In a 2010 interview at Cal State, Northridge, Deanna Oliver revealed that at her son's deployment ceremony to Afghanistan, some of the soldiers who were fans of the film had brought their toasters with them for her to autograph.
The hanging lamp (voiced by Phil Hartman) is based on Peter Lorre in both voice and appearance. The Air Conditioner, also voiced by Hartman, is based on the voice and intense acting style of Jack Nicholson.
During pre-production, Jon Lovitz was cast in Saturday Night Live (1975). Jerry Rees, who had been writing the character of Radio with Lovitz in mind, pleaded with him to stay in Los Angeles long enough to record his voice tracks. Lovitz agreed, despite protests from his agency. Rees quickly finished the screenplay and hustled Lovitz into the recording studio. Lovitz's entire performance was then captured in one, marathon session.
Halfway through filming, Donald Kushner thought that the nightmare scene should be cut from the film; due to the clown being extremely frightening to younger children. He also stated that the junkyard scene should be cut from the film too, due to one of the cars driving into a crusher on purpose, using a suicide reference. For unknown reasons, the scenes were left in the film.
This film is considered by many to be the prototypical Pixar film. Many of Pixar's most important members, including Joe Ranft and John Lasseter, were involved with The Brave Little Toaster (1987)'s production. It also contains tropes that have become common in Pixar films: objects with human-like qualities, a long journey that changes the characters, and dark adult themes hidden in the guise of a children's film. Even the famous code A113, which is seen in all of Pixar's films, appears as the Master's apartment number.