Toy story (1995)
Description: A little boy named Andy loves to be in his room, playing with his toys, especially his doll named “Woody”. But, what do the toys do when Andy is not with them, they come to life. Woody believes that his life (as a toy) is good. However, he must worry about Andy’s family moving, and what Woody does not know is about Andy’s birthday party. Woody does not realize that Andy’s mother gave him an action figure known as Buzz Lightyear, who does not believe that he is a toy, and quickly becomes Andy’s new favorite toy. Woody, who is now consumed with jealousy, tries to get rid of Buzz. Then, both Woody and Buzz are now lost. They must find a way to get back to Andy before he moves without them, but they will have to pass through a ruthless toy killer, Sid Phillips.
Director: John Lasseter
Writers: John Lasseter (original story by), Pete Docter (original story by)
Stars: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles
Photos
Trivia
This was the first animated film in Oscar history to be nominated for a Best Screenplay Academy Award – Adapted or Original.
Sid Phillips is said to be inspired by a former Pixar employee of the same last name who was known to disassemble toys and use the parts to build bizarre creations.
Early scripts for the film featured a Barbie doll in a prominent role as Woody’s love interest. The original ending sequence, in which Buzz and Woody chase the moving truck, was scripted to have Barbie drive her Corvette off the truck and rescue Woody and Buzz from Sid’s dog, a-la Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Mattel, the company that owns the Barbie character, declined on the basis that they thought the film would be a failure and that they didn’t want Barbie to have a defined personality, preferring to let children imagine Barbie’s personality traits on their own. Thus, Barbie was dropped from the script, and her character was reworked into that of Bo-Peep. When the film proved a huge success, Mattel did allow Barbie to appear in Toy Story 2 (1999).
Billy Crystal was originally offered the chance to voice Buzz Lightyear, but declined. After seeing the finished film, he said the decision was the biggest mistake of his career. Upon learning this, John Lasseter telephoned Billy’s house to offer him the role of Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc. (2001). Billy’s wife answered the telephone and said “John Lasseter wants to speak to you”. Billy took the telephone from his wife and said “Yes”.
The animation team perfected the movement of the toy soldiers by nailing a pair of sneakers to a sheet of wood and trying to walk around with them on.