Hi all, I made this account to share some email correspondence I had with Jerry Rees in 2014, where I asked him what aspect ratio The Brave Little Toaster was intended to be. Jerry responded as follows:

Hi Teamo,
It warms my heart to know that you enjoyed the film growing up.
During production, all of us anticipated a theatrical release first, then a video release. So I took care to make sure that everything composed primarily for 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but would also look decent in 4:3. As each shot was planned, we would check both formats.
A letterboxed 1.85:1 version would most accurately represent how I envisioned the audience experience.
Warmest regards,
Jerry

So here’s hoping a copy of the original still exists somewhere.