Netflix's latest animated fantasy In Your Dreams arrived in late 2025 and immediately sparked conversation by turning the mythical Sandman into something far more complex than a simple antagonist. Directed by Alex Woo and Erik Benson, the film follows siblings Stevie and Elliot as they journey into the dream realm to mend their parents’ fraying marriage. Yet the real surprise comes when the Sandman – a being capable of granting dreams that come true – is revealed not as a mustache-twirling villain but as a tragically misguided figure whose generosity traps people in comatose bliss. Woo, a former Pixar artist, sat down to explain how a childhood memory and a love for Wicked reshaped this ancient figure for a modern family audience.
At the heart of In Your Dreams is a deeply personal origin story. Woo recalled a pivotal moment from his own childhood: waking up on a cold Minnesota morning to find his mother with packed bags, explaining that she needed time away to sort things out for the family. “I remember feeling like the only thing I wanted in that moment was to find a way to keep my family together and save my family,” he said. That ache of a child desperate to hold a family intact became the emotional engine of the script. The dream world, meanwhile, offered a vast, uncharted playground. American animation had rarely tackled the dream space with the ambition of live-action films like Inception or anime like Paprika. Yet Woo knew that an “anything can happen” landscape risked stripping the story of stakes. The solution was to ground the fantastical in the painfully real: if the Sandman could actually grant a wish, then every nocturnal adventure would carry life-altering weight.
The Sandman’s moral ambiguity was shaped by Woo’s experience watching the Broadway production of Wicked. “I think the best villains are always well-intentioned, at least in their own minds,” he noted. “Most evil is really just misguidedness, where people think they’re doing something really good for another person or for society, but it’s actually not right.” This Sandman genuinely wants to make dreamers happy, but his one-size-fits-all gift robs people of the messy, unpredictable reality that fosters growth. The film earned an 86% “Certified Fresh” approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising how it flips the charge on both dreams and nightmares.
Woo was determined to challenge the idea that nightmares are purely negative. Reflecting on his own life, he said that some of the most challenging events – the ones that felt like nightmares at the time – ultimately shaped him the most. The character Nightmara, a horse-like creature born of fear, thus becomes a surprising ally, not a foe. The film’s ending was, by Woo’s admission, “very hard to land.” He refused to give Stevie everything she wanted because that would be saccharine and dishonest. But he also didn’t want a tragedy. What emerged is a bittersweet conclusion suggesting that life’s messiness is often better than anything one could dream up.
The visual language of the dream world leans heavily on authenticity. Every crew member kept a dream journal during production, and many of the film’s surreal vignettes – from sentient pizzeria animatronics singing “Don’t Cha” to floating castles – came directly from those real subconscious scribbles. Baloney Tony, the tattered stuffed toy voiced by Craig Robinson, was inspired by Woo’s brother’s “Butthole Bear,” a teddy bear stained with blood from a childhood nosebleed yet beloved beyond reason. Such details ground the film in the lived texture of childhood.
Casting brought its own serendipitous magic. Simu Liu, now widely known for Shang-Chi and a role in Avengers: Doomsday, was brought on board before his Marvel stardom fully exploded. Woo needed someone who could make a dreamer-dad sympathetic, and Liu’s innate charm proved essential – especially when the character’s musical aspirations risk painting him as a deadbeat. Liu even sang in the film, a hidden talent he was eager to showcase. Cristin Milioti, an Emmy winner and Grammy-winning performer for Once, gave the Sandman a voice that balances eerie calm with wounded sincerity. “She’s so picky with the roles she takes,” Woo said, adding that her agreement felt like a massive vote of confidence. Craig Robinson, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, and Elias Janssen round out a cast that brings both humor and heart.
During promotional interviews, the stars also shared the kind of personal dreams and childhood toys that mirror the film’s themes. Liu confessed to a recurring nightmare where he must take an exam he never studied for, stuck in high school despite being an adult. Robinson’s own well-loved bear, Dontavius, is safely in storage. Hoang-Rappaport named a childhood frog Hachor on the spot when asked by her parents. Those off-screen moments feed into the movie’s core belief that the objects and anxieties we hold onto are what make us human.
A playful post-credits scene teases the possibility of an anthology, undercutting Marvel-style sequel bait with a sharp laugh. Woo remains open to returning to this world, with its endless dreamscapes and unexplored corners, but the immediate legacy of In Your Dreams is already clear. It is an animated film that dares to tell young viewers that not all wishes should come true, that nightmares can be wise teachers, and that the flawed family you have is worth more than any perfect fantasy.
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