You really think a Cars toon is going to "pay" for Brave's bills!? Bottom line (and that's all that counts with movie studios): short films like the Hawaiian TS cartoon don't make any money, they make for available forums for artistic and technical creativity and training grounds for future feature talent.
Disney is not going to make another $1b from even 10 TS shorts in the way they inevitably will do from another TS feature.
If Hanks wanted to deflect the question, he could have done that "other" actorly thing, and just pleaded ignorance: "I just don't know. I'd be in there in a heartbeat if they asked me back, but I haven't heard anything". But, y'know, he didn't. He stated what he knew: that something was in the works.
As for Pixar not wanting to make TS3? What utter tosh! Lasseter himself came up with the daycare finale, so that basically shows what you know (the recalled Buzz plot was the only other one they might have been "given", and that went straight out the window to go back to JL's original plan).
They might not want to make a TS4, but given the reasons I mentioned above (all involved would see the realistic sense, given the popularity of the films, of another one allowing for a couple of more experimental pictures), it's a no-brainer. Pixar will have seen the value, and they can even boast "by audience demand", while Disney will then allow Pixar to retain its autonomy (something that would vanish given two or three flops in a row that couldn't be justified).
And, last time I checked, Disney still owned Pixar Animation Studios.
Bill...in relation to your last line...Eric doesn't need TS4 to be made for that. Touche!
