| Sheriff Woody | |
|---|---|
| Toy Story character | |
Woody in Toy Story 2 |
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| First appearance | Toy Story (1995) |
| Created by | John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Joe Ranft |
| Portrayed by | Tom Hanks (films) Jim Hanks (other media) John Clements in The Puppet Show |
| Information | |
| Species | Humanoid pull-string doll |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Toy |
| Title | Sheriff |
| Significant other(s) | Bo Peep |
Sheriff Woody Pride, or simply Woody, is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Toy Story franchise (alongside Buzz Lightyear). He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films, and by Jim Hanks in most other media.
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In Toy Story, Woody assumes the leader of Andy's toys, and takes his position seriously. He states many times that it's not about who gets played with most, it's always being there for Andy. However, later in the film, Andy gets a new toy for his birthday; which is a Buzz Lightyear, the most popular toy around at the time. Therefore, Andy's toys are amazed by the features Buzz has. Except for Woody, who is very jealous of Buzz's attention, and is worried that Buzz will take his place of being Andy's favourite toy. This is all resolved after the two work together to save themselves from a "toy murderer" named Sid.
In Toy Story 2, Woody, (with Buzz at his side) is still the leader of the toys, and prepares for an upcoming yard sale; which is an apperant dreadful situation for toys. A toy named Wheezie gets chosen to be sold, and Woody risks his safety to save him while riding on Andy's new puppy, Buster. His plan is successful until he falls off of Buster and gets stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al. At his apartment, Woody discovers his forgotten past and legacy as the star of a 1950s Western children's show "Woody's Roundup" but learns that he will be shipped to Japan to be displayed in a toy museum. However, he is rescued by the toys just in time.
In Toy Story 3, Andy is now 17 years old, almost 18, and preparing to leave for college. Woody and the gang are heartbroken, and wonder what will become of them. Andy chooses Woody to take with him to college, thus putting him in a packing box. He puts the rest of the toys in a garbage bag to store in the attic. Andy's mother mistakes them for garbage, and the toys just manage to escape a garbage truck. Woody tries to convince everyone that Andy was going to put them in the attic, but is not believed. After a mix-up lands everyone at Sunnyside daycare, (an apparent nightmare for toys) they manage to escape all a chaos they face along the way, and are all given by Andy to a little girl named Bonnie. As seen in the credits, Woody and his toy companions then embrace their new life with Bonnie.
Woody also made a cameo in the movie A Bug's Life as a crew member in one of the outtakes. He appeared in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, where he only appeared at the beginning and was voiced by Jim Hanks. He appeared in the intro show of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command as a cameo. He also appeared in the ending of Cars as a little toy station wagon. He appears in the theatrical short, Hawaiian Vacation, used for the release of Cars 2.
Woody is a passionate guy who throws himself into every action. As soon as he has an instinctive thought like "I have to help them," or "I have to run away," he does it with 100-percent commitment. You gotta love that about anybody. What's great is that I get credit for the way the character and the humor come off. I have kids that are now in college come up to me and say, "when you told that neighbor kid to play nice, that really meant a lot to me.
Woody is an old-fashioned pull-string cowboy doll. The voice-box that is activated by the pull-string says many simple phrases such as "Reach for the sky!", "You're my favorite deputy!", "There's a snake in my boot!", and "Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!". As mentioned in Toy Story 2, his construction includes an "original hand-painted face, natural dyed-blanket stitched vest, and hand-stitched poly-vinyl hat." Woody wears an empty gun holster at his belt. He is Andy's favorite toy since kindergarten, with a special spot on the bed, and is the leader of the toys in Andy's room. In Toy Story 2 it is revealed that he is based on the main character from a popular 1950s TV show, Woody's Roundup. When Al is bargaining with Andy's mom in an attempt to take Woody, Andy's mom declines Al's bargain, stating that Woody is "an old family toy." Stinky Pete also directly refers to him as a hand-me-down toy later in the movie, and when Woody finds a record player in Al's apartment room, he states "I haven't seen one of these in ages!", again supporting that he has been around longer than Andy. (In fact, when introducing the 2009 set of Toy Story collectibles, John Lasseter said "We always imagined he was a hand-me-down to Andy from his father.") He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films and by his brother Jim Hanks on other occasions.
In the three films, Woody makes two strong friendships with Buzz and Jessie. At first, however, when Buzz temporarily became Andy's favorite toy, he tried to push him off the dresser but accidentally knocked him out the window. When Sid had them, however, he and Buzz worked together to escape. Since then, he and Buzz are very close and care deeply about each other and will do anything for each other. Even though he and Jessie argue with each other sometimes, they are still very close friends.
It was revealed in August 2009 by Lee Unkrich that Woody's official last name is "Pride".[2] Unkrich stated in his Twitter blog that “Woody’s actual full name is ‘Woody Pride’ and has been since the earliest days of developing the original Toy Story.”[3]
In late 2009, Lego released a Woody's Roundup! playset as one of the first released playsets, consisting of minifigures Woody, Bullseye, Jessie and Stinky Pete, and buildings Sheriff, Jail and a gold mine. The set has a trap in between Jail and Sheriff that flings the minifigures, a safe, Lego money, a wall that falls off the Jail and Lego pieces that fall through the top of the gold mine, specifically to land on Stinky Pete's head.
In early 2010, Lego released Woody and Buzz to the Rescue, a playset including a pull-back RC the car, Woody minifigure, and Buzz minifigure with a removable rocket attached to his back.
In late April 2010, Lego released a line based on Toy Story 3. This included Trash Compactor Escape, Western Train Chase, Trash Truck Escape and Lotso's Dump Truck.
Tom Hanks's vocal performance as Sheriff Woody was received positively by film critics. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today approved of the selection of Hanks for the lead role of Woody.[4] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated that Tom Hanks "brings an invaluable heft and believability to Woody."[5] Presenter Ryan Tubridy dressed up as Woody for The Late Late Toy Show in 2011.[6][7]
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