If you’ve arrived here hoping to confirm that the technology to create a sentient ravioli was available to Kellogg’s in the ’60s, we have some bad news for you. . . (although kudos for wanting to live in a world where that’s possible).

However, if you’ve come here to find out more about how the Pop-Tart popped into the world, you’re in the right place. Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut Unfrosted is a gleeful, zany take on the historical events that led to the famous toaster pastry’s invention — and it just landed an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie. 

“The challenge of fictionalizing it is [that] we wanted to keep some of the reality of what happened,” Seinfeld told Netflix. “This really did happen in Battle Creek, Michigan, where Kellogg’s and Post were located, and they did compete to come up with this product, but the rest of our story is complete lunacy.” 

What’s Unfrosted based on? 

The dawn of the ’60s was an electric time of innovation in the United States. Challenged by President John F. Kennedy, Americans looked to the stars as they raced to land a man on the moon ahead of the Soviet Union. But back on Earth, a race of a different kind was underway, leading to a feat of breakfast engineering that would change the lives of hungry children forever.  

The quest for the perfect breakfast toaster pastry began in the mid-’60s after Post invented a way to dehydrate food and package it in foil to keep it fresh. The process was adapted to preserve fruit filling as part of Post’s interest in expanding its breakfast offerings. To great fanfare, the Country Square was announced. 

In response, Kellogg’s tapped Bill Post (no relation to the Post company), a cookie-company plant manager whose team finalized the famous breakfast treat in just four months. Out of this effort, the Fruit Scones (the Pop-Tart precursor) was spawned. But the work was just getting started. 

For Seinfeld, who stars as the fictional Bob Cabana in Unfrosted, this very real rivalry felt ripe for parody. “We loved the idea of grown-up men in suits talking about cereal all day, and the silliness of how they look and what they talk about just seemed like a fantastic world to be in,” he told Netflix. “That was a huge reason we wanted to make the movie. You want to put Jim Gaffigan in a tight suit and hear him say with a blustery kind of face, ‘And you gentlemen better take this work more seriously.’ But it’s about crinkles and puffs and sprinkles and pops, and they’re adults.”

John P. Johnson

Did Kellogg’s and Post really have competing products? 

Yes! Kellogg’s began work on the Pop-Tart after discovering Post was in the process of creating its own shelf-stable, fruit-filled pastry. Post unveiled its product, then known as Country Squares. Despite the product’s warm reception, the company struggled to get them into grocery stores. Kellogg’s jumped at the chance to catch up to its rival and released its own version six months after Post’s initial announcement. 

Kellogg’s also capitalized on the kids’ television shows it sponsored, betting that children would be its primary market for the treat. Commercials for the Pop-Tart appeared during episodes of The Yogi Bear Show, The Woody Woodpecker Show, and other beloved cartoons of the era. Word of mouth spread quickly, and Kellogg’s was able to overtake its competitor. 

In 1967, frosting was introduced, adding another layer of possibilities. America had fallen in love with the toaster pastry in all its varieties, and Post’s Country Squares never got another chance to connect. 

Were the headquarters for Post and Kellogg’s really located in the same city? 

Yes indeed. As the home of both Kellogg’s and Post, Battle Creek, Michigan, was known as “Cereal City.” The companies were practically neighbors, separated only by some railroad tracks. 

John P. Johnson

Who really voiced Tony the Tiger?

In 1952, Kellogg’s introduced Frosted Flakes and its memorable mascot, Tony the Tiger, voiced by actor Thurl Ravenscroft. Also famous for singing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, he’s played by Hugh Grant in Unfrosted. 

John P. Johnson

Who was Marjorie Merriweather Post?

Marjorie Merriweather Post (Amy Schumer) was a pioneering female executive and went on to become well-known for her philanthropy and feminism. And yes, as Unfrosted explains in its coda, Mar-a-Lago was built for Post and her husband, E.F. Hutton, between 1924 and 1927. After Post died in 1973, she left the estate to the federal government in hopes it would be used for state visits or as a Winter White House. But due to the cost of maintaining the property, Mar-a-Lago was returned to the Post Foundation in 1981. 

The rivalry between Post and Kellogg’s, while fierce, eventually led to a product that satisfied millions all over the world, including Seinfeld, who has fond memories of his first taste of the toasty treat. 

“I assumed they would not continue to make other types of food, that it would no longer be necessary to eat anything else,” he said. “And I still love them.” 

So how did the Pop-Tart really get its name? 

In Unfrosted, the name is devised by a pair of wise-beyond-their-years child consultants who appear to be more invested in their next sugary fix than any kind of stable home life. Their outlandish enthusiasm for the product inspires Seinfeld’s Bob Cabana to name his company’s toaster pastry the Trat-Pop — or Toaster Ready Anytime Treat, Put On Plate. 

But thanks to a flub by famed CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite (Kyle Dunnigan), who accidentally reads the name backwards during the product’s unveiling, the Pop-Tart enters the market. 

In reality, the Pop-Tart got its name thanks to an art movement that had emerged over the previous decade in the United Kingdom and United States. Known as Pop art, its diverse range of artists — like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and Claes Oldenburg — incorporated mundane everyday products, irony, and other varieties of kitsch in their work, capturing the American zeitgeist. 

Kellogg’s jumped at the chance to associate its new breakfast pastry with the Pop movement, and thus the world was introduced to the Pop-Tart. 

In 1964, the Fab Four — or four original Pop-Tart flavors, Strawberry, Blueberry, Brown-Sugar Cinnamon, and Apple-Currant — arrived on grocery shelves in the US. Later, Kellogg’s would drop currant from the latter, as the flavor was not as well-known as the others. 

Unfrosted is not meant to be an accurate portrayal of the Pop-Tart’s humble beginnings. But it’s certain to remind you of the childlike joy of waking up early Saturday morning, unwrapping the crinkling foil of a Pop-Tart, toasting the thin rectangle to a perfect golden brown, and watching cartoons before everyone else at home got out of bed. 

“It's just a fun, funny movie,” Seinfeld said. “And as all of us who live in the world of comedy, we’re just trying to put smiles on faces.”

Unfrosted is now streaming on Netflix.

Watch the Trailer for Unfrosted