Toy Story is a computer animated film series and Disney media franchise that began with the 1995 film of the same name, produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The franchise is based on the anthropomorphic concept that all toys, unknown to humans, are secretly alive, and the films focus on a diverse group of toys that feature a classic cowboy named Sheriff Woody and a modern spaceman named Buzz Lightyear. The group unexpectedly embark on adventures that challenge and change them.
Films[]
Toy Story (1995)[]
Main article: Toy Story
Toy Story, the first film in the franchise, was released on November 22, 1995. It was the first feature-length film created entirely by CGI and was directed by John Lasseter. The plot involves Andy, an imaginative young boy, getting a new Buzz Lightyear action figure for his birthday, causing Sheriff Woody, a vintage cowboy doll, to think that he has been replaced as Andy's favourite toy. In competing for Andy's attention, Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out a window, leading the other toys to believe he tried to murder Buzz. Determined to set things right, Woody attempts to save Buzz, and both must escape from the house of the next-door neighbor Sid Phillips, who likes to torture and destroy toys. The film was critically and financially successful, grossing over $361 million worldwide.[2][8] The film was later re-released in Disney Digital 3-D as part of a double feature, along with Toy Story 2, for a 2-week run,[6] which was later extended due to its financial success.[9]
Toy Story 2 (1999)[]
Main article: Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2, the second film in the franchise, was released on November 24, 1999. John Lasseter reprised his role as director. The plot involves Woody getting stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al McWhiggin. Buzz and several of Andy's toys set off to attempt to free Woody, who meanwhile has discovered his origins as a historic television star. Toy Story 2 was not originally intended for release in theaters, but as a direct-to-video sequel to the original Toy Story, with a 60-minute running time.[10] However, Disney's executives were impressed by the high quality of the in-work imagery for the sequel, and were also pressured by the main characters' voice actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, so they decided to convert Toy Story 2 into a theatrical film.[11] It turned out to be an even greater success than the original Toy Story, grossing over $497 million worldwide.[12] The film was re-released in Disney Digital 3-D as part of a double feature, along with Toy Story, on October 2, 2009.
Toy Story 3 (2010)[]
Main article: Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3, the third film in the franchise, was released on June 18, 2010, nearly 11 years after Toy Story 2 was. It was the first Toy Story film not to be directed by John Lasseter (although he remained involved in the film as executive producer), but by Lee Unkrich, who edited the first two films and co-directed the second. The plot focuses on the toys being accidentally dropped off at a daycare center while their owner, Andy, is getting ready to go to college. The film contains over 150 new characters, according to Pixar.[13] It remains Pixar's highest-grossing film of all time both domestically and worldwide, surpassing Finding Nemo. Toy Story 3 grossed more than the first and second films combined, making it the first animated film to have crossed the $1 billion mark.[14] In August 2010, it surpassed Shrek 2, becoming the highest-grossing animated film of all time until it was surpassed by Frozen, another Disney production, in March 2014.[15] Toy Story 3 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 2, 2010.
Toy Story 4 (2019)[]
Main article: Toy Story 4
On November 6, 2014, Toy Story 4 was officially announced by Disney during an investors' call, with a provisional release date of June 16, 2017.[1] The film was to be directed by John Lasseter and produced by Galyn Susman, with a screenplay by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack from a story by Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Lee Unkrich.[17][18] Lasseter told Variety: "Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz's story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew, Pete, Lee and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie—and I wanted to direct it myself."[19] In March 2015, Pixar president Jim Morris stated that the film would be a stand-alone sequel rather than a continuation of the third film.[20][21] The same month, Variety revealed that Josh Cooley, the head of story on Pixar's Inside Out, would co-direct Toy Story 4.[22] Around the same time, Lasseter revealed that the fourth film had been such a closely held secret at Pixar that even Morris and Edwin Catmull (president of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, to whom Morris reports) did not know it was being discussed until Stanton had already finished a polished treatment.[23]
In August 2015, at the D23 Expo, Lasseter stated that the film would focus on the romance between Woody and Bo Peep,[24] building on Bo Peep's absence from Toy Story 3, with Woody and Buzz trying to find her and bring her home.[25] It was also announced that Randy Newman would return to compose the soundtrack.[24] The same month, Kristen Schaal confirmed that her character Trixie would return.[26] It was also announced that Don Rickles would reprise his role of Mr. Potato Head,[27] though on April 6, 2017, it was announced that he had died before he was able to record any lines for the film.[28][29] In November 2015, it was announced that Patricia Arquette had been added to the cast.[30]
In October 2015, Pixar announced that the release date had been pushed back to June 15, 2018[31] and in October 2016, Variety confirmed that the release date had been further delayed until June 21, 2019.[32] In July 2017, at the D23 Expo, Lasseter announced he had stepped down as director due to other commitments, but would stay on board as executive producer while Cooley would be upgraded to director and that Jonas Rivera would replace Galyn Susman as producer.[33][34] It was also confirmed that Bonnie Hunt would return as Dolly, Jodi Benson as Barbie, and Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head.[35][36][37]
On January 18, 2018, it was announced that the film would be written by Stephany Folsom, replacing the original writers, Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who withdrew from the project in November 2017.[38] On June 2, 2018, it was announced that the script had been rewritten after about three-quarters of it was written. As a result, the original script written by Jones and McCormack was scrapped.[39] It was also confirmed that Annie Potts will reprise her role as Bo Peep.[40]
On April 6, 2018, it was confirmed on the official Toy Story Facebook page that the film is still set for release on June 21, 2019 in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D.
Television Specials[]
Toy Story Treats[]
In 1996, Pixar created a series of shorts known as Toy Story Treats, which were used as interstitials on ABC Family and Disney's One Saturday Morning. They did not necessarily follow the continuity from Toy Story, taking place before, during and after the events of the first film. They were aired roughly around the time of Toy Story's release to home video.[42] These shorts also appeared as bonus features on both "The Ultimate Toy Box", and the "10th Anniversary Edition" DVD of the first film.
Television specials[]
Pixar has also developed two 22-minute Toy Story television specials.[43] The first, a Halloween-themed special, titled Toy Story of Terror!, aired on October 16, 2013, on ABC,[44] while the second, a Christmas-themed special titled Toy Story That Time Forgot, aired on December 2, 2014.[45]
Toy Story of Terror! (2013)[]
Main article: Toy Story of Terror!
A Halloween-themed 22-minute television special, titled Toy Story of Terror!,[46] aired on ABC on October 16, 2013.[46][47] It was directed by Angus MacLane, produced by Galyn Susman, with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, Timothy Dalton, and Kristen Schaal reprising their roles of Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, Mr. Pricklepants, and Trixie with Carl Weathers as Combat Carl and Stephen Tobolowsky as the motel manager.[47] Michael Giacchino composed the music for the special.[48] The film's soundtrack was released on October 15, 2013, on Amazon.com in digital format.[49]
The special follows the toys on their road trip when a flat tire leads Bonnie and her mother to spend the night in a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others begin to search for it, but they too are picked off one by one. The toys discover that they are being targeted by the hotel manager's pet iguana, Mr. Jones, who has been trained to steal the toys of his guests so that they can be sold via the Internet. The manager nearly succeeds in selling Woody and Jessie, but Jessie manages to escape—overcoming her old fear of being packed away in the process—and draw Bonnie's attention to the cabinet where the toys are being kept. As a result, Bonnie recovers her toys, and her mom calls in the police, who then presumably arrests the manager for theft.
Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014)[]
Main article: Toy Story That Time Forgot
A Christmas-themed 22-minute[45] television special, titled Toy Story That Time Forgot, aired on ABC on December 2, 2014.[45] It was written and directed by Steve Purcell, and produced by Galyn Susman. Michael Giacchino, who composed the music for the first special, returned.[45] Most of the regular cast reprised their roles, including Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz, Kristen Schaal as Trixie, Wallace Shawn as Rex, Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, and Joan Cusack as Jessie, with Kevin McKidd joining as a new character, Reptillus Maximus.[50] Taking place after a Christmas season, the toys find themselves lost in the world when a set of the coolest action figures turns out to be dangerously delusional. It is up to Trixie to help the toys to return to Bonnie's room.[50]
In 2011, Pixar started releasing short animated films to supplement the Toy Story films, called Toy Story Toons. The shorts pick up where Toy Story 3 has left off, with Woody, Buzz, and Andy's other toys finding a new home at Bonnie's. So far, three shorts have been released; Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry, and Partysaurus Rex. Another short,[51] titled Mythic Rock, was in development in 2013 but was never released.[52]
Toy Story Toons[]
Hawaiian Vacation[]
Main article: Hawaiian Vacation
Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation is a 2011 Pixar animated short directed by Gary Rydstrom. The short features characters from the Toy Story series and takes place after the events of Toy Story 3. It was released in theatres before Pixar's feature film Cars 2. In the short film, Ken and Barbie want to go to Hawaii with Bonnie's family, who had prior plans to vacation in Hawaii, but get left behind by mistakenly climbing into Bonnie's school bookbag instead of her luggage. Once in Bonnie's bedroom, Woody, Buzz and the other toys from the previous film attempt to console them by creating their own "Hawaiian vacation" for Barbie and Ken in Bonnie's bedroom.
Small Fry[]
Main article: Small Fry (film)
Toy Story Toons: Small Fry,[53] another Toy Story short, premiered before The Muppets.[54] This marks the second time a Pixar short has screened with a non-Pixar film, after Tokyo Mater screened with Bolt. Directed by Angus MacLane, the short involves Buzz getting trapped at a fast food restaurant at a support group for discarded toys, with a kids' meal toy version of Buzz taking his place.[53]
Partysaurus Rex[]
Main article: Partysaurus Rex
Toy Story Toons: Partysaurus Rex, the third of the series of animated shorts, was released with the theatrical 3D re-release of Finding Nemo. Directed by Mark Walsh with music composed by electronic artist BT, the short involves Rex getting left in the bathroom and making friends with bath toys.
Reception[]
| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget | Ref(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America |
Other territories |
Worldwide | All time North America |
All time worldwide | ||||
| Toy Story | November 22, 1995 | $191,796,233 | $181,757,800 | $373,554,033 | #182 #138(A) |
#276 | $30 million | [8] |
| Toy Story 2 | November 24, 1999 | $245,852,179 | $251,514,690 | $497,366,869 | #103 #114(A) |
#163 | $90 million | [12] |
| Toy Story / Toy Story 2 (Disney Digital 3-D) |
October 2, 2009 | $30,702,446 | $1,582,154 | $32,284,600 | #2,419 | [63][64][65] | ||
| Toy Story 3 | June 18, 2010 | $415,004,880 | $651,964,823 | $1,066,969,703 | #17 #94(A) |
#19 | $200 million | [66] |
| Toy Story 4 | June 21, 2019 | |||||||
| Total | $883,355,738 | $1,086,819,467 | $1,970,175,205 | #20 | #23 | $320 million | ||
Critical and Public Response[]
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toy Story | 100% (78 reviews)[2] | 95 (26 reviews)[71] | A[72] |
| Toy Story 2 | 100% (163 reviews)[3] | 88 (34 reviews)[73] | A+[72] |
| Toy Story 3 | 99% (294 reviews)[4] | 92 (39 reviews)[74] | A[72] |
| Toy Story 4 | |||
| Average | 100% | 92 | A |
Other Media[]
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command[]
Main article: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is a spin-off TV series. The series takes place in the far future. It features Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Patrick Warburton), a famous, experienced Space Ranger who takes a crew of rookies under his wing as he investigates criminal activity across the galaxy and attempts to bring down Evil Emperor Zurg once and for all. It aired on ABC from October 2, 2000 to January 13, 2001.
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)[]
Main article: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is a spin-off animated direct-to-video film, partially based on Toy Story. The film was released on August 8, 2000. It acts as a pilot to the television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and features Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz Lightyear, who is voiced by Patrick Warburton in the main series.[79] In this film, Buzz Lightyear is a space ranger who fights against the evil Emperor Zurg, showing the inspiration for the Buzz Lightyear toyline that exists in the Toy Story series. Although the film was criticized for not using the same animation as in Toy Story and Toy Story 2,[80] it sold three million VHS and DVDs in its first week of release.
Comic books[]
- A 4-issue limited series, Toy Story: Mysterious Stranger was published by Boom! Entertainment from May to August 2009. This was followed by an 8-issue ongoing series, starting with #0 in November 2009. Two Buzz Lightyear one-shots were released in 2010, for Free Comic Book Day and Halloween. A second 4-issue limited series, Toy Story: Toy Overboard was published by Boom! Entertainment from July to October 2010.
- A 4-issue limited series by Marvel Comics Toy Story: Tales from the Toy Chest was published from May to August 2012.
- Toy Story magazine was first released on 21 July 2010. Each edition was 24 pages in length, apart from the launch edition, which was 28 pages.
Video games[]
- Toy Story (1996) (Sega Genesis, Super NES, Microsoft Windows, and Game Boy)
- Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue (1999) (Dreamcast, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Microsoft Windows and Game Boy Color)
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000) (Game Boy Color, PlayStation, and Microsoft Windows)
- Toy Story 2: Woody Sousaku Daisakusen! (N/A) (Sega Pico) - released only in Japan
- Toy Story Racer (2001) (PlayStation and Game Boy Color)
- Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure (2003) (Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube)
- Toy Story Mania! (2009) (Wii, Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3)
- Toy Story 3: The Video Game (2010) (Microsoft Windows, OS X, iOS, Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS)
- Shooting Beena: Toy Story 3: Woody to Buzz no Daibōken! (2010) (Advanced Pico Beena) - released only in Japan
- Rush: A Disney-Pixar Adventure (2012) (Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows)[83]
- Toy Story: Smash It! (2013) (iOS and Android)
- Disney Infinity (2013) (Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo 3DS, Microsoft Windows, and iOS)[84]
- Kingdom Hearts III (2019) (PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
Pixar created original animations for the games, including fully animated sequences for PC titles.
Woody and Buzz Lightyear were originally going to appear in the Final Mix version of the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II. They were omitted from the final product, but their models appear in the game's coding, without textures. The director of the Kingdom Hearts series, Tetsuya Nomura, stated that he would like to include Pixar property in future Kingdom Hearts games, given Disney's purchase of Pixar.[85] A stage based on Toy Story will make its debut appearance in the series in Kingdom Hearts III, marking the first time that Pixar-based content appears in the series. The game will have an original story set in the Toy Story universe.
Merchandising and software[]
Toy Story had a large promotion before its release, leading to numerous tie-ins with the film including images on food packaging.[87] A variety of merchandise was released during the film's theatrical run and its initial VHS release including toys, clothing, and shoes, among other things.[88] When action figures for Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff Woody were created, they were initially ignored by retailers. However, after over 250,000 figures were sold for each character before the film's release, demand continued to expand, eventually reaching over 25 million units sold by 2007.[89] Also, Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story and Disney's Activity Center: Toy Story were released for Windows and Mac.[90] Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story was the best selling software title of 1996, selling over 500,000 copies.[91]