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Toy Story

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Toy Story
Directed by John Lasseter
Produced by Bonnie Arnold, Ralph Guggenheim; executive producers: Edwin Catmull, Steve Jobs
Written by Story by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft;
Screenplay by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow
Starring Tom Hanks
Tim Allen
Don Rickles
Jim Varney
Wallace Shawn
John Ratzenberger
Music by Randy Newman
Editing by Robert Gordon
Lee Unkrich
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s) November 22, 1995 (U.S.)
Running time 81 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $30 million
Followed by Toy Story 2 (1999)
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Toy Story is a CGI animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 22, 1995, and the United Kingdom on 22 March 1996. It is the first computer animated film to be completed, and Pixar's first feature film. It grossed $191,773,049 in the United States and it took a grand total of $358,100,000 worldwide. The primary characters are toys in the room of the six-year-old boy Andy, and is mostly told from their point of view. Andy, his baby sister Molly and mother have smaller roles, as do the neighbour boy Sid, his dog Scud and sister Hannah.

Before Pixar's entry into the feature film-business with Toy Story, Pixar was known for developing the Pixar Image Computer.

Contents

[edit] Characters

WARNING: Spoilers follow here.
If you have not seen this film, it is recommended to skip to another section.
Woody
Andy's favorite toy, a cowboy doll with a bright personality. When the string on his back is pulled, the recorder box inside him spurts out seemingly random things, such as "Reach for the sky!" and "Somebody's poisoned the water hole!" among other things. In Toy Story 2, it is revealed that he is a very rare and very valuable collector's item, and the star of the black-and-white puppet show "Woody's Roundup", which was cancelled after the Sputnik crisis caused children to only want to play with space toys, drastically lowering the show's ratings.
Buzz Lightyear
Andy's new birthday present, Buzz is a popular Space Ranger toy. He believes he's the real Buzz Lightyear, and even believes he can fly, but all of his beliefs are shattered when he sees a commercial advertising Buzz Lightyear toys from Taiwan. This causes him to completely lose his confidence, but after escaping Sid's house with Woody, he sees his true purpose of making Andy happy.
Mister Potato Head
A Mister Potato Head toy, he is able to freely replace his facial features, such as his eyes or ears. He's a sarcastic character who appears to be very distrustful, especially in the second half of the film. He often plays the villain in Andy's games, and is prone to losing parts to Andy's younger sister. He dreams of a Mrs. Potato Head.
Hamm
A piggy bank with a rather cool demeanor. He seems to hold all of Andy's loose change, but there are times when the cork on his stomach falls out.
Rex
A Tyrannosaurus Rex toy with a bashful and cowardly personality, who fears another dinosaur.
Slinky
A dog toy with a Slinky for a body. Good-spirited but nosy, he is often seen playing board games with Woody. He seems to be the only one who believes Woody when Buzz is knocked out the window.
Bo Peep
A Little Bo Peep lamp, she is the only female toy, and appears to be Woody's sweetheart.

[edit] Plot

The story begins with a boy named Andy playing with his toys, such as a Mr. Potato Head doll, a plastic dinosaur toy, and his favorite toy, Woody, a cowboy doll. He takes Woody into the living room and plays with him some more, with a short interruption talking to his mom about his birthday party later that day and the soon-coming move to a new house. After done playing with Woody, Andy starts helping his mom by carrying his baby sister to her. While he is gone, all the toys come to life and Woody tells everyone that Andy's birthday party has been moved to today, instead of later. This makes all the toys extremely nervous, wondering if Andy will get a toy that will replace them. Woody sends the small green soldiers downstairs to spy on the party. At the end of the party, Andy's mom pulls out a surprise gift from the closet, which makes the toys in Andy's room very nervous. They eventually find out that it is a Buzz Lightyear spaceman doll, who does not know that he is only a toy. They all like him very much and are impressed by his features, except for Woody, who is angry because Buzz has become Andy's favorite toy.

As a result, Woody knocks Buzz out the window when he has a chance. This makes the other toys very angry with Woody, and they are about to kill him, when Andy comes in and takes Woody to the Pizza Planet restaurant. At a stop at a gas station Dinoco gas station, Woody runs into Buzz, who hopped on the minivan before they left. The two knock each other out of the minivan and fight. The minivan all of a sudden drives away and the two are left alone together. Buzz, still not realizing that he is a toy, is convinced by Woody to climb aboard the Pizza Planet truck and arrive at the restaurant. Woody finds Andy there, but Buzz wants to get to his home planet and climbs into a toy crane game. Woody goes in after him, but the two eventually are grabbed by Sid Phillips, a boy who lives next door to Andy. Sid is known to torture and destroy toys, just for fun.

Sid takes Woody and Buzz to his house and leaves them in his room while he is having a talk downstairs with his sister Hannah and his mom. Woody and Buzz try to think of ways to escape Sid's house, and run into many scary toys. Meanwhile, at Andy's house, the other toys, waiting to kill Woody, find out that Woody is not with Andy. The next day, at Sid's house, Sid is burning Woody's forehead. When he goes away for Pop-Tarts and school, Woody and Buzz try to find ways to escape, accidentally running into Sid's dog Scud, who is trained to destroy toys. Scud chases Woody into the closet, and Buzz into Sid's dad's room. Buzz then finally finds out from a television commercial that he is a toy after all, and becomes depressed and crazy, and tries to fly out the window, failing and breaking off one of his arms.

Woody later finds Buzz and tries to go across a string of Christmas lights to Andy's house, but the other toys throw down the Christmas lights, stranding Woody and Buzz at Sid's house. Sid comes back with a new package, which turns out to be a firework rocket, which he tapes onto Buzz and plans to launch the rocket the next day.

The next day, Woody is worried about Buzz, who has now become his friend, his only one. He convinces the scary toys to help him save Buzz. The scary toys and Woody work together, saving Buzz. They notice that the moving van for Andy's family is leaving. Woody and Buzz work together to reach the moving van, and Woody wins back the trust of Andy's toys and Buzz. At the new house, Woody, Buzz, and the other toys are all friends and are happy again.

Spoilers end here.


[edit] Voice cast

Actor Role
Tom Hanks Woody
Tim Allen Buzz Lightyear
Don Rickles Mr. Potato Head
Wallace Shawn Rex
Jim Varney Slinky Dog
John Ratzenberger Hamm
John Morris Andy Davis
Erik von Detten Sid Philips
Annie Potts Bo Peep
Sarah Freeman Hannah Philips
R. Lee Ermey Sarge
Laurie Metcalf Mrs. Davis

[edit] Awards

Director John Lasseter received an Academy Special Achievement Award in 1996 for this film.

In 2005 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

[edit] Sequels

[edit] Toy Story in pop culture

  • Debian (a Linux distribution) releases are named after characters from this movie. (Sid, Buzz, Rex, Bo, Hamm, Slink, Potato, Woody, Sarge, Etch, Lenny).
  • In one scene of Finding Nemo, another Pixar film, a Buzz Lightyear toy can be seen on the floor of a dentist's office.
  • The line "You are a sad, strange little man," uttered by Buzz is referenced in The Santa Clause 2, where Tim Allen (the voice actor of Buzz Lightyear) says the same line.
  • In the Illbleed video game, one of the stages, Toy Hunter, heavily parodies Toy Story, among other movies and video games.
  • This movie has also coined the (oxymoronical) phrase, "To Infinity and Beyond!" (though the term "Beyond the Infinite" was prominently used in 2001: A Space Odyssey of 1968).
  • This movie was referenced twice on Tim Allen's sitcom Home Improvement. The first time, two trick-or-treaters come to the door of Tim's house, one dressed as Simba from The Lion King, and the other dressed as Buzz Lightyear. Randy answers the door, and gives the Simba more candy than the Buzz. Note that Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who plays Randy, voiced the young Simba in The Lion King and via archival footage, Kingdom Hearts II. The second time, Tim and his niece Gracie played with a Buzz Lightyear doll. In one of the outtakes during the credits, Tim repeated Buzz's built-in phrases.
  • During the end credits of Pixar's 2006 film Cars, a scene from Toy Story is reenacted by toy car versions of Buzz and Woody, playing a toy spaceship car and a Ford "Woody" Wagon, respectively. Tim Allen and Tom Hanks reprised their voices. The last line by Woody, however, sounds as though it might be directly lifted from the original film.
    • Woody: You are a toy car!
    • Buzz: You are a sad, strange little wagon, and you have my pity. Farewell.
    • Woody: Yeah, well, good riddance, you loony!
  • Shortly after that in the credits of Cars, a scene with Hamm (voiced by John Ratzenberger, who has appeared in every Pixar film to date) is shown, and Mack (Ratzenberger's character in Cars) comments on how good the guy who voiced the piggy bank car is.
  • Also in Cars, the Lightning McQueen's number 95 represents the year Toy Story came out.
  • In Cars, Lightning McQueen gets sponsored by Dinoco, a gas station in Toy Story
  • Lightning McQueen's tires in Cars say Lightyear, a parody of Buzz Lightyear and Goodyear Tires.

[edit] Trivia

  • The Pixar logo with the hopping Luxo Jr. is absent before the film. He is present at the very end of the credits instead.
  • Sid's outfit is identical to that worn by Chris Cornell in the 1994 Soundgarden] video "Black Hole Sun". To view this video, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWeW_8ljmCM. Both shirts resemble, if not are in fact, the skull logo used by Zero Skateboards. The black tee shirt with white upper skull also resembles the traditional outfit of The Punisher].
  • The "Hand" in the Box in Sid's room plays the same music that the toy did from Tin Toy (1988), the short movie that inspired Toy Story.
  • When Woody jumps through the window of the Pizza Planet truck, there is a sticker on it that appears to be Herbie's famous number 53.
  • Billy Crystal was originally offered the chance to voice Buzz Lightyear.
  • The toy shark, wearing Woody's hat, proclaims, "Look at me, I'm Woody! Howdy howdy howdy!" This references a cowboy-eating vulture in one of Gary Larson's "The Far Side" daily comic strips from the early 1980s: "Hey everyone, look at me, I'm a cowboy! Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!"
  • The toolbox that Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) pushes off the milk crate bears the name "Binford Tools," the name of the fictional company which sponsors Allen's character's show in Home Improvement (1991).
  • "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King can be heard in Andy's mother's car on the way to their new home, although when Woody and Buzz fall into the van, it stops playing.
  • The original character for Woody was written to be sneaky, mean and borderline evil. He was also supposed to be a ventriloquist dummy, but as it has always been odd for children to play with these dummies, and in fact more common for kids to be scared of them, he evolved to a pull-string cowboy.
  • During the staff meeting at the beginning of the movie, some of the books on the shelf behind Woody are named after some of Pixar's short films, such as Tin Toy and Knick Knack.
  • When Buzz demonstrates flying, he bounces off the ball from Luxo Jr., and is later knocked out of Andy's bedroom window by Luxo, father of Luxo Jr.
  • In the movie's opening scene, Mr. Potato Head says "What are you looking at, you hockey puck?" This is one of Don Rickles's (the voice of Mr. Potato Head) trademark insults.
  • The moving truck company is called Eggman Movers. Eggman is a nickname of Pixar Art Designer Ralph Eggleston
  • The license plate number on Andy's mom's minivan is A113.
  • The license plate on the cars read random words instead of a state. For example on Andy's mom's minivan, the plate reads "Minivan" in place of a state and another car's reads "Auto".
  • This is the only Pixar film to not feature a previous Pixar short in the standard edition. However, the Toy Box and Gold Collection editions of this film feature Tin Toy.
  • There are numerous references to Star Wars. Pixar was originally formed from the Industrial Light & Magic Computer Graphics Group. References include:
    • When Buzz tells Woody that Zurg was building a space station powerful enough to destroy a planet and that he he alone possessed the top secret plans that revealed its only weak spot, a reference to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (R2-D2 carried the Death Star plans).
    • Sid is interrogating Woody about the "location of the secret base."
    • Several sound effects from Star Wars appear in the film including:
      • Buzz' first view of Andy's room features a "Darth Vader POV" shot, complete with artificial breathing sound.
      • The sounds of X-wings revving and preparing for take-off from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is heard outside Pizza Planet.
      • During the Buzz Lightyear action figure TV commercial, his arm-mounted laser makes the TIE fighter blaster sound.
  • Hidden Mickeys:
    • In a wall in Andy's room, you can see a giant Wrist watch with a Mickey Mouse inside.
    • On the wall in Sid's room, is a poster with a rocker named "Mega Dork", (presumably a spoof of thrash metal band Megadeth), who has a Mickey Mouse tattoo on his arm.
    • One of Sid's Mutant toys named "Jingle Joe" has a Mickey Mouse arm.
  • All of the cars in Toy Story are registered for November 1995, the film's month of release.
  • On a car that crashes trying to avoid Scud, the tire says "Tigger Paw".
  • RC's tires read "Goodtire", most likely a parody of Goodyear Tires.
  • Sid's room contains an issue of "TM 31-210 IMPROVISED INTERROGATION HANDBOOK". However, the real title of TM 31-210 is Improvised Munition Handbook.
  • The original VHS release of this movie contained over 15 minutes of trailers before the actual movie began.

[edit] Soundtrack Listing

  1. You've Got A Friend In Me
  2. Strange Things
  3. I Will Go Sailing No More
  4. Andy's Birthday (Instrumental)
  5. Soldier's Mission (Instrumental)
  6. Presents (Instrumental)
  7. Buzz (Instrumental)
  8. Sid (Instrumental)
  9. Woody And Buzz (Instrumental)
  10. Mutants (Instrumental)
  11. Woody's Gone (Instrumental)
  12. The Big One (Instrumental)
  13. Home Together (Instrumental)
  14. On The Move (Instrumental)
  15. Infinity And Beyond (Instrumental)
  16. You've Got A Friend In Me (Duet)

[edit] Video games

Three video games based on the film came out on Sega Genesis, Super NES, Game Boy and Personal computer as well as the Sony PlayStation and the Nintendo 64.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ↑ Top 100 Animated Features of All Time at the Online Film Critics Society website.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://filmguide.wikia.com/wiki/Toy_Story"