Batman? Beetlejuice? Barbie’s Ken? Keaton Joins Toy Story 3

Woody seems a little tightly wound here.

IESB has some casting news about Toy Story 3, notably that Michael Keaton will be doing the voice of Ken–as in Ken and Barbie Ken. Keaton previously worked with Pixar on Cars.

Jodi Benson, most famous for voicing Ariel in  The Little Mermaid, will play Barbie. Benson’s a Barbie pro–in Toy Story she played Tour Guide Barbie and in Toy Story 2 she was Barbie on Backpack.

As you may recall, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are being remastered in 3D to be re-released before the 3D Toy Story 3 opens in summer 2010. This has no bearings on the voice cast whatsoever, but just FYI for your calendar.

IESB says a Wall Street Journal article earlier this year described Toy Story 3’s plot as “Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college.”

Sounds appropriate to me. And for those of you hoping for a little romance (aren’t we all), sorry–Benson said Ken and Barbie don’t kiss, just embrace. I’m guessing this has something to do with the fact that it’s hard to get dolls to kiss.