A toy manufacturing and distribution firm has become a hive of activity after clinching a lucrative deal to supply film merchandise for a new Disney animated blockbuster.

Ravensburger, in Bessemer Close, Bicester, will be distributing jigsaw puzzles based on the new children's film, A Bug's Life, when it hits the big screen in spring.

A Bug's Life uses computer-generated animation similar to that used for the Disney blockbuster, Toy Story.

The plot involves a group of insects fighting against their enemy, a colony of grasshoppers.

Sales director Tim Hall would not disclose what the deal was worth but said they would be producing tens of thousands of jigsaw puzzles to be distributed to toy shops across the country.

He said: "It's fantastic to win the distribution rights for the puzzles. The film is going to be a very big hit when it is released.

"Everybody has been working extremely hard particularly over the Christmas period and it's an added bonus to get this contract.

"It appears that Spielberg has got his film, Antz, out first but I'm sure A Bug's Life will become another Disney classic."

The firm, which employs 90 people, has already made and distributed nearly a million Teletubbies puzzles to shops in the past year.

It also makes jigsaw puzzles based on other children's favourites like Winnie the Pooh and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Mr Hall said it was too early to say whether the company would get the contract to supply toys for the new BBC children's programme Tweenies which could replace the Teletubbies. He said: "There's been a lot of national press speculation in Sunday's newspapers about the Tweenies but we certainly haven't heard anything."

A Bug's Life is due to be released at Easter 1999.

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