 Gooden and Walker had been working together since 1988 . By 2002 , their portfolio included a Guinness World Record @-@ holding one @-@ second advertisement produced for Leo Burnett Worldwide , and a depression @-@ awareness booklet for the Charlie Waller Memorial Trust . The pair approached Honda with a rough , low @-@ budget 30 @-@ second trial film inspired by the children 's board game Mouse Trap , Caractacus Potts ' breakfast @-@ making machine in the film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang , and a 1987 Swiss art film by Peter Fischli and David Weiss , Der Lauf der Dinge ( The Way Things Go ) . 
