Toon My Heart

Happy Father's Day! To celebrate, this special episode of Toon My Heart features two special guests (and dads): Matt Williams, aka Rockin Mr Magic of Jeek Nation, home of the best conversations combining sports and geek; and pastor and comedian Bobby Benavides, host of the "Taking Up Your Time" comedy special and podcast. Matt and Bobby join host Tracy Herold to talk about some of our favorite ani...

Happy Mother's Day! To celebrate, this special episode of Toon My Heart features two special guests (and moms): Author Shayla Huber, whose latest book is titled "10 Things I Hate About Motherhood: Exchanging the World's Perfection for God's Peace and Presence;" and voiceover actor Katie Leigh, who has played a multitude of characters, including Baby Rowlf on Muppet Babies, Sunni Gummi on Adventure...

2025 was quite a year for Bible-based animated films, with Angel Studios' and Sunrise Animation Studios' "David" closing out the year, following in the footsteps of Angel's Easter epic "The King of Kings" and the traditionally animated "Light of the World"-- and overtaking both of them to become the highest-grossing faith-based animated film of all time. But is it worthy of such a distinction? In...

With a strong opening weekend and continuing box office success, Disney and Pixar's Hoppers has risen above a sea of sequels and remakes to prove that original concepts can still spell success for animation studios. Directed by Daniel Chong of We Bare Bears fame, the film's zany premise about a girl who transfers her mind into a robot beaver in order to talk to animals has won over the majority of...

Almost 90 years ago, Walt Disney made history by producing the first cel animated feature film ever, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While movie industry insiders and even those closest to him had doubted his vision, Walt and his studio staff persevered in creating an undisputed masterpiece, and managed to change the course of film and animation history in the process. In this episode of Toon My...

The 2026 Academy Awards show is coming up in just a few days. While you've probably seen, or at least familiar with, some of the animated film nominees, such as Sony Animation's K-Pop Demon Hunters (the favorite to win the Oscar) and Disney's Zooptopia 2, let's take a look at a few of the nominees that you may have missed-- and that may be worth checking out. In the Best Animated Feature Film cate...

Special guest Tim Ingle, creator of the Bearly Biblical animated series on Loor.tv-- and coming soon, the Bearly Biblical trading card game-- returns to Toon My Heart to talk about The Little Troll Prince: A Christmas Parable. This 1987 Christmas television special with a very explicitly Christian message, produced by Hanna-Barbera and backed by the International Lutheran Laymen's League, carries...

Despite first airing in 1996, "Arnold's Christmas," also known as the "Hey Arnold! Christmas Special," was a new watch this year for Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold, suggested by this episode's special guest, Kevin T. Rodriguez, also known as iCritic. What starts out as a pretty typical Christmas episode for a kids' TV show turns out to be something deeper and much more special by the end. And the...

When you think of Disney and Christmas specials, the first one that comes to mind is likely Mickey's Christmas Carol, and for good reason. But five years before that short came out, Disney released another Christmas special called The Small One, directed by none other than Don Bluth, shortly before he left the company to form his own animation studio. Although it seems to have largely been forgott...

Light of the World is the second animated film released in 2025 about the life of Jesus, so how does this traditionally animated project compare to the 3D-animated The King of Kings that came out earlier in the year? Produced by The Salvation Poem Project and with the talent of former Disney animators and directors and unique storybook-style animation provided by Lighthouse Studios, a joint ventur...

On this episode of Toon My Heart, host Tracy Herold is joined by animator Monica Theiler, founder of Moonglow Animation, to talk about Dreamworks' 2010 animated film How to Train Your Dragon . Based on the book by Cressida Cowell and brought to life by the writing/directing team of Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois, who previously collaborated on Disney's Lilo & Stitch , How to Train Your Dragon...

Disney and Pixar's newest original animated film Elio hasn't had much success in getting audiences into the theater. But does that mean it's not worth watching? Find out why Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold believes this outer space adventure about loneliness, family, and finding a place to belong is worth seeing on the big screen, and how it even reminded her of the Biblical prophet Elijah and his...

It's time for another special "Showtune My Heart" episode, in which "Toon My Heart" host Tracy and a guest discuss a song from an animated film, analyzing it through a Christian lens. Today's guest is writer, editor, and podcaster Faith Moore, host of the "Storytime for Grownups" podcast and author of the book Saving Cinderella: What Feminists Get Wrong About Disney Princesses and How to Set it Ri...

Why did the highest-grossing film of 2024 strike such a chord with audiences and critics? To mark the end of Mental Health Awareness Month, host Tracy Herold welcomes back special guest Pastor Jay Nepomuceno, founder of a Christian mental health advocacy ministry called The Climb, to talk about Disney Pixar's Inside Out 2. All of our favorite emotions from the first Inside Out-- Joy, Sadness, Ange...

Disney's Moana is the "No. 1 movie in streaming history" according to the Wall Street Journal, having been streamed for more than 1 billion hours! But it's also a story about gods, demigods, monsters, and spirits. Is it okay for Christians to watch such a film? Can we maybe even find glimpses of the gospel within it? Grab a boat snack and set sail with Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold and special g...

The first of three Bible-based animated films coming out in 2025 came out just in time for Easter-- but is it any good? Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold and her daughter share their thoughts on The King of Kings, the first full-length feature film from Korean director Seong-ho Jang of Mofac Studios, a creative retelling of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ inspired by Charles Dicken...

Dav Pilkey's Dog Man series of graphic novels have proven extremely popular with children around the world, with more than 60 million copies published in 47 different languages. So it was only a matter of time before someone made a movie out of them. But does it live up to the source material-- and if so, will it prove as popular with parents as it is with their kids? In this Toon My Heart: First...

In this episode, Tracy is taking a look at Disney's 2000 animated short film, "John Henry," about the black folk hero and his famous competition against a steam drill. And she's joined by the Burden brothers, hosts of "A Burden for the Times," a podcast all about clarifying conversations on culture and race. They discuss whether representation matters in media and how it can be done right, the rea...

In each "Showtune My Heart" episode, Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold and a special guest discuss one of their favorite songs from an animated movie from a Biblical perspective. In this episode, our special guest is Donnie Lakes, the host of another Christian podcast called The Ride of Your Life and founder of Ride of Your Life Ministries, which seeks to share the gospel with coaster and theme park...

"Small but mighty" is the theme of the day as Toon My Heart takes a break from feature-length films to examine the Disney short film "The Legend of Johnny Appleseed," part of 1948's Melody Time. Featuring the song "The Lord is Good to Me" sung by Dennis Day (who also narrates and does all of the character voices), and a character who carries a Bible, interacts with his guardian angel, and goes to...

The latest episode of Toon My Heart: First Impressions is a family affair, with not just host Tracy and daughter Darcy weighing in, as usual, but also a very special guest-- their husband and father, respectively, Dave! Listen to find out what all three of us thought of the latest animated film from Dreamworks, The Wild Robot, how we felt about the changes made from the original book by Peter Brow...

Welcome to the first episode of a new ongoing bonus series called "Showtune My Heart," in which Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold and a guest will discuss a song from an animated film from a Christian faith perspective. In this episode, Tracy is joined by Kevin T. Rodriguez, also known as iCritic, to discuss the song "God Help the Outcasts," written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwa...

Disney Pixar's Inside Out 2 is smashing box office records left and right, but is the sequel worth all the hype and a fitting follow up to the studio's beloved original "emotional rollercoaster" of a movie? Host Tracy and daughter Darcy weigh in with their thoughts (and feelings, of course) about 2024's first $1 billion box office film, and the return of Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Disgust, alo...

Pixar is an animation studio known for producing films that tug on the heartstrings, but perhaps its most emotional movie-- quite literally-- is Inside Out. Now, with the release of Inside Out 2 just around the corner, Toon My Heart host Tracy Herold is taking a closer look at the original, and the lessons it has to teach us about emotional and mental health, with the help of special guest Jay Nep...

Landing in theaters late in 2023, and now available on Peacock and other streaming networks, Migration flew under a lot of people's radar. But while the latest animated film from Illumination, the studio behind Despicable Me, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie didn't soar to the same levels of box-office success as those predecessors, both host Tracy and daught...