The new Monsters Inc. movie is going old school.

In the 2001 original, Sully, the big, blue beast voiced by John Goodman, and Mike, the eyeball with legs voiced by Billy Crystal, were just a couple of working stiffs, punching the clock at the scream factory that generated power for their world, but on Tuesday Disney/Pixar announced the long-awaited next film in the franchise would go back to their days as college students.

Monsters University is set for a late 2012 debut, and Both Crystal and Goodman will return as the main characters, according to Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president of worldwide distribution.

“The film is a prequel that tells you a little bit about how [Mike and Sully] first met, attending Monsters University,” Hollis told theater owners gathered in Las Vegas on Tuesday for their annual CinemaCon convention. “Obviously everybody knows at this point Mike and Sully are amazing friends — the best of friends — but as it turns out, in this story, that wasn’t always the case. From the moment they met at university, they could not stand each other. This story takes you through the ups and downs, and how they overcame their own differences.”