‘In Your Dreams’ Director Explains The Purpose Behind Baloney Tony

IN YOUR DREAMS – In Your Dreams is a comedy adventure about Stevie (12) and her little brother Elliot (8) who journey into the absurd landscape of their own dreams. If the siblings can withstand a snarky stuffed giraffe, zombie breakfast foods, and the queen of nightmares, the Sandman will grant them their ultimate dream come true… the perfect family. Cr: Netflix © 2025

NETFLIX

In every animated film, there is an adorable sidekick – most likely in the form of an animal – that becomes the fan-favorite among children and adults alike. For Netflix’s animated feature, In Your Dreams, the cute and cuddly creature comes in the form of a dirty, bologna-smelling stuffed giraffe named Baloney Tony.

In the film, Stevie, a 12-year-old eldest daughter, is on a quest to keep her parents (Cristin Milioti and Simu Liu) together. She and her 8-year-old brother, Elliott (Elias Janssen), stumble upon a mysterious, magical book about the Sandman (Omid Djalili), granting people their dreams to come true. Determined to make her parents’ dream of being reunited as a happy family come true, they embark on a quest to find the Sandman.

While in the dream world, Stevie and Elliott have no idea what to do or where to go. They encounter a familiar friend to help guide them – Baloney Tony.

Voiced by Craig Robinson, Baloney Tony is Elliott’s lost stuffed animal, which smells like bologna due to Elliott stuffing bologna into the doll for future snack time. After being reunited, Tony seems to have a mind of his own in the dream world, never turning into a nightmare, and assisting the siblings when they need it the most. Since Tony belonged to Elliott, it didn’t make sense why he would show up in their collaborative dream.

Director Alex Woo explains that Tony represents the messiness in both Stevie and Elliott’s lives, and that Tony is connected because they shared the doll. In a flashback that Stevie has when she finds Tony in her “coma” state, stuck in the dream she had wanted for herself and her parents, she has a flashback of when she failed to get a doll from the claw machines, and Elliott offered her to keep Tony.

Netflix

“Baloney Tony is obviously a manifestation of Elliott’s dreams as a subconscious,” Woo explains. But, at the end of the film, when Elliott gives Baloney Tony to Stevie, it becomes their shared doll and stuff, and that’s why he’s in their shared dream. Stevie doesn’t know it, but he’s a part of her. That’s why he’s always there. You realize it at the end, but until that point, he’s really just a manifestation of Elliott’s subconscious.”

Baloney Tony represents the mess that Stevie rejects, but over time, realizes she needs to embrace it. It’s why he pops up when they both need him the most. Near the end of the film, Elliott rescues Stevie from her coma state, but as the Sandman attempts to stop them, they fall into a sandpit. Before they hit the ground, Tony arrives just in time to save them.

NETFLIX

Baloney Tony was inspired by Woo’s brother’s stuffed animal when they were kids. He recalls getting matching stuffed polar bears with Santa hats on them. One day, his brother had a bloody nose and accidentally got blood on the bear’s rear end. It wouldn’t come off, so Woo made fun of it.

“I tortured him and nicknamed the bear ‘Butthole Bear,'” he laughs. “Obviously, it drove him crazy, but he still loved that bear. It was so gross, but it didn’t stop him from sleeping with that bear every single night because it was his bear. I thought there was something beautiful about it. Despite how gross, disgusting, and messy that thing was, he still loved it.”

That’s how Baloney Tony was born.

In Your Dreams is directed by Woo and co-directed by Erik Benson from a script by Woo and Benson and a story by Woo, Benson, and Stanley Moore. In Your Dreams is streaming now on Netflix.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurasirikul/2025/11/18/in-your-dreams-director-explains-the-purpose-behind-baloney-tony/