Toy Story


Toy Story is a 1995 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It is the first installment in the Toy Story franchise and the first entirely computer-animated feature film, as well as the first feature film from Pixar. The film was directed by John Lasseter, written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow, and features the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, John Ratzenberger, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, and Jim Varney. Taking place in a world where toys come to life when humans are not present, Toy Story follows an old-fashioned pullstring cowboy doll named Woody Pride, referred to simply by his first name, and a modern space cadet action figure, Buzz Lightyear, as Woody develops jealousy towards Buzz when he becomes their owner Andy's favorite toy.
Following the success of the 1988 short film Tin Toy, Pixar was approached by Disney to produce a computer-animated feature film that was told from a small toy's perspective. Lasseter, Stanton, and Docter wrote early story treatments, which were rejected by Disney, who wanted the film's tone to be "edgier". After several disastrous story reels, production was halted and the script was rewritten to better reflect the tone and theme Pixar desired: "toys deeply want children to play with them, and... this desire drives their hopes, fears, and actions". The studio, then consisting of a relatively small number of employees, produced Toy Story under minor financial constraints.
Toy Story premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on November 19, 1995, and was released in theaters in North America three days later on November 22. It was the highest-grossing film during its opening weekend, eventually grossing over $363 million worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1995. The film received critical acclaim, with praise directed towards the technical innovation of the animation, script, Randy Newman's score, appeal to all age groups, and voice performances, and holds a approval rating on film aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. The film is frequently lauded as one of the best animated films ever made and, due to its status as the first computer-animated film, one of the most important films in the medium's history and film at large. The film received three Academy Award nominations—Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song for "You've Got a Friend in Me", and Best Original Score—in addition to being honored with a non-competitive Special Achievement Academy Award.
In 2005, Toy Story was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", one of nine films designated in its first year of eligibility. The success of Toy Story launched a multimedia franchise, spawning four sequels beginning with Toy Story 2 ; a spin-off film Lightyear ; and numerous short films. The film has had several theatrical re-releases, including a 3D re-release in 2009 as part of a double feature with the second film and a 30th anniversary re-release in 2025.

Plot

A group of sentient toys, who pretend to be lifeless when humans are around, are preparing to move into a new house with their young owner Andy Davis, his infant sister Molly, and their single mother Mrs. Davis. Learning that Andy's sixth birthday party has been unexpectedly moved to an earlier date, several toys — including Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex the tyrannosaur, Hamm the piggy bank, and Bo Peep the porcelain doll — become concerned that Andy might receive something that will replace them. To calm them, Sheriff Woody, Andy's favorite toy and their de facto leader, sends Sarge and his green army men to spy on Andy's birthday party with a baby monitor. Andy receives a Buzz Lightyear action figure, who believes he is an actual Space Ranger and does not know he is really a toy. Buzz impresses the others with his electronic features and becomes Andy's new favorite toy, provoking Woody's jealousy.
Two days before the move, Andy's family plans for a dinner at a pizza restaurant called Pizza Planet. To ensure Andy brings him along and not Buzz, Woody tries knocking Buzz behind the desk with RC, Andy's radio-controlled car. However, Buzz is accidentally knocked out of the window instead, and most of the other toys believe Woody has deliberately killed Buzz. Andy takes Woody with him, but Buzz furiously confronts him in the car. The two fight, fall out of the car, and are left behind; after a further argument, they hitch a ride to the restaurant on a Pizza Planet delivery truck.
At Pizza Planet, Buzz mistakes a claw crane full of rubber toy aliens for a rocket, and climbs in, pursued by Woody. Sid Phillips, Andy's sadistic next-door neighbor, takes the two from the crane to his house, where they encounter his Bull Terrier Scud and his "mutant" toys, made from parts of other toys Sid has destroyed.
Buzz witnesses a television commercial promoting him and suffers an existential crisis, finally realizing he is a toy after all. He attempts to fly but falls and breaks his arm. After Sid's toys repair Buzz, Sid tapes Buzz to a firework rocket, planning to destroy him the following day. Overnight, Woody helps Buzz realize that his purpose is to make Andy happy, restoring Buzz's resolve. Sid takes Buzz out to blow him up, but Woody rallies the mutant toys to come to life in front of Sid and frighten him into never harming toys again.
Now freed, Woody and Buzz pursue the Davis' moving truck, but Scud attacks Woody. Buzz stays behind to fight off the dog; Woody climbs into the truck, and pushes RC out to rescue Buzz. Thinking Woody has killed another toy, the others also throw him off the truck. Upon witnessing Woody and Buzz pursue the truck on RC, the toys realize their mistake. RC's batteries run out, forcing Woody to ignite the rocket strapped to Buzz. As the two are propelled into the air, Woody tosses RC back into the truck. Buzz opens his wings to sever the tape just before the rocket explodes; he and Woody glide through the sunroof of Mrs. Davis' car, landing safely inside.
As the toys listen in on the Christmas gift opening in the new house, Mr. Potato Head is delighted when Molly gets a Mrs. Potato Head. Woody and Buzz jokingly ponder what gift could be "worse" than Buzz, only to nervously smile at each other when Andy gets a dachshund puppy.

Voice cast

  • Tom Hanks as Woody, a pullstring cowboy doll who is Andy's favorite toy
  • Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, a Space Ranger action figure, Andy's second favorite toy, and Woody's rival, who later becomes his best friend
  • Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, a cynical potato-shaped doll with put-together pieces on his body
  • Jim Varney as Slinky Dog, a dachshund slinky toy and Woody's second-in-command
  • Wallace Shawn as Rex, a nervous green Tyrannosaurus figurine
  • John Ratzenberger as Hamm, a smart-talking piggy bank
  • Annie Potts as Bo Peep, a porcelain shepherdess doll and Woody's love interest
  • John Morris as Andy Davis, the toys' owner
  • Erik von Detten as Sid Phillips, Andy's next-door neighbor and bully, who destroys toys for fun
  • Laurie Metcalf as Mrs. Davis, Andy and Molly's mother
  • R. Lee Ermey as Sergeant, the leader of a large troop of plastic green army men
  • Sarah Freeman as Hannah Phillips, Sid's friendly younger sister
  • Penn Jillette as the Buzz Lightyear TV commercial announcer
  • Jeff Pidgeon as Aliens, crane game toys at Pizza Planet
  • Joe Ranft as Lenny, a toy pair of binoculars
  • Mickie McGowan as Mrs. Phillips, the unseen mother of Sid and Hannah

    Production

Development

's first experience with computer animation was during his work as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation, when two of his friends showed him the light-cycle scene from Tron. It was an eye-opening experience that awakened Lasseter to the possibilities offered by the new medium of computer-generated animation. Lasseter tried to pitch The Brave Little Toaster as a fully computer-animated film to Disney, but the idea was rejected and Lasseter was fired. He then went on to work at Lucasfilm and in 1986, he became a founding member of Pixar. In 1986, Pixar was purchased by entrepreneur and Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs. At Pixar, Lasseter created short, computer-animated films to show off the Pixar Image Computer's capabilities. In 1988, Lasseter produced the short film Tin Toy, which was told from the perspective of a toy, referencing Lasseter's love of classic toys. Tin Toy won the 1989 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, the first computer-generated film to do so.
Tin Toy gained Disney's attention, and the new team at The Walt Disney Company, CEO Michael Eisner and chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg in the film division, sought to get Lasseter to come back. Lasseter, grateful for Jobs' faith in him, felt compelled to stay with Pixar, telling co-founder Ed Catmull, "I can go to Disney and be a director, or I can stay here and make history." Katzenberg realized he could not lure Lasseter back to Disney and therefore set plans into motion to ink a production deal with Pixar to produce a film. Disney had always made all their movies in-house and refused to change this. But when Tim Burton, who used to work at Disney, wanted to buy back the rights to The Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney struck a deal allowing him to make it as a Disney film outside the studio. This allowed Pixar to make their movies outside Disney.
Both sides were willing. Catmull and fellow Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith had long wanted to produce a computer-animated feature, but only by the early 1990s were the computers cheap and powerful enough to make this possible. In addition, Disney had licensed Pixar's Computer Animation Production System, and that made it the largest customer for Pixar's computers. Jobs made it apparent to Katzenberg that although Disney was happy with Pixar, it was not the other way around: "We want to do a film with you," said Jobs. "That would make us happy."
Catmull, Smith, and head of animation Ralph Guggenheim met with Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider in the summer of 1990 to discuss making a feature film, but they found the atmosphere to be puzzling and contentious. They later learned that while Katzenberg was pushing the idea of working with Pixar, Schneider did not want to bring in a non-Disney animation studio. Katzenberg arranged to meet directly with the Pixar contingent, this time including Lasseter and Jobs. The Pixar team proposed three separate ideas for their first major project, including an original idea entitled Bob the Dinosaur, an adaptation of James and the Giant Peach, and a Christmas television special entitled, A Tin Toy Christmas. Disney greenlit the third idea, but Katzenberg countered that as long as they were gearing up to transition from 30-second commercials to a half-hour special, they might as well go all the way and make a feature-length film.
Katzenberg also made it clear that he was only working with Pixar to get access to Lasseter's talents, and that the Pixar team would be signing up to work with a self-described "tyrant" and micro-manager. However, he invited them to talk with Disney's animators and get their opinions on working under him and Lasseter was impressed with what he heard. The two companies began negotiations, although they disagreed on key points including whether Disney would get the rights to Pixar's animation technology or whether Pixar would retain partial ownership of the films, characters, and home video and sequel rights. As Pixar was nearing bankruptcy and desperate for funds, they settled on a deal that would allow Disney to have complete ownership and control of the films and characters, including the rights to make sequels without Pixar's involvement, while Pixar would get approximately 12.5% of ticket sales. These early negotiations became a point of contention between Jobs and Eisner for many years.
An agreement to produce a feature film based on Tin Toy with a working title of Toy Story was finalized, and production began soon thereafter.