Orange guy in Monsters University

Pixar’s Monsters Inc prequel Monsters University tells the story of how Mike Wazowski and Sulley became friends during their college years at scare school. This weekend at D23 Expo, we learned a lot more about the project. Hit the jump to read the ten things we learned about Monsters University, and even see some unfinished concept renderings of what young Mike and Sulley will look like in the movie.

Director Dan Scanlon started with Pixar as a writer and storyboard artist for Cars, and made his directorial debut alongside John Lasseter on the Cars Toon short film Mater and the Ghostlight.

1. Pixar Has Been Developing Monsters University For Years

One of the early concept drawings of an early Mike in college was dated 2008, which goes to show you just how long this Monsters Inc prequel has actually been in development. It’s kind of amazing that we only learned that it would be a prequel storyline earlier this year. To give you an idea of the timeline, Ratatouille was just completed when they began concept work for this film — it was that long ago.

2. Monsters University is an Animated College Movie Set in the Monster World

Billy Crystal says that the movie is “different than anything you could imagine Monsters Inc could become.” Scanlon says that college is a time in life where you question who you are and what you’re going to become. Same can be said for Mike and Sulley’s time at Monster University. So the film is kind of like your favorite college movies, but Pixar has found ways to “monsterize” the college experience.

3. Mike and Sulley Began As Rivals

In Monsters Inc, Mike and Sulley had a great friendship, but it didn’t start out that way. Turns out that they began as rivals. Apparently in the world of Monstropolis, being a “scarer” is almost the equivalent of being an astronaut in the human world. Scare school is an elite program, and Mike and Sulley are both competing against one another for a coveted job.