Choo choo! Can you hear that? It’s the sound of a franchise train making its way towards us once again, although, using a train in this analogy feels a little redundant now, since the franchise that we’re seeing return is Cars 3.

Despite it often being referred to as one of the weakest Pixar series, the first two films struck a chord with the younger generations and the ball just kept on rolling.

The trailer for the latest instalment sees Lightning McQueen getting past his prime. The rust is setting in, the tyres are slowly deflating, and there’s probably another auto-metaphor I could make that would be incredibly pithy, but I don’t know enough about cars or motorsports to do so.

Ultimately, one could almost argue that McQueen himself is an allegory for the series, it’s tired, it’s old-hat, and it’s rapidly running out of steam going up against all the other animations out there.

Cars 3 is out this summer!