Toy Story

Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film, directed by John Lasseter and starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. The film was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and 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,^[1] Toy Story went on to gross over $191 million in the United States during its initial theatrical release^[4] and took in more than $356M worldwide.^[1] Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, praising both the technical innovation of the animation and the wit and sophistication of the screenplay.^[5][6]

In addition to DVD releases, Toy Story-inspired merchandise has run the gamut from video games and costumes to model trains and shoes.^[7] 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.^[8] 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 is scheduled for release on June 18 2010.^[9]

Plot

1950's 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 dismayed 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"; he also believes his gadgets, such as his plastic wings and light bulb laser, are real and fully functional. When Woody challenges him to fly, he attempts to do so and gets temporarily caught on the toy airplane hanging from the ceiling, making it appear as though he can fly. This allows Buzz to continue believing he can fly and convinces the other toys as well, despite Woody dubbing his performance "falling with style".

Later, Woody schemes to trap Buzz in a gap behind Andy's desk so he can replace Buzz on a family outing, but the plan goes disastrously wrong and Buzz is knocked out of Andy's room into the driveway outside. 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 start a fight and accidentally land outside the car, which drives off and leaves the two stranded. Woody then realizes that he is a lost toy and he sobs about it. Woody, annoyed, starts to run towards Buzz after Buzz calls Star Command, but a big truck comes and almost crushes Woody. The two then start to argue with each other and begin going their own ways.

Woody spots a delivery boy bound for Pizza Planet and plans to rendezvous with Andy there. Realizing that he will face the wrath of the other toys if he returns without Buzz, 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 twisted, toy-torturing 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, hiding in the living room, sees a television commercial for Buzz Lightyear toys just like himself. Disheartened and in denial of his true nature, Buzz attempts to fly but falls and breaks his arm from its socket. While Sid prepares to destroy Buzz with a firework rocket, Woody is unable to get a miserable Buzz to participate in his escape plan, even when the mutant toys show their true colors and repair Buzz's arm. 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 now kill R.C., and throw him off the truck despite his attempts to tell them the truth. Buzz and Woody attempt to catch up; after witnessing Woody trying to save Buzz, the other toys realize their mistake and try to help them back on. Slinky attempts to pull them onto the ramp of the truck, but R.C.'s batteries die and his attempt fails. Woody then remember's Buzz's rocket, and attempts to light it with the match he received from Sid. Although a passing car blows out the match, Woody still figures out a way to light the fuse; using Buzz's helmet to magnify the sun. It is only after he lights it that he remembers the rocket will explode at the end of the flight. The rocket takes off, easily catching up to the van. But although they manage to drop R.C. back in with the other toys, the rocket shoots straight up before Buzz and Woody do anything to make it themselves. But right before it explodes, Buzz deploys his wings, severing them from the rocket, and allowing them to glide through the air. Woody, amazed, declares "Buzz, you're flying!" and, Buzz answers "This isn't flying, this is falling...with style!". The two glide past the truck, aiming for the car instead. Woody and Buzz drop through the sun roof and land in a box right next to Andy, who is overjoyed to rediscover his two favorite toys.

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, much to their relief.

History

Development

The entrance to Pixar's studio lot in Emeryville, California.

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.^[10] 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.^[11]

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.^[12]

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.^[12]

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.^[12]

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.^[13] Katzenberg took the role to Tim Allen, who was appearing in Disney's Home Improvement, and he accepted. ^[12]

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.^[12]

The movie's related toys were produced by Thinkway Toys, who secured the worldwide master toy license in 1995.^[14]

Crew

• Directed by John Lasseter
• Produced by Ralph Guggenheim and Bonnie Arnold
• Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Joss Whedon, Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow
• Story by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft
• Performed by Randy Newman and Lyle Lovett
• Music by Randy Newman
• Supervising Technical Director William Reeves
• Executive Producers Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs

Real products that appear in the film

• "Operation" (board game by Milton Bradley)
• "Mouse Trap" (board game from Milton Bradley)
• "Battleship" (board game from Milton Bradley)
• "Candyland" (board game from Milton Bradley)
• "Twister" (game from Hasbro)
• "Ants in the Pants"
• Mr. Potato Head (figure from Playskool)
• Etch-a-Sketch (from Ohio Art)
• Army men (generic toy)
• Slinky Dog from James Industries
• Hot Wheels Red Baron and loop track set from Mattel
• Speak & Spell (Mr. Spell)
• See 'n Say The Farmer Says (talking toy from Mattel)
• Troll doll from Russ Berrie
• Little Tikes Toddle Tots Fire Truck
• TinkerToys
• Rock'N Robot from Playskool
• Barrel of Monkeys
• Rock-a-Stack from Fisher-Price
• Magic 8 Ball from Tyco

Cast and characters

Main article: List of Toy Story characters

Toys

• Tom Hanks as Sheriff Woody: An old-fashioned pull-string cowboy doll who is Andy's favorite toy. Andy's other toys view him as their leader.
• Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear: A new and popular sci-fi action figure who begins to rival Woody as Andy's favorite toy and as the most popular toy in Andy's room.
• Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head: A cynical toy, based on Playskool's popular Mr. Potato Head toy.
• Jim Varney as Slinky Dog: One of Woody's closest friends and his slightly brown-nosed second in command.
• Wallace Shawn as Rex: An inept, insecure tyrannosaurus figure.
• John Ratzenberger as Hamm: A wise-cracking piggy bank who gets involved in all of the other toys' affairs.
• Annie Potts as Bo Peep: Woody's love interest; a porcelain figure who is the voice of reason among Andy's toys.
• R. Lee Ermey as Sarge: The head of Andy's Army men and a model of military discipline and precision.

Humans

• John Morris as Andy Davis: Eight-year old owner of Woody and Buzz.
• Laurie Metcalf as Mrs. Davis: Andy's mother.
• Erik von Detten as Sid Phillips: A youth who lives next door to Andy and destroys toys for fun, and almost blew up Buzz.
• Sarah Freeman as Hannah Phillips: Sid's younger sister.

Cameo vocals include Penn Jillette, Sam Lasseter, Joe Ranft (as Lenny, the pair of wind-up walking binoculars), and Andrew Stanton.

Release

Theatrical

• November 22, 1995
• October 2, 2009 (Re-Release in 3-D)

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"^[15], "a gem of fast action, sophisticated wit and inspired comedy", ^[16] and 'the year's most inventive comedy'.^[17] The film maintains a 100% fresh rating from 43 reviews, with an average score of 8.8/10, at Rotten Tomatoes.^[18] On its budget of $30 million, the film grossed $384 million worldwide.^[3]

In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society ranked the film as the greatest animated film of all time.^[19] In 2005 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, one of three films to be selected in its first year of eligibility.^[20] In 2007, the film was ranked #99 on the American Film Institute's 10th Anniversary Edition special on the 100 greatest American films of all time. It was one of only two animated films on the list, the other being Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—its list of the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Toy Story was listed as the 6th best film in the animation genre.^[21][22]

Awards

Main article: Film awards won by Toy Story

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."^[23]

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.^[24]

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.^[24]

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.^[24]

Sequels

Toy Story 2 was released in 1999. Toy Story 3 is scheduled to be released in 2010.

Related

The Debian Linux distribution uses Toy Story's characters as release names.

Soundtrack

Main article: Toy Story (soundtrack)

References

External links

• Pixar's official homepage for Toy Story
• Toy Story 10th Anniversary - The Official DVD Website
• BroadwayWorld: Disney Launches 'Toy Story' Musical Aboard Cruise-Line
• Toy Story at the Internet Movie Database
• Toy Story at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Toy Story at Rotten Tomatoes
• Toy Story at Metacritic

• Toy Story at Box Office Mojo