Toy Story

1995

Directed by John Lasseter

Netflix says: Cowboy-toy Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) feels threatened when overblown space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) arrives with a suitcase full of bells and whistles. But both dolls are lost when the family moves–and finding their way home is only half the adventure. Director John Lasseter won a special Academy Award for this groundbreaking, computer-animated film that also earned Oscar nods for its music and screenplay.

• I’m pretty sure this is the first movie on my list that’s also on the AFI list.
• I do rank it slightly higher than the American Film Institute. They have it at #99.
• It’s crazy. After just seeing Incredibles 2 a couple weeks ago, going back and seeing Pixar’s first feature makes it incredibly obvious how much technology has evolved in the last 23 years.
• It’s crazier. To think that Toy Story is 23 years old.
• I was a sophomore in high school.
• Yeah… I’m old.
• I may have mentioned this back when I reviewed it for the AFI list, but there is a lot of adult humor in this movie. It’s well disguised, but there are clearly a lot of jokes that are aimed strictly at adults.
• “Bed sheets? Who invited that kid?” – Mr. Potato Head
• Has anyone ever played the “Andy’s Coming” game? It’s where one person yells “Andy’s coming!” and then everyone drops right where they are and becomes inanimate.*
• The more I watch this movie, the more I begin to believe that, while not an actual villain, Woody is the antagonist of the story.
• I’m sure you could make an argument to sway that belief. But he sure does a lot to antagonize the new toy in the room.
• It’s pretty understandable. The status quo has been upset. Everyone, including Andy, is enamored by the novelty of a new, more advanced toy in Buzz Lightyear.
• It doesn’t help that Potato Head is being all Don Rickles about the situation.
• But the scheme where Buzz got knocked out the window was fairly diabolical.
• No, Woody didn’t mean for Buzz to go out the window. He meant for Buzz to fall behind the desk and get stuck for a while. But it’s still pretty dark for the guy who’s supposed to be the hero of the story.
• And when Buzz turns up safe and sound? Woody’s not relieved that Buzz is safe. He’s relieved that he’s safe. Now Andy’s toy is back and the rest of the toys in Andy’s room won’t hate him anymore.
• If there’s a villain in Toy Story, it’s definitely Sid. As horrible as Woody’s actions are, they’re never actually meant to harm Buzz. But Sid is a sociopath just waiting to happen.
• I’m sure the incident of seeing all of his mutilated toys come to life and having Woody tell him to play nice will eventually be understood as the moment that Sid had a psychotic break, sending him on a murder spree that spans several states.
• Actually, knowing how all the Pixar films are allegedly connected, I’m sure Sid shows up somewhere and has his own developed backstory in the minds of a lot of fans.
• For me to automatically turn him into a psychotic killer probably isn’t fair.
• A likely outcome… but not entirely fair.
• It’s kind of heartbreaking in that moment when Buzz finally realizes that he’s not really a space ranger.
• But maybe that’s a taste of what Woody was feeling when Buzz was first introduced to Andy’s room. You have this belief about yourself and your place in the world, and suddenly it’s all just taken away.
• We can learn a lot from these toys. Inevitably, our world is going to change around us and what we thought was true just isn’t anymore. It’s how we react to the existential crises that show us who we really are.
• Woody lashes out. Buzz temporarily loses his mind. But eventually, they work through it all and everything’s fine.
• Not that life is always with the happy ending, but you get what I’m saying. Life is what we make of it, and our attitude plays a huge part.
• If you haven’t seen Toy Story in the last 23 years, I don’t know what’s stopping you at this point. It’s pretty awesome.

*I meant to throw in a video of people doing the “Andy’s Coming” challenge, but I couldn’t find one that I really liked. You can find plenty on the YouTube, though!