The concept was simple.

Then, in 2002, something changed.

“No, no, no, no.

Steve and Blue on Blue’s Clues

People think I left the show to pursue a music career.

That didn’t happen at all.”

So, why did he leave?

Steve Burns as Steve and Joe on Blue’s Clues

As Burns put it to Huffington Post, it was just time.

“I left the show because it was just simply time to go.

I was pretty much playing a boyish, older-brotherish kind of character on the show,” he said.

Steve, Joe, and Josh

It just felt like time.

I just had a gut feeling like it was time to go."

The new series stars Joshua Dela Cruz as Josh, another young man with a puppy named Blue.