Essay on Toy Story: A Film That Transcends Time

One of the most successful film franchises of all time is Toy Story. Toy Story (1995), directed by John Lasseter, is about a cowboy doll named Woody (Tom Hanks) who becomes jealous of his owner’s new toy, a space toy, named Buzz (Tim Allen), and fears he will take his spot as the favorite toy. Toy Story was groundbreaking in so many ways not only because of the computer animation aspect but also because of how successful it was. This essay will be on the history, creation, and societal impact of the film Toy Story.

“On January 19, 1993, production begins on Toy Story, the first full-length feature film created by the pioneering Pixar Animation Studios” (Production Begins on ‘Toy Story’). The film took two years to make since the concept of a full-length CGI film had never been done before. They also did not want to lose the story amidst all the computer animation so they wanted “the conversations [to] bring the characters to life as much as the unprecedented curves and planes” (Zorthian). After a very long creation process, the movie hit theaters. The movie was a huge hit as, “[children] and adults flocked to theaters when Toy Story opened, making it the highest-selling film for three weeks in a row” (Zorthian). After the success of Toy Story the company, Pixar, went on to make three more Toy Story movies and short films based on its characters. 

Creating the first all-computer-animated movie was not an easy task for Pixar and they had a lot to do before Toy Story could be released. With any film, the first thing you have to do is come up with the story. All of the Pixar members, working on the film, brought in their favorite toys from childhood. The idea of Woody having a pull-string came from a Casper doll (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”). There were many different drafts and ideas for the film, including having the main characters be a ventriloquist dummy and Tin Toy, a character from another Pixar work (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”). The team at Pixar are great about their attention to detail when creating the movements for the green army men Supervising Animator Pete Docter said, “[he] got some old sneakers, [he] got a piece of plywood and [he] nailed the shoes down to the board and we tried walking” (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”). They also burnt the head of a doll with a magnifying glass to see how it should look when Sid does it to Woody in the film. After 3 years of storyboarding shot by shot, they were ready to begin the computer animations (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”).

Once they had decided on the storyboards they would have the voice actors record their lines so they could go ahead and see how the scenes would look (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”). To get the objects they needed in the film, such as Buzz’s box, the animators had to draw them out and then have the computer animators make the models on the computer. For the characters, they had to create a 3D model of them and use that to create the computer model. They used a 3D model so the computer animators could see how the characters are supposed to look from different angles (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”). Pixar did not want Toy Story to be a musical like other Disney films, so they decided to have Randy Newman do the songs over the scenes and the songs would be about what’s happening or how the characters are feeling (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”). Lastly, they put it all together and added lighting, shadows, and color, and made one of the most successful children’s movies of all time (“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes”).

Toy Story has been around for twenty-six years now and has touched the lives of many. Like many children’s movies, it has a moral to its story. The overall theme of Toy Story is friendship; hence, why the theme song of the film is called “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”. Every film in the Toy Story franchise has a deeper meaning to it but the complete story is about the friendship between the toys and the kids that play with them “[no] matter where the toys ended up…they knew they’d be okay because they’d have each other” (“What We Learned From Toy Story”). The theme of friendship is very important to society as it reminds people that it is okay to ask for help and people shouldn’t struggle in silence. Everybody needs somebody to lean on when they are down, even sentient toys. 

Toy Story is an incredible feel-good film that everyone should see. While it is a kid’s movie it is also very entertaining for adults which makes it great for families to bond over. There is a reason this franchise has been so successful over the past two decades. It is well cast and each movie looks better than the last as the computer animations get more advanced. Toy Story will make you laugh, smile, and cry at times. While the first movie doesn’t look great at times and isn’t as good as the rest it is still worth multiple watches. Toy Story is truly one of the greatest films ever made.

Work Cited

Toy Story. Directed by John Lasseter, performances by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, Pixar Animation Studios, 1995.

“Toy Story: Behind the Scenes” YouTube, uploaded by Extra Music Hours, 10 July 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCgaMI84qYo&t=230s.

“Production Begins on ‘Toy Story.’” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/production-begins-on-toy-story. 

“What We Learned From Toy Story.” Oh My Disney, 15 Apr. 2016, ohmy.disney.com/news/2013/03/23/what-we-learned-from-toy-story/. 

Zorthian, Julia. “Toy Story at 20: How the Pixar Film Changed Movie History.” Time, Time, 19 Nov. 2015, time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/.