Toy Story
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Toy Story
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2005.
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 "To infinity... and beyond!" - Buzz Lightyear
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Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated buddy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The feature film directorial debut of John Lasseter was the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. The screenplay was written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow from a story by Lasseter, Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft. The film was produced by Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim and was executive-produced by Steve Jobs and Edwin Catmull. It features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, the late Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Jim Varney, Annie Potts, the late R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, Laurie Metcalf, and Erik von Detten.
Plot
Woody (Tom Hanks), a good-hearted cowboy doll who belongs to a young boy named Andy (John Morris), sees his position as Andy's favorite toy jeopardized when his parents buy him a Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) action figure. Even worse, the arrogant Buzz thinks he's a real spaceman on a mission to return to his home planet. When Andy's family moves to a new house, Woody and Buzz must escape the clutches of maladjusted neighbor Sid Phillips (Erik von Detten) and reunite with their boy.
Why It Goes to Infinity, and Beyond!
- It was the first-ever computer-animated feature film, as well as the start of Pixar's legacy.
- The animation is visually beyond stunning for 1995 standards and Pixar's first film and still holds up quite well to this day.
- The pacing is perfect with each essential plot point happening when it should.
- The plot is unpredictable and filled with curveballs at every turn.
- The most EPIC curveball is the climax with "This isn't flying, this is falling with style!" and "To infinity and beyond!"
- Timeless theme song ("You've Got a Friend in Me") which shows the meaning of friendship, toy or not, it's still a great song to show the true meaning of friendship.
- The characters are all unforgettable and likable, like Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Slinky Dog, Mr Potato Head, Rex, Hamm, Bo Peep and Andy Davis.
- There is the scene where Woody tells Buzz that being a toy is better than being a space ranger, and the emotion in it is just phenomenal and can cause people to dab their eyes.
- The scene where Buzz realizes that he's a toy after seeing a Buzz Lightyear commercial on TV and has a mental breakdown is both very funny and sad at the same time.
- Speaking of which, the song “I Will Go Sailing No More” is about growing up, realizing all the stuff you have believed before is a lie and your life is depressing. It is also very satisfying to hear.
- The concept of the movie is quite creative as it takes advantage of the fact that most people believed that their toys were alive when they were kids.
- There are tons of funny moments such as Woody yelling at Buzz about being a toy (see WIGTIAB #12 below), Buzz getting a little too carried away with Hannah's tea party, and the ending where when Woody asks Buzz what Andy could get that is worse than him, a barking sound is heard and when Andy says, "Wow! A puppy!", Woody and Buzz look at each other and chuckle nervously.
- "To infinity, and beyond!" is a line that will never get old. Other memorable lines include:
- "BUZZ! LOOK, AN ALIEN!"
- "YOU! ARE! A! TOOOOY!"
- "Reach for the sky!"
- "I am Mrs. Nesbitt! Mwahahaha!"
- "We toys can see everything... (spins head around) so play, nice."
- "YOU UNCULTURED SWINE!"
- It references a lot of franchises such as the Mr. Potato Head franchise, the 1967 Battleship board game, and the 1943 Slinky Dog toy.
- It has good morals like not abusing your toys (as they taught Sid a lesson when he almost blew Buzz up) and does not go against anyone else who took your spot (as Woody learned his lesson for what he did to Buzz and both of them escape).
- One really subtle (and probably the most important) lesson about how attention comes in a fixed amount, but love doesn't.
- Buzz's character development after he saw the commercial is good as he helped Woody come back with the other toys.
- Woody also goes through a great character arc himself. He starts as an envious and mean-spirited jerk at times towards Buzz due to the latter becoming Andy's new favorite toy. But after the two are taken by Sid, he reconciles with and befriends Buzz as they put aside their differences.
Bad Qualities
- Major plot hole: Before Buzz found out he was a toy, he believed he was a real space ranger, so why would he freeze in front of Andy and other humans like the other toys do, when he could have still been able to move around during his delusions? Aside from, of course, when Woody TOLD him to freeze when they entered Sid's house, and/or maybe to be in "hypersleep" whenever people are around.
- Buzz (before he finds out he is a toy), Mr. Potato Head (whenever he gets angry at Woody for throwing Buzz out of the window or when he reminds the other toys about it and when he orders the other toys to throw Woody out the moving truck), Sid Phillips (because he was destroying toys) and sometimes even Woody himself, mainly between the beginning and the middle of the film, (due to his jealousy of Buzz making him act like a jerk towards him at times) can be somewhat unlikable at certain points. Sid is the closest thing the movie has to an unlikable character.
- There are some animation errors in a few scenes:
- In one scene, Andy lowers the drop side of Molly’s crib, but later it appears raised back up.
- Woody using the baby monitor. At one point it disappears on the floor and later appears back on the floor again.
- In the scene where Woody tries to knock Buzz out the window, the pins are dropped and stuck around Buzz on Andy's desk. Later, the pins all disappear.
- At Sid's house, the Christmas lights are left outside the door. However, at one point the lights disappear.
- Some of the animation looks off by today's standards, particularly on the humans.
- The scene where Woody and Buzz find Sid's deformed toys in his room is very scary, even for older viewers, especially since their designs are pretty unnerving. Not to mention that this scene was also cut in some televison edits.
- The infamous scene where Sid is horrified at the moving toys, especially Woody at the end while satisfying, is also scary to younger kids, which even lead to the scene being cut in many televison airings as well. It could lead to various fan theories or scary viral about the secrets of the living toys spawn on YouTube.
- Despite its legendary status, few people know that Toy Story bears a striking resemblance to an obscure Jim Henson TV special called The Christmas Toy, which came out in 1986. Some may view Toy Story as having borrowed elements from this special without acknowledgment.
Reception
Toy Story was universally acclaimed by critics and audiences. It was praised for the technical innovation of the 3D animation, wit, and thematic sophistication of the screenplay, musical score, and vocal performances (particularly Hanks and Allen) and is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made.
The film currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 91 reviews and an audience rating of 92% based on 250,000+ ratings, with an average rating of 9/10. The site's critical consensus says "Entertaining as it is innovative, Toy Story reinvigorated animation while heralding the arrival of Pixar as a family-friendly force to be reckoned with". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 95/100, based on 26 reviews, and an 8.3/10 on IMDb.
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Trivia
- This movie featured a special Pixar-designed Walt Disney Pictures logo: It starts with the camera zooming out the gates of a CGI castle, followed by the standard opening with the corporate signature and "Pictures" flashing in and the starburst going in an arc over the castle from right to left; a different, march-band type jingle played instead of the "When You Wish Upon A Star" jingle, which segues into the opening of the movie.
- The Pixar logo is notable for appearing at the end of the movie as opposed to the beginning, making it the only Pixar film not to have a logo in the opening, though the logo is grandfathered into the beginning in later releases of the film.
- It re-released in 3D in 2010.
- Woody and Buzz Lightyear are inspired by director John Lasseter's childhood toys. He based Woody on his pull-string Casper the Friendly Ghost doll.
- Compared to the rest of Pixar feature movies, it is the current Pixar feature film to have a short running time.
- Buzz Lightyear's name was inspired by Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
- The moving company, "Eggman Movers" is named after Ralph Eggleston who was in charge of production design for the movie.
- Buzz is so far the only character to star in his spin-off. The spin-off to this film, Lightyear is scheduled to release on June 17, 2022.
- Though the character of Woody has received a positive reception, his earlier form, in the infamous segment Black Friday Reel was so controversial it nearly got the studio shut down and this film canceled. However, the character massively redeemed himself in the actual movie after the film changed direction.
- This is the only Toy Story film not to have explicitly evil toys that acted as at least one of the main antagonists (not counting the Mutant Toys who were closer to misunderstood than truly evil).
- The license plate of the truck "MLY1K9" means Molly, one canine, and is a reference to Pixar's once-resident sheepdog.
- To date, it is the only Pixar film to feature opening credits instead of end credits.
- Billy Crystal was approached to play Buzz, and was given his monolog, utilizing dialogue from When Harry Met Sally... However, he turned down the role, believing the film would be unsuccessful due to its animation. Crystal regretted this upon seeing the film; he subsequently accepted the role of Mike Wazowski in another Pixar film, Monsters, Inc.. In addition to Crystal, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Jim Carrey, along with many other actors, were also considered for the role of Buzz. Lasseter took the role to Tim Allen, who was appearing in Disney's Home Improvement, and he accepted. Crystal later stated in an interview that he would not have been right as Buzz and that Allen was "fantastic" in the role.
- The scene where Sid screams after Woody tells him to play nice became a famous internet meme. The scene was also cut in some televison edits due to how scary it was.
- Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear was intended to be in the first film (initially for a sequel to Tin Toy and possibly as the main antagonist), but the technology to represent realistic fur was not available until 2001's Monsters, Inc., and the third film. An early version of Lotso makes a brief appearance in the first film and can be seen in the second film during the first Al's Toy Barn commercial. A Lotso bear makes a cameo appearance in Pixar's 2009 film Up.
- It was initially going to be a TV Christmas special, but executives at Disney thought it made more financial sense to make a full-length feature.
- Whenever a character's eyes blink, they blink one at a time instead of together.
- Each frame took two to fifteen hours (depending on the complexity of the shot).
- The animation team perfected the movement of the toy soldiers by gluing their shoes to panels of wood and walking around.
- The reason why Andy doesn't have a dad was that human characters were expensive to animate and Pixar didn't have the budget to animate him.
- At the beginning narration of Lightyear, it is confirmed that the film took place in 1995, hence the release date of the year, leading fans to suggest the sequel takes place in the year.
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