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Toy Story

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Toy Story
Promotional poster for Toy Story
Directed byJohn Lasseter
Written byStory:
John Lasseter
Pete Docter
Andrew Stanton
Joe Ranft
Screenplay:
Joss Whedon
Andrew Stanton
Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow
Produced byBonnie Arnold
Ralph Guggenheim
Ed Catmull
Steve Jobs
StarringTom Hanks
Tim Allen
Don Rickles
Jim Varney
Wallace Shawn
John Ratzenberger
Annie Potts
John Morris
Erik von Detten
Music byRandy Newman
Running time
80 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million
Box officeDomestic: $191,773,049
Worldwide: $354,300,000

Toy Story is an Academy-award-winning CGI animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 22, 1995, and Australia on December 7, 1995, as well as in the United Kingdom on 22 March 1996. It was the first feature-length computer-animated film ever released[1]. It was also Pixar's first feature-length production. It grossed $191,773,049 in the United States and it took in a grand total of $354,300,000 worldwide. The primary characters are toys in the room of a nine year-old boy, Andy, and the film is mostly told from their point of view. Andy, his baby sister Molly and mother have smaller roles, as do the neighbour boy Sid, his dog named Scud, and his sister Hannah.

In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society ranked the film as the greatest animated film of all time.[2] In 2005 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2007, the film was ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 10th Anniversary Edition of the 100 greatest American films of all time, one of only two animated films on the list, the other being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Plot

The story begins with a boy named Andy playing with his toys, such as a Mr. Potato Head, a plastic dinosaur toy, and his favorite toy, Woody, a cowboy toy. He takes Woody into the living room and plays with him some more, with a short interruption talking to his mom about his birthday party later that day and the upcoming move to a new house. After playing with Woody, Andy starts helping his mom by carrying his baby sister to her. While he is gone, all the toys come to life.

The party makes all the toys extremely nervous, wondering if Andy will get a toy that will replace them--especially with the news that the family will be moving soon. Woody sends the small green soldiers downstairs to spy on the party. At the end of the party, Andy's mom pulls out a surprise gift from behind her, which turns out to be a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Buzz does not seem to be aware that he is a piece of plastic, believing himself to be on a mission to save the universe from Evil Emperor Zurg. The other toys take to him immediately, being impressed by his many features. Only Woody is unconvinced, showing jealousy towards Buzz, who might replace him as Andy's favorite toy.

Andy is given a surprise trip to his favorite restaurant: Pizza Planet. However, he can take only one toy with him. Knowing this, Woody tries to shove Buzz behind Andy's dresser, but instead inadvertently knocks him out the window. When the other toys learn of Woody's actions, they think he has turned into a killer. They try to attack him, but he is rescued when Andy, unable to find Buzz, takes Woody on the trip. At a stop at a Dinoco gas station for gas, Woody finds that Buzz grabbed ahold of the family's minivan and is with them. The two begin to fight, knocking each other out of the minivan, and are left behind when it drives away. Woody convinces Buzz to hitch a lift on a Pizza Planet truck, in order to return to Andy.

Woody finds Andy there, but Buzz, still believing he is a real space ranger, climbs into a toy crane game, thinking it is a spaceship that will take him to his rival's location. Woody goes in after him, but the two eventually are found by Sid Phillips, who lives next door to Andy and is known to torture and destroy toys for his own entertainment.

Left alone in Sid's room, Woody and Buzz come upon a group of mis-matched toys, the results of Sid's many "experiments." Woody and Buzz react in fear, thinking that the mis-matched toys are cannibals. Meanwhile at Andy's house, the toys continue to look for Buzz in the bushes. But when Andy and his mother come home, he notices that Woody is gone. The other toys wonder what has become of the two. Some are worried for both Buzz and Woody, while others express their hope that Woody has met a bad end. The next day, at Sid's house, Woody and Buzz, having been mistreated by Sid, (Sid managed to burn Woody's forehead with a magnifying glass) try to escape, only to run into Sid's maniac dog, Scud. Eventually getting out of Sid's room, Buzz comes upon a television where he sees a commercial for the Buzz Lightyear line of toys. Watching it, he realizes that Woody was right. He was a toy this whole time, not a space ranger. In one last desperate attempt to prove he is not a toy, Buzz tries to fly out of a window by jumping off the guardrail of the stairs on the second floor, only to fall to the floor, losing an arm in the process. He is found by Sid's sister Hannah, who takes him away to put him in her tea party.

Woody finally finds Buzz in Hannah's room, dressed as "Mrs. Nesbitt" and attending a tea party. While Woody formulates a plan of escape, Buzz is too depressed to care. When Woody throws a string of Christmas tree lights across the way to the toys in Andy's room, Buzz refuses to back him up. The mixed-up toys then return and swarm over Buzz, to Woody's alarm. But it turns out they were only repairing him. Before Woody can make friends with them, however, Sid returns with his new acquisition: a firework rocket. He decides to blow up Buzz with it, but is stymied by rainfall.

Overnight, Woody and Buzz make amends, Woody helping Buzz come to terms with being a toy, and the two try to escape. Unfortunately Sid wakes up and takes Buzz out to blow him up, leaving Woody alone in the room. Of course, it was also when Andy and his family is going to move. Andy, still depressed to lose Woody and Buzz, finds only the cardboard spaceship of Buzz and his cowboy hat. Woody calls out to the mixed-up toys to tell them a plan to escape. After a daring escape through the house and past Scud, Woody and the other toys end up in the yard with Sid. They decide to break the rules and they allow Sid to see that they can move on their own. Woody even speaks to him through his voicebox, telling him that his toys are sick of being tortured, then with his own voice tells him to "play nice." This freaks Sid out and he runs screaming into the house, where his sister frightens him with a dolly.

Now freed from Sid, Woody and Buzz attempt to catch Andy's moving van just as it is pulling away from the house. After saying farewell to the mixed-up toys, a harrowing chase follows, with Scud chasing them and Andy's toys not helping, since they still believe Woody intentionally got rid of Buzz. Luckily, they get rid of Scud and let the toys believe in Woody to see that he is helping Buzz. Eventually, with the help of R/C, Andy's remote control car, and strategic use of Sid's rocket, Woody and Buzz return to Andy, whose mother thinks they were in the car all along.

At Christmas, we see a scene similar to the birthday party, with the toys less worried about the new ones, save a slightly nervous Buzz. Mr. Potato Head is pleased to learn that Andy's baby sister has been given a Mrs. Potato Head. When discussing being replaced by a new toy, like Woody was almost replaced by Buzz, Woody poses the question to Buzz, "What could Andy possibly get that is worse than you?" The answer comes in the form of Andy's first present, when a dog's bark is heard (that dog turns out to be Buster in the next movie).

Development

Toy Story began its life as an extension of Pixar's short Tin Toy, which featured Tinny, a mechanical drummer who tries to find his way in a baby's play room. The original plot called for Tinny to butt heads with a ventriloquist's dummy. Ultimately, Tinny was found to be too immobile for the storyline and he was developed as a "space toy", first named Lunar Larry, but eventually becoming Buzz Lightyear. Meanwhile, the original ventriloquist's dummy was designed to be sneaky, mean and borderline evil. When tests proved that the character was too unsympathetic, his character was gradually modified until he became the Woody of the film.

During the time of production Robin Williams was in a heated battle against Disney (over which can be explained in the Aladdin page) and agents everywhere were advising their clients not to do the film.

Other changes the film underwent during development include:

  • Billy Crystal was originally offered the role of Buzz, but turned it down. However, he accepted the offer of voicing Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc., another Pixar film.
  • Bill Murray was considered for the role of Buzz but lost the producer's number. Murray states he would have accepted the role and he deeply regrets losing the number, believing that had he done the movie it would have been him inducted into the Disney Hall Of Fame and not Allen.
  • The part of Woody's girlfriend was originally intended to be filled by a Barbie doll, but Mattel refused to consent to her use. Barbie dolls do make an appearance in Toy Story 2.
  • Disney required several re-workings of the film, even going so far as to threaten to shut the production down.
  • Scenes of Woody having nightmares over losing his position as "favorite toy" were cut for time, but later incorporated into Toy Story 2.

Voice cast

Main article: List of Toy Story characters
Actor Role
Tom Hanks Woody
Tim Allen Buzz Lightyear
Don Rickles Mr. Potato Head
Jim Varney Slinky Dog
Wallace Shawn Rex
John Ratzenberger Hamm
Annie Potts Bo Peep
John Morris Andy Davis
Erik von Detten Sid Phillips
R. Lee Ermey Sarge
Sarah Freeman Hannah Phillips
Laurie Metcalf Mrs. Davis

Toy Story in popular culture

  • This movie was referenced five times on Tim Allen's sitcom Home Improvement. The first time, two trick-or-treaters come to the door of Tim's house, one dressed as Simba from The Lion King, and the other dressed as Buzz Lightyear. Randy answers the door, and gives the Simba more candy than the Buzz. Note that Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who plays Randy, voiced young Simba in The Lion King. The second time, Tim and his niece Gracie plays with a Buzz Lightyear doll. Another reference occurs in one of the outtakes during the credits, where Tim repeats Buzz's built-in phrases. Another reference is in one episode when Tim says to his brother Marty I'll love you for infinity and beyond. The last reference is in an argument between Tim and his brother Marty when Tim says I'm not talking to you "infinity and beyond".
  • Conversely, Toy Story makes at least one reference to Tim Allen's sitcom. Sid's tool box, which Buzz and Woody struggle to remove from the milk crate which imprisoned Woody, was adorned with the Binford Tools logo on its side, alluding to the fictional tool manufacturer that sponsored the Tool Time program on Home Improvement.
  • In the Playstation 2 video-game Killzone, when main characters Rico and Hakha are fighting, the leading character Jan Templar says "play nice" in a similar way as Woody says to Sid.
  • There are several Toy Story references in the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars.
    • In the film, Lightning McQueen seeks the sponsorship of Dinoco, which is the name of the gas station at which Woody and Buzz get lost.
    • Lightning uses "Lightyear Buzzard" tires, a reference to Buzz Lightyear and a parody of Goodyear Eagle tires.
    • During the end credits, scenes from Toy Story are reenacted by toy car versions of Buzz, Woody and Hamm.
  • The Pizza Planet truck makes an appearance in every other Pixar film.
  • Debian (a Linux distribution) releases are named after characters from this movie. (Sid, Buzz, Rex, Bo, Hamm, Slink, Potato, Woody, Sarge, Etch, Lenny).
  • This movie has coined the (oxymoronical) phrase, "To Infinity and Beyond!" (though the term "Beyond the Infinite" was prominently used in 2001: A Space Odyssey of 1968). The phrase has been used in particular by set theoreticians, especially those who study large cardinals.
  • In the first High School Musical Chad tells Troy that (in their upcoming championship game) he will lead the team to infinity and beyond, an obvious reference to this film.
  • The Star Command salute displayed by Buzz closely resembles the Vulcan salute introduced by Leonard Nimoy during his portrayal of Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek TV series.
  • The 2007 film Wild Hogs features Tim Allen and a character named Woody (played by John Travolta). In addition the scene where the Wild Hogs gang are deposing of their cell phones the dialoge between Doug Masden (Tim Allen) and Woody Stevens (John Travolta) references the dialouge between Woody and Bozz in Toy Story.

Home video releases

  • Toy Story was released on VHS and LaserDisc in October, 1996. It contained no bonus material.
  • In January, 2000, it was released in a "Special Edition" VHS with the bonus short, Tin Toy.
  • Its first DVD release was in October of 2000, in a two-pack with Toy Story 2. This release was later available individually.
  • Also in October, 2000, a 3-disc "Ultimate Toy Box" set was released, featuring Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and a third disc of bonus materials.
  • In September, 2005, a 2-disc "10th Anniversary Edition" was released featuring much of the bonus material from the "Ultimate Toy Box", plus new features.
  • At that same time, a bare-bones UMD of Toy Story was released for the Sony PlayStation Portable.

Soundtrack listing

  1. You've Got A Friend In Me
  2. Strange Things
  3. I Will Go Sailing No More
  4. Andy's Birthday (Instrumental)
  5. Soldier's Mission (Instrumental)
  6. Presents (Instrumental)
  7. Buzz (Instrumental)
  8. Sid (Instrumental)
  9. Woody And Buzz (Instrumental)
  10. Mutants (Instrumental)
  11. Woody's Gone (Instrumental)
  12. The Big One (Instrumental)
  13. Home Together (Instrumental)
  14. On The Move (Instrumental)
  15. Infinity And Beyond (Instrumental)
  16. You've Got A Friend In Me (Duet)

Video Game releases

There were several video games based on Toy Story, including:

There were also some "activity" titles released by Disney for the PC and Mac:

  • Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story
  • Disney's Activity Center: Toy Story

All these titles are significant, because Pixar created original animations for all of them, including fully animated sequences for the PC titles.

Critical Response

The film has 100% fresh rating at rottentomatoes.com. All 43 reviews on the site were positive. It had an average score of 8.8/10. The film's successor Toy Story 2 also has a 100% fresh rating.

Awards

Academy Awards

Won:

Nominated:

Annie Awards

Won:

  • Best Animated Feature
  • Best Individual Achievement: Animation, Pete Docter
  • Best Individual Achievement: Directing, John Lasseter
  • Best Individual Achievement: Music, Randy Newman
  • Best Individual Achievement: Producing, Bonnie Arnold & Ralph Guggenheim
  • Best Individual Achievement: Production Design, Ralph Eggleston
  • Best Individual Achievement: Technical Achievement
  • Best Individual Achievement: Writing, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton and Joss Whedon.

Golden Globes

Nominated:

  • Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
  • Best Original Song - Motion Picture, Randy Newman for "You've Got a Friend in Me".

Saturn Awards

Nominated:

  • Best Family Film
  • Best Writing: Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton & Joss Whedon

Sequels

See also

References

  1. ^ "Toy Story - Behind the Scenes". Retrieved 2007-08-24.
  2. ^ Top 100 Animated Features of All Time at the Online Film Critics Society website.
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