Since In Your Dreams, one of the latest 2025 movie schedule entries released for those with a Netflix subscription, features some funny moments. And, thanks to one of them, I’ve had The Pussycat Dolls' cover of “Don’t Cha” stuck in my head. When turning on the animated movie, I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear the hit 2005 song. Due to some newly revealed BTS details shared with CinemaBlend, though, I actually love the moment even more.
CB had to ask In Your Dreams’ writer/director Alex Woo about the moment in the movie, during which Chuck E. Cheese-esque animatronics sing “Don’t cha wish your pizza was hot like me?” Woo alluded to that track not being the first choice but, once they decided on it, he and his team had some specific hurdles to clear:
We struggled a lot with finding the right song for that needle drop. But man, once we landed on 'Don't Cha,' everybody in the room just lost it. So we were like, ‘That is it. We have to get that song.’ And, so we worked with our music supervisor, Chris Duras, and he reached out to the Pussycat Dolls or whoever owns the rights to it. And they loved it, so they gave us permission to do it.
Woo is a former Pixar animator, who started making his own movies, with his animation company, Kuku Studios after leaving the Disney-owned studio in 2016. In Your Dreams, which marks Kuku's first feature film release, explores some deep topics, particularly some related to family dynamics. However, there's plenty of humor, as evidenced by the “Don’t Cha” and more.
The pizzeria band scene works so perfectly, and the censored lyric is an excellent touch. What’s perhaps even funnier, though, is what Simu Liu, during our interview with him and Cristin Milioti, revealed to us about another song that was onc amid. As Liu shared:
I think there were multiple songs that were auditioned over the course of like, I think it used to be ’Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Cheese’ at one point.
I love the use of wordplay in this scene, and how creative the filmmakers got with this small moment in In Your Dreams. As Liu told us, the Eurthymics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” was also in contention, but the funny pizza-themed cover of “Don’t Cha” won out. I think the Pussycat Dolls' track was definitely the best of the two (and not as cheesy). Still, I just love the idea of the filmmakers sitting around trying to think of popular songs to meld with a cheese-based pun.
What's also funny to me is that kids who might not have known the early 2000s classic will hear the song for the first time via this Netflix movie. What a way to culture the new generation! The fun moment happens in between siblings Stevie and Elliot finding out about the existence of the Sandman and trying to find a way to have their biggest dream to come true – which is for their parents to stay together as sense they are going through a rough patch that could lead to a big move.
Pop culture references can certainly be injected into movies in a myriad of wild ways, and that's certainly the case with In Your Dreams' use of "Don't Cha." Watch the film for yourself now, and keep an eye out for other sweet titles that are set to hit the 2025 Netflix schedule by year's end.
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