as a child, but he was able to relate to a love of toys.
He quipped: "I'm completely self-taught. I'm a prodigy, really. I didn't have any kind of toilet-training device, but I had a G.I. Joe that was sacred to me.
"My parents gave me a Smokey the Bear teddy bear with the little Ranger hat and everything. I love that guy.
"We all have toys that mean the world to us when we're young."
Stanton wanted Smarty - who has been abandoned and forgotten over the years - to be played as the "town drunk that's just laying on the bar counter".
Conan explained how it's difficult "to play drunk", so he needed "to take a lot of runs at it to get it in the ballpark"
He added: "There's nothing more painful than watching someone get it wrong. And it's very easy to get it wrong."
He joked: "So I just drew on my own experience, which is, I had been drunk shortly before I showed up for the recording. I mean, really drunk. And I did that because I'm Method. So that's my secret."
The movie follows on from the fourth film, after Woody (Tom Hanks) left Bonnie to help find owners for abandoned toys.
Jessie (Joan Cusack) has become the leader of Bonnie's room with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) second in command.
Things take a turn as Bonnie, now eight, gets enamoured with her new frog-like tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee).
Toy Story 5 is coming to cinemas on June 19.
