Toyota
4RUNNER
- VFX
Preymaker partnered with Saatchi & Saatchi and director Peter Thwaites to craft a whimsical, cinematic universe for Toyota’s “Your Window to the Wild” campaign. Blending the power of AI tools with the artistry of Preymakers skilled visual effects artists and animators. The team brought to life an enchanting forest filled with magical creatures that mirror the spirit of adventure behind the all-new 2025 Toyota 4Runner. Through innovative workflows, inspired concept art, and seamless CG integration, Preymaker built a visually stunning world.
The Toyota 4Runner campaign is a captivating journey of discovery and adventure. Preymaker built an entire whimsical, magical universe which unfolds in Toyota’s new “Your Window to the Wild” campaign.
Creative at the core of everything
It features the anthem film “Into The Wild,” along with a campaign of three other films hi-lighting unique features of the brand new redesigned beloved Toyota 4Runner. Preymaker collaborated with Saatchi & Saatchi and director Peter Thwaites on character design, animation, Visual Effects and color for the entire campaign.
According to Mike Tripp, Group VP of Toyota Marketing, “The 2025 4Runner blends rugged capability with modern innovation, inspiring drivers to embrace the magic of outdoors.” The story depicts that magic as a Dad drives deep into the forest in an attempt to ignite his daughter’s sense of adventure after observing her glued to her screen. As the ever-capable SUV veers off-road, the enchanted creatures of the forest awaken and capture the little girl’s attention. Director Peter Thwaites partnered with Preymaker to develop the concept, which served as a North Star for the Preymaker VFX team who brought the forest’s magical creatures to life.
Preymaker’s team of skilled artists came on board to sketch out concepts from woodland creatures like the Mad Twig Man, Fern Foxes and Rock Creatures
A.I. tools in the hands of highly skilled artists.
Going back and forth for weeks, they refined the creatures to reflect the director’s vision: The creatures had to be mysterious and enchanting without ever being scary. They had to be characters born from the natural textures and elements of the forest so they felt authentic in their environment. And they had to engage the audience instantly,
The team went through hand-drawn sketches and digital illustrations, refining and evolving iterations throughout the process. Preymaker’s team of award-winning artists also embraced the latest in A.I. tools in their workflow to help visualise the characters and bring them to life. The team created a wide range of concept art to define the world including and input their original artwork, using A.I. to refine, composite and iterate on those sketches.
This meant that the director was offered a wealth of creatively sophisticated creature prototypes in a very short span of time. The team finally landed on 20 characters to present in the pitch. The director presented a fully visualized universe to Saatchi & Saatchi. The agency fell in love with the universe the team had created and they set to work on bringing it to life.
A seamless creative approach
The next step was to take the highly detailed, photorealistic concept art to the CG team and start the asset build phase. A job of this scale would typically require 30 - 40 artists but Preymaker pulled this off with half that amount. How? The highly detailed concept art to guide the team was an important start - accelerating approvals during the asset development process.
The color grade is an important part of the creative process. The goal was to make the all of the characters look like they were shot in camera at the same time as the 4Runner. We knew we wanted to add a strong color grade to make the films stand out. Preymaker approached the color grade as a highly integrated part of the VFX process, moving seamlessly back and forth between VFX and color, meticulously perfecting the look of the cars colors so that was product accurate but also looked completely integrated with the CGI characters in the magically crafted world.
Preymaker blended a complex world of live action, character animation, visual effects and color into a highly collaborate experience.
Creative partners from start to finish
Preymaker was involved right from the start. The production process was unique as highly detailed characters were developed and rendered very early on in the process prior to the shoot. This accelerated the entire project and helped get everyone get on the same page. We knew exactly what the characters looked like, how big they were, how they moved etc. Preymaker worked closely with both client and agency to meet their expectations throughout this highly technical process delivered on a very tight timeline. Animation tests, cycles and FX tests were done before the edit locked, so the team could shift their focus to lighting with the locked cut.
Every step of this process was highly collaborative between client, agency, director and Preymaker, and delivery was seamless. The team rose to the challenge, impeccably crafting the highly detailed world they’d presented in their original pitch.
A mesmerizing universe brought to life
The result? The thrilling, untamed characters of the forest world bring the story to life. A whimsical, magical realism universe of woodland creatures rise out of the lush thicket as the Toyota 4Runner journeys off-road. A massive dark wood creature made of tree bark is the first to catch the daughter’s attention.
Mischievous mud monsters toss mud at the passing 4Runner, like roguish young pranksters. And ancient rock creatures emerge from the ground, to see what the fuss is all about, as the Toyota 4Runner negotiates the rocky, shifting terrain they ascend from.
The campaign exemplifies successful world building, artfully rendered by an innovative team. And reminds consumers that the Toyota 4Runner can take them off-road to endless possibilities.