What is it that makes you...YOU? This Christmas only on Disney+, Pixar Animation Studios’ all-new feature film “Soul” introduces Joe Gardner (voice of Jamie Foxx) – a middle-school band teacher who gets the chance of a lifetime to play at the best jazz club in town. But one small misstep takes him from the streets of New York City to The Great Before – a fantastical place where new souls get their personalities, quirks and interests before they go to Earth. Determined to return to his life, Joe teams up with a precocious soul, 22 (voice of Tina Fey), who has never understood the appeal of the human experience. As Joe desperately tries to show 22 what’s great about living, he may just discover the answers to some of life’s most important questions.

Entertainment Affair recently joined Foxx and Fey along with co-stars Angela Bassett (voice of Dorothea Williams) and Phylicia Rashad (voice of Libba Gardner), as well as the film’s director and screenwriter Pete Docter, co-director and screenwriter Kemp Powers, and producer Dana Murray, for a virtual press conference to discuss the film. Check out a few highlights of the event below.

There is no Joe Gardner without Jamie Foxx. Foxx was the filmmakers’ first and only choice for the leading role. Although he didn’t need much convincing, his 11-year-old daughter helped seal the deal. “She be looking at me like, ‘When’s it gonna take off for you?’” Foxx said with a laugh. “Like, ‘You’re Pixar now. You made it!’” All jokes aside, Foxx is honored to voice Pixar’s first Black protagonist: “I know my grandmother, who is looking down, would be proud we are doing something like this.”

Tina Fey brings her signature sense of humor to 22. Although Fey mostly stuck to the script, a few of her lines did make the final cut. “I went into a lot of sessions, and I would come back and there’d be rewrites and new pages of sequences as they evolved,” Fey remembered. “There were tiny bits of improv here and there. But you can really only do that when the structure is solid. And the script is really good, so the credit really goes to Kemp and Pete.”

New York City is as energetic and vibrant as ever. “I didn’t find it specific to one area of the city necessarily,” said Rashad. “However, it was a real neighborhood. There were businesses and shops, and people lived there. And there are a number of neighborhoods in and around New York City like that,” she said. “I thought it was so authentic. And I loved the colors! I loved the colors so much.”

Don’t lose sight of your dream—or it could turn into a nightmare! “This [film] talks about being focused on your dreams,” said Bassett. “But maybe sometimes too much focus, or hearing negative chatter from outside, can derail you and take you to a dark vortex or space.” She hopes people who watch the film are inspired to live their best lives—with balance, of course. Said Bassett, “Live it with gusto. Live it with pride. Live it with spark and vitality!” To that point, Foxx added, “The world has been here however many billions of years, so, 70, 80, 100 years is what? It’s a blink of an eye. So, I say to everybody: ‘Don’t waste your blink.’”

Disney and Pixar’s Soul is now streaming on Disney+.