An interesting article from The Upcoming Pixar Blog. They had a chat with the Cars Franchise Guardian Jay Ward at a Cars 2 press event.  One interesting subject that was brought up was Cars Land, and Jay talks a little about the backstory of Cars Land and how it will fit into the story of the 2 movies.

UP: The Cars franchise is much more than just the films. What can you tell us about Cars Land, for example?

JW: Cars Land is going in at Disney California Adventure, it opens in the summer of 2012. Cars Land is sort of a snap shot in time, it’s after Cars but before Cars 2. It’s going to have the classic Lightning McQueen in it, not the Cars 2 McQueen, and the reason we have that is that Doc is in Cars Land. Doc Hudson is passed away in Cars 2 because Paul Newman passed away. So we wanted to have this classic, iconic thing; Doc Hudson has the headset on telling you to get ready to race in the ride. If we have Doc Hudson, we have to have classic McQueen. [Cars Land is] going to feel like being in Radiator Springs two years after the original film.

If you would like to read the rest of this interview, you can go over The Upcoming Pixar Blog.