Donkey is a fictional talking donkey created by William Steig and adapted by DreamWorks Animation for the Shrek! franchise. Donkey is euphoric, annoying, talkative, and sensitive, and has a sweet tooth. He hates spiders. Eddie Murphy called Donkey "a really positive character. He's always looking at the bright side of everything, trying to work it out. A donkey."

Pinocchio is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the children's novel The Adventures of Pinocchio. Carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a small Italian village, he was created as a wooden puppet, but dreamed of becoming a real boy. He's a character who is prone to telling lies and fabricating stories for various reasons. Jiminy Cricket explains that he is going to tell a story of a wish coming true. His story begins in the Tuscany workshop of a woodworker named Geppetto. Jiminy watches as Geppetto finishes work on a wooden marionette whom he names Pinocchio. Before falling asleep, Geppetto makes a wish on a star that Pinocchio could be a real boy.
Pinocchio encounters Honest John and Gideon. They convince him to go to Pleasure Island as a vacation. Once on Pleasure Island, with no rules or authority to stop them, Pinocchio and the other boys soon enjoy gambling, smoking, getting drunk and vandalizing, much to Jiminy's dismay. Jiminy becomes angry when he discovers that Pinocchio is friends with the bad boys and storms off. Later, Jiminy discovers the island harbors a terrible curse which influences kidnapped boys to "make jackasses of themselves," then into real donkeys, who are sold to work in the salt mines and circuses as part of an evil racket of child abuse run by The Coachman. Jiminy runs back to warn Pinocchio. Pinocchio manages to escape with only a donkey's ears and tail with Jiminy's help. The rest of the boys-turned-donkeys remain unsaved and the evil Coachman unstopped, without resolution or further mention.