Toy Story is a
1995 American computer-animated family film, directed by
John Lasseter and starring
Tom Hanks and
Tim Allen. The film was produced by
Pixar Animation Studios and was distributed by
Buena Vista Distribution. It was written by
Joss Whedon,
Andrew Stanton,
Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow, and featured music by
Randy Newman. The film was rated
G by the
MPAA, and PG by the
BBFC. It is the first
feature film in history produced using only computer animation.
The top-grossing film on its opening weekend,
went on to gross over $191 million in the United States during its initial theatrical release
and took in more than $356M worldwide.
Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, praising both the technical innovation of the
animation and the wit and sophistication of the
screenplay.
In addition to
DVD releases,
Toy Story-inspired merchandise has run the gamut from
video games and
costumes to
model trains and shoes.
Buzz Lightyear's classic line "To infinity and beyond!" has seen usage not only on T-shirts, but among philosophers and mathematical theorists as well.
The film was so successful it prompted a sequel,
Toy Story 2.
Toy Story is set for re-release in
Disney Digital 3-D on
October 2 2009, and
Toy Story 3, scheduled for release on
June 18 2010, is in development.
Plot
Old-fashioned
cowboy doll
Woody is coordinating a
reconnaissance mission around his owner
Andy's birthday party in the days before Andy's family move to their new house. To Woody's dismay, Andy receives a new
action figure in the form of space ranger
Buzz Lightyear, whose impressive features soon see Buzz replacing Woody as Andy's favorite toy. Woody - the former de facto leader of
Andy's toys - is disappointed by his replacement and resentful towards Buzz. For his part, Buzz does not understand that he is a toy. Instead he believes himself to be an actual space ranger, seeing Woody as an interference in his 'mission'.
Later, Woody wants to replace Buzz on a family outing. He intends to trap Buzz in a gap behind Andy's desk, but the plan goes disastrously wrong and Buzz is knocked outside the house. The other toys accuse Woody of attempting to
murder Buzz out of
jealousy, but are unable to punish him before Andy leaves the house with Woody for the outing at the space-themed Pizza Planet restaurant. Buzz sees Andy getting into his mother's car with Woody and manages to climb aboard, where he confronts Woody while Andy's mother refuels the car. The two end up fighting and accidentally land outside the car, which drives off and leaves the two stranded.
Woody spots a truck bound for Pizza Planet and plans to rendezvous with Andy there. Realizing that he will face the wrath of the other toys, Woody convinces Buzz that the truck will take them to a
spaceship. Once at Pizza Planet, Buzz makes his way into a
claw game machine shaped like a spaceship, thinking it to be the ship Woody promised him. While Woody clambers in to try and rescue him, Buzz (with Woody hanging on to his foot) is captured by Andy's next-door neighbor, the toy-destroying Sid Phillips.
The two desperately attempt to escape from Sid's house before Andy's family's moving day. There they encounter nightmarish "
mutant" toys inhabiting his room, as well as Sid's vicious dog Scud. Buzz stumbles into the living room, where he sees a
Television advertisement for Buzz Lightyear toys just like himself. Confused and crestfallen of his true nature, Buzz dares an attempt to fly but falls and breaks his arm from its socket. Woody is unable to get a miserable Buzz to participate in his rescue plan, even when the mutant toys show their true colors and repair Buzz's arm. Sid prepares to destroy Buzz with a firework
rocket. In the film's turning point, Woody admits that Buzz is a "cool toy", but despairs that he himself stands no chance of being Andy's favorite. Buzz changes his mind and decides that life is worth living even if he's not a space ranger and helps Woody, but Sid wakes up before they can escape and takes Buzz (still strapped to the rocket), to his backyard launchpad. In cooperation with Sid's mutant toys, Woody stages a rescue of Buzz and simultaneously terrifies Sid into running away in fear of his own toys. But even after their efforts, the two miss Andy's car as it drives away to his new house.
Chasing the moving van, they attract the attention of Scud. Buzz saves Woody by tackling the dog, but dooms himself. Woody attempts to rescue Buzz with Andy's
radio-controlled car R.C. At first, the the other toys in the moving van mistakenly believe Woody is attempting to get rid of R.C. now by throwing him off the truck. Buzz and Woody attempt to catch up; after witnessing Woody trying to save Buzz, the other toys have a change of heart and try to help them back on, but R.C.'s batteries are depleted. Woody then realizes that he can ignite Buzz's rocket, and all three toys make their way back to Andy safely.
At
Christmas, a reconciliated Buzz and Woody are now both Andy's favorite toys and have become best friends, inspiring confidence among the other toys. Together they stage another reconnaissance mission to determine the threat, if any, presented by the new arrivals - one of which is revealed to be a
puppy.
History
Development
John Lasseter's first experience with computer animation was during his work as an animator at Disney, when two of his friends showed him the lightcycle scene from
Tron. It was an eye-opening experience which awakened Lasseter to the possibilities offered by the new medium of computer-generated animation.
[Paik, Karen (2007). To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios, pp.80-107. Chronicle Books, San Francisco. ISBN-10 0811850129 .] Lasseter went on to work at
Lucasfilm and later as a founding member of Pixar.
Pixar's Oscar-winning short film
Tin Toy (directed by Lasseter) and its
CAPS project were among works that gained Disney's attention and, after meetings in 1990 with
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Pixar pitched a television special called
A Tin Toy Christmas. By 1991, Disney and Pixar signed an agreement to work on a film, based on the Tin Toy characters, called
Toy Story.
The script went through many changes before the final version. Lasseter decided Tinny was "too antiquated", and the character was changed to a military action figure, and then given a space theme. Tinny's name changed to Lunar Larry, then Tempus from Morph, and eventually Buzz Lightyear (after astronaut
Buzz Aldrin).
A second character, originally a ventriloquist's dummy, was changed to a stuffed cowboy doll with a pull-string, and named Woody for
Western actor
Woody Strode. The difference between the old and new toy led to a conflict between their personalities.
Toy Story's script was strongly influenced by the ideas of screenwriter
Robert McKee. The movie became a
buddy film, with the story department drawing inspiration from films such as
48 Hrs. and
The Defiant Ones. Disney also appointed
Joel Cohen,
Alec Sokolow and, later,
Joss Whedon to help develop the script.
It was Whedon's idea to incorporate
Barbie as a character who would rescue Woody and Buzz in the film's final act. The idea was dropped after Mattel objected and refused to license the toy. Hasbro likewise refused to license
G.I. Joe but did license
Mr. Potato Head.
Lasseter always wanted Tom Hanks to play the character of Woody. Early test footage, using Hanks' voice from
Turner and Hooch, convinced Hanks to sign on to the film.
Billy Crystal was approached to play Buzz, but turned down the role, as did
Chevy Chase on his agent's advice. Katzenberg took the role to Tim Allen, who was appearing in Disney's
Home Improvement, and he accepted.
Pixar presented an early draft of the film to Disney on November 19, 1993. The result was disastrous: Walt Disney Feature Animation president
Peter Schneider immediately shut down production pending a new script approved by Disney. Pixar survived the shutdown by falling back on its existing television commercial business while the script was rewritten. The new script made Woody a more likeable character, instead of the "sarcastic jerk" he had been. Katzenberg restarted production in February 1994.
The movie's related toys were produced by
Thinkway Toys, who secured the worldwide master toy license in 1995.
Crew
Trivia
Near the end of the movie, Buzz Lightyear attempts to free Woody from the crate that he was hiding under by pushing a toolbox, while Woody simultaneously pushed the crate. The red toolbox, however, was marked "Binford," in reference to
Binford Tools—the fictional tool company promoted in
Tool Time, the show-within-a-show of Home Improvement, in which Tim Allen starred in at the time.
Real products that appear in the film
Cast and characters
Toys
Humans
Cameo vocals include
Penn Jillette, Sam Lasseter,
Joe Ranft (as Lenny, the pair of wind-up walking binoculars), and
Andrew Stanton.
Release
Theatrical
Home video
- Toy Story was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 29, 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 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.
Computer Software
Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story and
Disney's Activity Center: Toy Story were released for the PC and
Mac. Two console video games were released for the movie: the
Toy Story video game, for the
Sega Genesis,
Super Nintendo Entertainment System,
Game Boy and
PC; and
Toy Story Racer, for the
Sony PlayStation, which contains elements from
Toy Story 2.
All of these titles are significant, because Pixar created original animations for all of them, including fully animated sequences for the PC titles.
Reception
Toy Story was a major critical and commercial success. Reviewers hailed it as "a visionary roller-coaster ride of a movie"
, "a gem of fast action, sophisticated wit and inspired comedy",
and 'the year's most inventive comedy'.
The film maintains a 100% fresh rating from 43 reviews, with an average score of 8.8/10, at
Rotten Tomatoes.
On its budget of $30 million, the film grossed $384 million worldwide.
In
2003, the
Online Film Critics Society ranked the film as the greatest animated film of all time.
[Top 100 Animated Features of All Time at the Online Film Critics Society website.] In
2005 the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry, one of five films to be selected in its first year of eligibility.
The film is ranked 99th on the
AFI's list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and 6th best in the animation genre.
Between
2006 and
2007, Disney Japan sponsered one of the
Super GT powerhouses apr, they applied Toy Story's theme and color scheme on their
Toyota MR-S, and renamed it to "Toy Story apr MR-S". Their team would win on the GT300 Driver's title in 2007. The color scheme was succeed by
Cars, another Disney Film.
Awards
John Lasseter received an
Academy Special Achievement Award in
1996 "for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film."
The film was nominated for three
Academy Awards, two to Randy Newman for
Best Music, Original Song, for "
You've Got a Friend in Me", and
Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score. It was also nominated for
Best Writing, Screenplay Written for the Screen for the work by
Joel Cohen,
Pete Docter,
John Lasseter,
Joe Ranft,
Alec Sokolow,
Andrew Stanton, and
Joss Whedon.
Toy Story won eight
Annie Awards, including "Best Animated Feature". Animator Pete Docter, director John Lasseter, musician Randy Newman, producers
Bonnie Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim, production designer
Ralph Eggleston, and writers Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, and Joss Whedon all won awards for "Best Individual Achievement" in their respective fields for their work on the film. The film also won "Best Individual Achievement" in technical achievement.
Toy Story was nominated for two
Golden Globes, one for "Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical", and one for "Best Original Song - Motion Picture" for Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me". It was also nominated for two
Saturn Awards, one for "Best Family Film", and one for "Best Writing" for the work done by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, and Joss Whedon.
Soundtrack
