In Your Dreams is Netflix's big new outing on the 2025 movie schedule, meaning the world is finally getting to meet the disgusting-yet-oddly-adorable Baloney Tony. A lot of the new Netflix original is drawn from the real-life experiences of writer and director Alex Woo, including the fact that Craig Robinson’s over-the-top character was inspired by something called “Butthole Bear.”
No, your eyes aren’t fooling you, I said “Butthole Bear.” So, what’s the story behind that? Well, during a press event a few months before In Your Dreams became available with a Netflix subscription, Woo explained the origins of the imaginary character, which included a great (yet disgusting) story about his brother’s favorite stuffed animal.
My brother used to have this stuffed animal that had this really gross stain on the back. We called him ‘Butthole Bear,’ because you can imagine where the stain was placed. So, yeah, that was sort of a big inspiration for Baloney Tony. I mean, I think we've all had that sort of stuffed animal that we've loved to death, and yeah, we just thought, you know, we gotta put one in our movie. Baloney Tony is really supposed to be the sort of subconscious of Elliot, sort of his id.
In the movie, Tony is the imaginary friend of Elliot (Elias Janssen), a young boy who embarks upon a wild and fantastical journey with his older sister, Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport), as they attempt to save their parents’ marriage. Though the giraffe-like creature (with a bologna pocket) is messy and disgusting, the director sees Tony as a metaphor for the larger themes of the new movie.
But how does bologna fit into the equation? During a follow-up interview with CinemaBlend, Alex Woo revealed that the name Baloney Tony came from co-writer Erik Benson’s obsession with processed lunch meats, saying:
We just thought that little boys are kind of gross, and they eat and they play, and there's no line between the two. The idea was that Elliot would stuff bologna inside Baloney Tony in a popped seam, and it became like his sort of a bologna pocket. It just felt like if Bologna Tony were alive, he'd be throwing bologna at everybody.
If you’ve already watched the new movie, or at least caught the In Your Dreams trailer a few months ago, and are a little grossed out by a stuffed animal with a seemingly unlimited amount of bologna hiding in its stuffing, you aren’t alone.
Even Craig Robinson And The Cast Of In Your Dreams Are 'Grossed Out' By Baloney Tony
Though In Your Dreams is an animated movie, the level of detail in the characters’ design makes it look like you can touch them. Or, in the case of Baloney Tony, get hit by a flying piece of processed meat.
Just before the release of the new family-friendly comedy, CinemaBlend asked three of the film’s stars about Tony’s signature bologna pocket, and the results are… Well, read for yourself:
- Craig Robinson: Disgusting…
- Jolie Hoang-Rappaport: I'm in Stevie's camp. I'm a little like, grossed out by it, but it makes sense for Elliot.
- Elias Janssen: Yeah. I thought it was funny. It's kind of subtle, but it shows both Baloney Toney and Elliot's personalities. Like, because it's just bologna, like Elliot loves bologna.
Robinson and Hoang-Rappaport are clearly not about that “bolgna in a pocket life,” but Janssen, channeling his goofy and fun-loving character, seemed to be totally on board with it. Hopefully, this isn't the final journey featuring Tony, as I'd love to see him throw some old lunch meat that’s been traveling through dreamworlds and nightmarish hellscapes.
While we don't know what's next for Tony, Elliot, or Stevie, we can finally enjoy In Your Dreams now that it's made it's streaming debut!
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