Introducing the next Pixar movie at D23 today, John Lasseter noted that all their movies began with the question “What if?”, with questions like, “What if toys were actually alive when you left the room?” or “What if monsters really were in your closet?” but that The Good Dinosaur is, “The biggest what if ever.”

The first of several sequences we were shown from the film began with a title card saying 65 million years ago. It’s an intense, sci-fi type sequence as we see an asteroid belt where one asteroid is knocked free by another one. It begins hurtling from the belt, speeding up and heading right towards Earth. Booming music plays as it seems to gain speed and burn up… only for it to fly right past the surface of the Earth. We see a group of grazing dinosaurs as the asteroid hurtles (safely) over their head, causing them all to look up and watch it pass.Yes, the main conceit of the film is the dinosaurs never went extinct and director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream explained that in the film, dinosaurs have evolved through the ages into farmers who “Function as their own farm equipment.” For instance, the triceratops is a bulldozer, and the stegosaurus can mow down acres of crops.We were then shown another extended sequence from the film. A dialogue-free look at the dinosaurs going about their day as farmers. It’s a lovely sequence, as we see dinosaurs burrow their heads into the ground to dig trenches, chomp tree branches off with their mouths and place it on their backs to carry and other tasks they’ve adapted into.The main cast were then introduced, with Lucas Neff (Raising Hope) voicing the main character, a dinosaur named Arlo. Arlo’s parents are voiced by John Lithgow and Frances McDormand and his siblings voiced by Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris and Judy Greer.It had previously been said that The Good Dinosaur was about dinosaurs and humans co-existing, but as it turns out, the film is actually about intelligent dinosaurs meeting humans for the first time. We saw a scene in which Arlo sees a curious bug running beneath him, only to realize it’s a curious creature running around with a kind of makeshift rock armor on – a cave boy, named Spot. It’s a very funny sequence as Arlo tries to speak to Spot, who is attacking him, throwing his (relatively) tiny spear into Arlo’s nose and then leaping at Arlo, ending up inside his mouth as Arlo does his best to not swallow the kid, who is grunting and yelling, but hasn’t quite mastered speech.The filmmakers noted that it was an interesting challenge having their two main characters be three feet tall and seventy feet tall, respectively. The presentation ended with an animation test, showing Spot hilariously trying to hunt a bug, who keeps evading him, climbing ever higher – as we finally realize he’s climbing up Arlo himself, until he’s on his head. Arlo encourages Spot, telling him he’ll get that bug yet, and trying to give him tactics. As Arlo tries to show Spot what he do, he spins around – sending Spot flying off him in the process.Pixar's The Good Dinosaur opens May 30th, 2014.

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricIGN , IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman