In news that should surprise no one who keeps an eye on Disney’s finances, word has surfaced that ‘Cars 3‘ is in the works over at Pixar. Animation fans can wail and gnash their teeth as much as they want over this much maligned series, but there’s no denying that these films have been a massive success for their studio and a ‘Cars 3′ was simply inevitable. It was all a matter of when it got announced.

But that official announcement is not here today! Instead, we get a kinda-sorta confirmation from a man who may or may not know exactly what’s going on. The source of the buzz is Michael Wallis, the author of “Route 66: The Mother Road,” a historical consultant on the ‘Cars’ films and the voice of Sheriff in Radiator Springs. He “confirms” the existence of ‘Cars 3′ in the middle of a 25-minute radio interview, saying that the new film will return to the Route 66 setting of the first film and will feature Route 99, a famous California highway.

Of course, a consultant and voice actor is not the best source of information when it comes to discerning what the most power movie studio and most acclaimed animation studio are up to next, but a new ‘Cars’ film is as certain as death and taxes. Although both ‘Cars’ and ‘Cars 2′ were big hits at the box office, they have been massively successful on the merchandising end, with toys from the film bringing in untold riches for Disney. The fact that entire “lands” at Disney Land and Disney World are now dedicated to this franchise is additional proof that they plan to milk this one for all that it’s worth.

Due to schedule fluctuations involving the troubled ‘The Good Dinosaur,’ Pixar’s line-up for the next few years is a little up in the air. They probably see something like ‘Cars 3′ as a security blanket, the kind of cash cow they can break out in a few years to keep everything running optimally. Now we just have to wait for the official word.