The Pixar film Cars, featuring the red sports car Flash McQueen, is being re-released in theaters to mark its 20th anniversary. The film originally premiered in France in 2006 and follows the journey of a race car who learns the importance of the journey itself after stopping in the small town of Radiator Springs on Route 66. The film was first planned to be called Route 66, but the title was changed to avoid confusion with a 1960s American television show of the same name. The idea for Cars began in 1998 when John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, the screenwriter of Toy Story, were inspired by a documentary about how highway construction affected small towns. To gather more authentic details for the film, a technical team spent nine days traveling along Route 66 in 2001. This journey helped shape the film's depiction of the historic road and the communities it connects. Cars was a major success, earning $462 million worldwide and leading to two sequels released in 2011 and 2017. In Quebec, the film is known as Les Bagnoles, a French-language version of the title. While no fourth film has been officially announced, Flash McQueen will appear in the upcoming series Cars: Lightning Racers, which is set to air next year on Disney Jr. He will also be featured in the re-released original film.