By Paul Salfen AMFM Magazine
After nearly a decade in the making, Pixar veteran Alex Woo’s passion project In Your Dreams finally arrived on Netflix on November 14, 2025 (following a limited theatrical run beginning November 7). The charming animated adventure follows siblings Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport) and Elliot (Elias Janssen) as they plunge into the surreal world of dreams to find the Sandman and save their parents’ crumbling marriage. With a voice cast that includes Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, and SungWon Cho, the film has quickly won over families and critics alike.
In an exclusive chat with AMFM’s Paul Salfen, the founder/CEO of Kuku Studios and first-time feature director Alex Woo opened up about the long journey, the personal themes at the heart of the movie, and why Ratatouille still feels magical to him almost twenty years later.
Paul Salfen: This movie is so much fun, not just for kids but for us grown-ups too. Nine years from idea to Netflix — how are you feeling now that it’s finally out in the world?
Alex Woo: It’s a mix of emotions — very excited, very anxious, very proud, a little nervous. You pour your life into something for that long and you just never know how the world is going to receive it.
Paul: You’ve worked on absolute classics — Ratatouille, WALL-E, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2 — but people still seem to light up the most when they talk to you about Ratatouille. Why do you think that one endures for you personally?
Alex: Ratatouille was my very first film at Pixar, and it’s one of those rare movies where even I can watch it without seeing all the blood, sweat, and arguments behind every shot. Normally when you work on something you’re so close to it that every scene just reminds you of the pain it took to get there. But with Ratatouille, I can still sit back and enjoy it like any other audience member. That makes it really special.
Paul: You’ve told me this one took nine years. What keeps you going day after day on a project that long?
Alex: Two things: the people and the theme. I feel incredibly lucky to go to work every day and make cartoons with some of the most talented artists on the planet. Seeing what they create is endlessly inspiring. And the message of the movie itself — that life is imperfect, families are messy, people are flawed, but that’s actually what makes everything meaningful — that idea drove me every single morning. I wanted to tell that story as honestly as possible.
Paul: Stevie, the little girl at the center of the film, is a bit of a perfectionist — and you admitted that’s a big part of your own personality too.
Alex: (laughs) Oh yeah, she’s basically me with pigtails. I’m a recovering perfectionist. At Pixar they used to joke that films don’t get finished — they just get taken away from us because we’d keep tweaking forever if they let us. I probably would have done the same thing with In Your Dreams if Netflix hadn’t finally said, “Okay, time’s up!” Learning to let go and accept “good enough” is something I’m still working on every day.
Paul: For all the kids (and adults) out there who dream of doing what you do, what’s the one piece of advice you always give?
Alex: You have to love it — really love it — because this job demands patience and dedication on a level most people can’t imagine. Honing the craft takes years and years. Sticking with a single movie for nine years takes serious passion. If you have that fire, nothing can stop you.
As our conversation wrapped, Woo’s gratitude was palpable. “Thank you for sharing it with your families,” he said. “That’s exactly why we made it.”
In Your Dreams is now streaming on Netflix and already feels like the kind of movie families will return to whenever they need a reminder that perfect isn’t the point — love, mess and all, is.
Welcome to the dream world, Alex Woo. We can’t wait to see where you take us next.
