Toy Story 3 said goodbye to the series’ original audience—and welcomed a new one
Image: Screenshot: Pixar Film Features The Pixar Moment
For a franchise that’s only offered four installments over the course of a quarter century, Toy Story feels awfully omnipresent in our popular culture. A lot of it has to do with simple quality: These are very good films, highlighting some of the best that Pixar’s community of artists, animators, and storytellers has to offer. (By Rotten Tomatoes score, Toy Story ranks as the most critically acclaimed franchise ever.) Each entry can stand on its own, but taken together, they form an affecting bond between audience and characters that’s carried over between movies and over the years. But the widespread affection these films inspire also has to do with their subject matter. They’re stories about the things we choose to love, why we choose them, and what it means to care about something that might seem disposable to everyone else. In other words, the Toy Story films are about loving something as much as kids love Toy Story.
By the time Toy Story 3 rolled around, the series already felt like both a well-established brick in the firmament of American children’s entertainment and a slightly long-in-the-tooth property. After all, it had been more than a decade since Toy Story 2, with production on the third film the victim of a years-long power struggle between Pixar and Disney, the latter of which owned the rights to the characters (and even forged ahead on part three without Pixar’s involvement for a while). The original audience for the films had grown up—and presumably moved on to more adult interests, making it uncertain whether a new generation of kids would cotton to the ongoing adventures of Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the gang. So after Disney bought Pixar outright in 2006, original Toy Story creatives John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Lee Unkrich (the last of whom directed Toy Story 3) returned to the cabin retreat where they had developed the concept for the original, and over the course of a weekend, hammered out the idea for the new film. The results spoke directly to not only the situation of toys confronting their possible obsolescence but also the concerns of artists revisiting their creations a decade later and fearing they no longer had a relevant place in the world.
Toy Story 3 follows Woody (Tom Hanks) and the rest of Andy’s toys as they grapple with the fact that their owner has outgrown them. He’s an 18-year-old headed off to college, and after their years of loyalty and love, they’re rewarded with a retirement of sorts: being stored in the attic. But Andy’s mother confuses the bag of toys for trash, and, thinking they’ve been thrown out (and mistakenly believing Andy was the one who discarded them), our protagonists climb into a box bound for a nearby daycare facility. There, they soon learn that the dream of endless children to play with them has become a nightmare, with the entire toy population ruled over by an authoritarian teddy bear, Lotso (Ned Beatty), who has turned it into his personal fiefdom. After a struggle to escape that sees them nearly incinerated, the toys make their way back to Andy, who finds a note Woody has written, asking the playthings to be donated to Bonnie, a local child from the daycare. In the final minutes, Andy gives all his toys—his beloved Woody included—to Bonnie, realizing it’s better for a new child to get the chance to love them as much as he did.
In that closing scene, the theme of Toy Story 3—and arguably the franchise as a whole—snaps into focus. These are toys that have spent a life with a child and have watched him grow up, but now, as is proper and inevitable, he is putting away childish things. So what’s their ultimate purpose? Is it to be enjoyed, then placed in a box and pulled out periodically for a hit of nostalgia? Just as Toy Story 2 argued against the idea of toys as untouchable collectibles, Toy Story 3 raises the broader question of when it’s time to really let go. Because by 2010, the original Toy Story audience was moving on and growing up—and so the film, just like Andy, realizes it has to look to a new generation.
This being a Pixar movie, the message is as much for the adults as their children. In an interview, Unkrich and screenwriter Michael Arndt discussed the emotional impact of the ending, how the feeling of wanting to be acknowledged and cared for is universal. “I think that’s part of why people feel so much emotion in that last scene, is that we’ve created a moment where the toys are appreciated,” said Unkrich. “They are loved, against all odds, and they are able to have that glorious feeling one last time. And I think it speaks to something deeply in a lot of people in the audience at different points in their lives.” Playing with his toys for a final time, Andy acknowledges their value to him, even if he doesn’t connect to them like he used to and he bequeaths them to someone new.
That coming to grips with the passing of time—and trying to deal with things ending—looms over the whole film. (It’s also there in another scene we almost chose for this entry: the toys facing the incinerator, in the climax, silently joining hands and accepting their fate with quiet dignity.) Toy Story 3 argues that we need to accept how things change, to not hold on to what we’ve outgrown (be it a cherished toy or a beloved childhood movie) but instead pass it on to the next group of kids who can love it just as much, if not more, than we did. And counterintuitively, in that passing, we can see our favorite things through new eyes. Witnessing that is a thrill in itself, arguably even richer and deeper than the one that first sparked in us as kids. Can children’s entertainment justify itself any more powerfully than that?
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I still cry every time the scene of Andy giving the toys to Bonnie comes on. The kids watch all four of these movies a lot, so I have got to where I just leave the room before it comes on now. I can’t handle it.
There were so many good things in this movie (DISCLAIMER: I have not yet seen Toy Story 4 to know if some of this is undone), and so many good Easter Eggs (Sid!)… the notions of growing up, moving on, but still experiencing joy and producing joy for the next generation, and — of course — understanding mortality.I was sobbing in the theater for this scene:
It’s a hell of a scene. All logic and reason tells you that Pixar is not going to go all Steadfast Tin Soldier for the ending, but the emotional wallop knocks logic and reason out the door.
Because it doesn’t matter if we believe they’re about to die, it matters that they believe it. Still an affecting scene after watching it a half dozen times.
It (seems like it) goes on for so long that you come around to the idea that it’s actually going to happen. It’s crazy.
I would never think they would, but they got me. Those little toys tried, they failed, and there literally seemed to be no way out of this. THAT is how you get an audience to buy in on impending death.
Also, note it is a throwback to the first scene when Andy is playing with them. All the toys join hands at the climax when Mister Evil Doctor Pork Chop is going to blast them, before Mom and Molly ruin playtime. Again.
Toy Story 4 doesn’t undo anything from Toy Story 3. It’s essentially about Woody as an empty nester and what it means when your kids have moved on after you’ve defined your whole life by them.
The incinerator scene. Jesus. There were small children in that theater that are probably still in therapy. Even after they were rescued and every one is ok, there was crying and whining for a while. My kid handled it alright, but I saw one woman take her sobbing son out and I don’t remember them coming back. I’m just saying maybe a PG instead of a G might have been appropriate. And then the G-rated Cars 2 came out the next year with it’s scenes of torture and out-right murder. I don’t think a PG instead of a G would have kept any of those parents from bringing their kids to those movies, it certainly wouldn’t have with me, but we might have been a little better prepared for the trauma.
The look of resignation between Woody and Buzz as they take each others hands is better acting by CGI toys than most humans could hope to achieve in their lifetimes. It’s literally one of the most harrowing things I’ve ever seen in a film.
All of the disney movies of the past say “welcome to the club” If you think any of that stuff was new, go back and watch just how dark some of the older movies were.
Hunchback of Notre Dame says hello.
The Sleeping Beauty dragon was …is…terrifying.
It’s not that this scene is dark, it’s that it’s dark in a way that feels really different.In some of the dark scenes in past Disney films, the scenes hit differently emotionally. Look at Mufasa’s death: he’s struggling to survive right until Scar throws him off that ledge. He goes down trying to defy the inevitable. The dominant emotion is desperation.
Compare that to TS3’s incinerator scene. The dominant emotion here is resignation. The toys have tried everything to escape, and nothing has worked. There’s nothing left they can do but accept the inevitable fact that they’re about to die (yes, they get saved in the end, but only because of help from a third party whose presence they weren’t aware of. As far as they knew in the moment, nothing could save them.) And then they do something I’ve never seen a character do in an animated film: they accept death. They decide to use those last moments to just take comfort in the fact that they’re not going to die alone.
It’s not that it’s darker than moments in other Disney films. It’s that it hits differently.
ahem.
Oh damn, well done. The Toy Story franchise owes so much to the Brave Little Toaster.
(Plus, it only now occurs to me that unlike in Toy Story, all these characters actually straight-up die in front of us.)
they way that indian reservation car drives itself onto the conveyor belt instead of letting the magnet crane lift it there … damn.
We re-watched A Goofy Movie a couple weeks ago, and I realize that it skews towards a slightly older audience, but the entire premise of the movie is that Goofy takes Max on the fishing trip because the principal of Max’s school warned that he was going to get the electric chair. WTF!
Jeez. Everybody knows that the execution method in Max’s state is lethal injection!
I’ve long said the incinerator scene in TS3 could be used as a Voight-Kampf test.What’s really impressive is how they resolve it with what’s essentially a fifteen year old brick joke
alien ex machina
Big Baby on the swing was also hilarious/terrifying.This should have been the final Toy Story.
Yeah, I’ve loved Pixar movies pretty much top to bottom (haven’t seen Cars 2 or 3, though) since Toy Story, and I am pretty sure the incinerator scene is the first and only time they’ve actually made me whisper “holy shit” to myself. That moment where they give up and resign themselves to face death together truly shocked me (in a good way).
I saw this in the theater and when they all grabbed hands in the incinerator I literally whispered out loud “Holy shit, they’re going to die here.”
I actually began to wonder if the movie makers were actually going to kill them off because it looked for a second that they were
“Kids have to learn about being burned alive in an industrial incinerator some time.”
Same. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The whole sequence just went forward, too, so I didn’t even fathom there would be any deus ex machina.
And then! Emotionally manipulative, but very effective.
Not to take away from any of that, but I watched Nazis get their faces melted off, have their heads exploded, and get their eyes burned out by ghosts at age 8. The movie I saw that happen in is now my favorite of all time. Those kids will most likely be fine.
Hey, twins!! I was 8 when Raiders opened, too! Saw it 4 times at the theater, but only saw the faces melt once. The part that really freaked me out though was the mummies ‘attacking’ Marion in the Well of Souls.
Oh man, you and me both. The face-melting and Belloq’s head exploding were tame compared to all of the jump-scare moldering-corpse shots in the Well of Souls. What I don’t get (as an adult) is how any of those corpses would have had anything left but bones after so much time down there, but in the moment I pissed myself from fright. I’m almost 50 and I still can’t watch that part without having my hands near my face.
Oh, not even bones! That’s what annoys me about the Fallout games, set hundreds of years after a nuclear war. There wouldn’t be all these skeletons lying around! I get the packaged food still being edible — it is a play on the old belief (not actually true) that processed food like Twinkies have infinite shelf life, but not the bones.
Hell yes! So many wonderful moments to hide my eyes from at first, and then slooooowly start to be brave enough to watch without any hesitation.
Yes, but those are Nazis, it’s awesome to watch them die, and the hero is clearly being spared as all this goes on. The incinerator scene is about the fiery death of the heroes and, as other have said, the resignation and acceptance of this. (And it’s filmed in a different manner than the more cartoonish destruction of earlier in the movie, where Woody and the gang get the shit kicked out of them but not in any permanent way.) It’s pushing different buttons than Raiders.
Not really my point, though. My point is that kids watching this will most likely be fine. The payoff and their rescue was so immediate and grandiose that any trauma will most likely have been washed away by the end of the film, especially with how sweet that ending is.It’s rough, yes, but it’s resolved almost immediately.
I can’t believe your parents let you watch My Dinner with Andre when you were 8 years old.
I can’t believe you confused My Dinner With Andre with that lost episode of Sesame Street no one talks about anymore.
Yeah! It would totally put a kid off “The Little Prince” as Andre thinks it is Fascist (which I’m not sure was meant as a serious criticism given that I’m sure the real Andre Gregory knows that the author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry died flying for the Free French forces.)
Same. Great fucking movie. High five, buddy!
I said this on the Toy Story entry but, as I was on holiday, it took me a while to see Toy Story 3, by which time I’d heard about how upsetting the ending was (to the point that the BBC was reporting on how grown men were breaking down in cinemas over it). So when I finally saw it and it got to the furnace bit I really thought “Fucking hell, this is how it ends?!”
That scene makes me sob. Just thinking about it makes me sad. Their quiet dignity to all hold hands and face the end together… (I might be a little emotional today)
Also, the sudden break in You’ve Got a Friend in Me at the start. That out a lump in my throat about five minutes in.
I first saw “Frosty the Snowman” on television when I was a kid, and when the scene came where he melted in the greenhouse I fled, sobbing, to my bedroom and refused to come out. I was inconsolable. Eventually I saw the rest of the program and we laugh about it now. Kids are resilient.Now, when I saw “Jaws” at the age of ten … hoo, boy. I’m still not over that one.
it would have been hilarious if they did decide to end it on that scene. The fact that its Disney though is a spoiler alert in itself so no tears from me.
This movie is just intense and not just the final ten minutes. You also have the opening sequence where you see that the toys have been abandoned while most of them sold off as well as the cartoon brutality of the toys at the day care. There is a LOT to this movie. Or as they said way back when, this movie has a lot of feels to it. Just a master class in story telling and character work from a friggin’ cartoon studio and not some studio movie with live actors.I read somewhere that the end sequences during the credits, which are delightful, were added to the movie because they felt the audience needed something funny to lighten everyone’s mood after the whole sequence with Andy and Bonnie
I saw a couple parents take sobbing kids out of Frozen 2 when Olaf (temporarily but little kids dont realize it) melted away.
Not since Magic Journeys has Disney produced something so traumatizing to young children.
Toy Story 3 is 10-years old. Jesus.
Speaking of scenes that emotionally disembowel me…
So Andy is 28 now and might have kids of his own now and wishes he hadn’t given away his best toys to some random preschooler. Although Bonnie is only a bit older than she was in 3, so I guess they aren’t aging them in real time.
I think Toy Story 4 is set about a year after Toy Story 3. Bonnie’s in daycare there (and it’s the start of the academic year if Andy’s off to college) and starting kindergarten in 4.
Well, that much was apparent in 2, which came out 5 years later, but in-universe only around a year had passed.
I can only remember crying in the movie theaters twice.Once, when I was six and Buzz tried to fly, fell, and broke his arm.Then again, when I was 21 watching Andy give away his toys.
That last paragraph really put it in focus. Toy Story 3 is an instructional film for adult Star Wars fans.
One of the most pathetic reviews of this movie I read was by Harry Knowles who was horrified that the kid had to give up his toys when he grew up.
It was pathetic. I used to love the edgelordiness of AICN (too long probably), and this was probably the final nail. I was not surprised by the stuff that came out later.
Going back and reading some of his ‘reviews’ knowing what we know about him now is more than a little disturbing.
Its okay. Harry has all of his childhood toys, plus all of yours now.He sleeps on them like an ancient Gold dragon guarding his hoard.
“My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!” “Yeah, no kidding on the last one Harry. Ever heard of Listerine?”
He was just sad that none of the women in it got groped.
Harry Knowles, typing his review: “Oh, wow, what was that weird feeling I just had. It almost felt like … self-awareness? Was that it? No, I must just be imagining things. Back to the word processor!”
Would it be also instructive to George Lucas. Time to put those things of your youth away and stop adding things like Mr. MacClunkey or whatever the hell he recently added to the original film.
Exactly why I showed my kids the SW movies starting with Episode 1: to not only let them experience it on their own without any biases, but so that I could see how they experience it without said biases.
I’ve had that debate with myself. I enjoy watching the original movies more than the prequels or sequels, so I’ll probably start there with my son. He also wants to see Chewbacca, so Ep 1 would be disappointing. But I’m sure when we get around to Attack of the Clones he’ll love it.
I have a pretty hearty nostalgia streak, and this scene about tore me up. I know people point to the When She Loved Me scene from TSII as the emotional high point, but to me this is the peak. No freaking way I’m watching it now. I have three children and you can bet every single toy they no longer want (which is most of them at this point) goes directly to another kid or to Goodwill.
I am so glad you picked this scene. I actually missed Toy Story 3 when it was in theatres, for some reason, and never managed to see it until very recently, so I already knew about the incinerator scene. So I didn’t really feel anything during that, except a bit of admiration for the sheer audacity of it. But then this scene came with a gut punch and I bawled my eyes out. So perfect and poignant, and coming after the funniest, IMHO, of the Toy Story movies. Mr. Tortilla Head nearly broke me.
I must say that I saw the movie in theaters and the incinerator scene surprised me for the audacity of it, but I never doubted they would survive somehow. C’mon, these are the protagonists of Pixar’s flagship franchise!But when Andy gave them away? Yeah, I lost it. Utterly and completely lost it, specially when he describes Buzz and Woody. Pixar could easily keep churning out sequels without Andy growing up (and knowing the studio, they could’ve been still good), but ackowledging the passage of time and the need to move on? Yeah, that’s truly amazing, and the reason why I felt Toy Story 4 so… disrespectful? Sort of a cash grab even if it’s good?
Yes! Last five minutes of TS3 turns me into a blubbering wreck every damn time. Artistically it was the perfect end to the trilogy but the Mouse House will wring every last cent out of it with sequels
OMG between Mr. Tortilla Head and Spanish Buzz, I think I pissed off at least five people sitting around me for laughing so damn loud. I nearly had to leave the theater for a few minutes to get myself to stop. I’m looking at pictures of him right now on Google Images and laughing.
The bit in the garbage truck where Spanish Buzz saves Jesse from the falling trash is about the greatest thing, ever. That look Buzz shoots at Jesse as he carries her to safety is perfect.
¡El Vaquero!
Definitely the funniest of the three. Michael Keaton’s Ken doll being more superficial than even Barbie was comedy gold.
That was Michael Keaton????
The best thing is, that’s actually how Mr. Potato Heads started out, just a bunch of facial features to stick on real food. Then people got worried about that food going to waste, so they provided a body too.
And back in the day, a “barrel of monkeys” was literally that. They shat all over and sometimes bit children, so they finally went with the linked plastic versions of today.
And that’s why kids these days are so soft! In my day, you either survived the monkey bites stronger and braver, or the Chattering Death took your weak DNA out of the gene pool.
“The orphans!”
Andy’s got a fuckload of toys.
The moment where Bonnie takes Woody’s hand and waves back – that small sharp intake of breath that Andy does is so many emotions wrapped into one tiny moment.
Now try to imagine Andy catching up with Bonnie after coming back from college. “Oh, that cowboy doll? I threw him in the back of the closet, and then I lost him on a road trip. But look at this thing I made from a spork!”
“Your beloved cowboy toy might be lost forever, but my spork sounds a bit like Buster Bluth!”
If Andy is periodically checking up on his old toys that he gave away to a little girl, then he’s a freak who deserves to be escorted, sobbing and shrieking, from his neighbor’s house by the police.
Pixar’s magnum opus, or at least, the end one of the most amazing four film runs in any studio’s history? To me, they’ve only managed one truly great film since (Inside Out).
Oof. That was another one that had me bawling me eyes out. My daughter and her two friend sat somewhere else in the theatre because they knew I would cry. When I found them after the movie, they were all hugging and crying.
I’m really looking forward to this feature reaching Inside Out. It was one of the last movies my wife and I saw in the theater before our son was born, and it was one of the first movie our son wanted to watch over and over and over again. Up gets all the credit for its heartrending opening scene, but Inside Out’s opening montage of Riley growing from a baby to a tween makes me cry every. Damn. Time.
Ah. To be a parent is to cry. Every. Damn. Time. Every movie. Every song. Everything. You look away for an instant, and they are grown. Best of luck on your journey.
This and Inside Out seem specifically written to gut parents. My oldest was only 4 when this came out, and it filled my wife with all kinds of anxiety about him going off to college.Then Inside Out comes after our daughter is born, who’s favorite lovey is this elephant’s head-on-a-blanket thing that weirds me out, but is her favorite to this very day at the ripe old age of 8, so when the elephant-esque Bing Bong fades from Riley’s memory, ugh, I’m about to lose it just typing this…
What was amazing about Toy Story 4? If anything, it undoes the good will of the perfect trilogy’s ending.
The year this came out I watched it with my daughter. I turned to her in tears at the end and said, only half joking, “you’re never leaving home”. This year she graduated from high school (such as it is during a pandemic), and she has already left for a summer job at her college. She suggested we watch the movie the night before she left, but then said nah, she wouldn’t do that to me. Just seeing the still moves me to tears.
I love Sid, I love Al, and I love Gabby Gabby, but Lotso is easily the best villain of these movies. Ned Beatty makes him genuinely loathsome and terrifying, and with a tragic backstory, to boot. The scenes after hours with his gang plotting and taking stock of everything are some of my favorites of this film. I love his henchmen, I love the sickeningly sweet Southern gentleman personality that Beatty gives him, I love how he gets around the preschool in the back of the dump truck, I love his comeuppance, all of it. This movie is a masterpiece. It’s the best of the four by a very wide margin. Another in my top three of the Pixar library – Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, and The Incredibles.
“Where’s your kid now, Sheriff??” is one of the cruellest villain lines ever.
There’s some real damage to Lotso, and the fact that Big Baby is still with him looking so horrific is so much darker than I ever thought any of these movies would go.
Between this and Rango Ned Beatty’s voice is going to be in the back of a lot of kids’ minds as The Bad Guy.
I’m still reeling from the potential realization of Otisberg.
People tend to always rank Syndrome as Pixar’s best villain, and he’s absolutely a contender, but for my money Lotso is the one to beat. It’s not just that he’s cruel and manipulative, it’s that you can easily see HOW he controls so many toys. He’s so good at convincing people that he’s the good guy, that it always feels like he’s a few platitudes away from getting the audience to fall for it, too, even after we find out the truth about him. That’s damn scary.
Well put, and stinking of far too many levels of our current reality than I care to name. And that stink ain’t strawberry.
Also, he’s an adorable stuffed teddy bear! How can you be that evil if you’re that adorable?
It’s also that his plight is so empathetic and tragic. His experience of being so easily replaced is super traumatizing. He’s not excused for his evil behavior after it, but what happened to him is understandably devastating from his perspective.
That’s true. Lotso’s backstory is just as sad as Jessie’s “when she loved me” sequence in TS 2. The difference is that Lotso let it turn him bitter and manipulative.
I posted this already in one of these threads (maybe for the TS 1 article), but the Toy Story universe is all kinds of fucked up psychologically for the toys if you think about it a little, especially when the traumatizing stuff is actually not even subtext as to what motivates these characters. It’s sort of strange for them to have pretty recognizable human personality characteristics/emotions/dreams/desires and then situate them as to being so emotionally dependent on completely (and rightfully!) oblivious children who treat them as inanimate objects.
Beatty is just PERFECT casting, the folksy twang in his voice just disarms you before the heel turn comes.
Yup! I remember not believing he was the villain until it became well apparent that he was.
I really thought Ken was going to be the villain.
Best dressed villain ever.
Beatty’s vocal performance is really good. Didn’t even recognize it was him.
I’d put Stinky Pete as the villain of TS2. Al is a sleazebag and thief, but really more of an obstacle than out and out villain. Lotso and Stinky Pete have some superficial similarities that used to make me think Lotso was a bit uninspired, but now I realise he’s maybe the best villain in Pixar aside from maybe the genuinely scary Waternoose from Monsters Inc
Yeah, Stinky Pete is probably more accurate. Al is just who came to mind first.
its a tight, short movie and he’s only really the villain for like the last 15 minutes so I barely remember to think of him that way either tbh.
Why is it I only enjoy Kelsey Grammar performances when it’s a voiceover?
I’d say its cause seeing his face reminds you of his personality but his voice is probably more distinctive
Kind of a rhetorical question.
I was very heavily disappointed by Toy Story 2, and I’m not a huge Pixar guy overall, so I wasn’t expecting much from Toy Story 3.Holy fuck was I wrong.I adore almost everything about Toy Story 3, especially the entire final act. That final scene where Andy gives his old toys to Bonnie makes me cry every time. My favorite Pixar movie so far.
Oh, damn, I never heard of anyone disliking TS2 before. Why it did dissapoint you? Genuinely curious.
It felt like it was retreading a lot of old ground and while I do like Jesse and Bullseye, most of the scenes with Woody in Al’s room just didn’t hit with me. The stuff in the mall could have been great, but then it gets sidetracked by another Buzz who also doesn’t think he’s a toy, which made me groan a lot. Another thing is that it split up Woody and Buzz for most of the movie. The two of them play so well off each other that when they’re separated, the story dips in quality. Same thing with Toy Story 4. Yes, they were separated in 3 as well, but it was only for a couple scenes, not most of the movie.
It felt like it was retreading a lot of old ground
This was my problem with TS3 to be honest. Lotso felt like a retread of sorts of the Prospector, where the villain of sorts was a unloved or abandoned toy that found love in broad appreciation (a museum or daycare) and wanted everyone to support that system because it threatened their benefits.Admittedly this is minor in the grand scheme of things, but it’s why I’d put TS3 as being very slightly lesser than the other two.
I think these are fair criticisms. I like Toy Story 2, but I feel like I can see it’s straight-to-video skeleton, and I also thought there were too many pop culture references (the Darth Vader quotes in particular stand out).
As far as splitting up Buzz and Woody, I’d go so far as to say I consider Toy Story a dual-lead movie (Buzz was even the more prominent figure on posters and DVDs back then). Along the way, Woody got the spotlight and Buzz was knocked down a peg. This was a bummer because I also like them better together. Naturally my favorite Toy Stories are the one where they are.
I wouldn’t say I dislike Toy Story 2, but it’s my least favourite of the lot, and I’ve always been a little underwhelmed by it. Yes, yes, “When She Loved Me”, but that’s one scene. Chiefly, I never found most of the humour in it all that funny. I sort of feel like, although I suspect people might tell me otherwise, the humour in the film felt more unique if you hadn’t been keeping up with animation on TV, particularly kids’ animation? I remember a lot of excitement over the Empire Strikes Back echo in the Buzz/Zurg scene, and it’s easy to say “oh, a Star Wars reference, that’s special” in 2021, but even at the time I’d already seen the same gag in Dexter’s Lab, Family Guy (big shock!) and I’m sure much else.
Overall, Pixar’s first eleven films are surely one of the greatest runs the movies have ever had, and Toy Story 3 is a fitting conclusion to that era. What other studio or director has come close to making that many good to great films in a row? Disney? Kubrick? Spielberg?I can’t deny that Cars 2 is a turning point for the studio in terms of consistency, but they’re still capable of knocking it out of the park at their best.
I would say, post-Toy Story 3, Pixar’s average is good-to-very good, whereas up until that point, every film except Cars (still a pretty good film in my book) was nearly perfect. I think since then, they’ve really only hit the same heights with Inside Out.
Coco is pretty amazing too.
And Coco. Though I have a lot of time for their other work (and think both Toy Story 4 and Incredibles 2 are great), Inside Out and Coco are the only times they’ve hit their first 15 years heights in the last decade.
Coco is arguably one of the best films ever made, so …
Tarantino?
His Cars movie really took the franchise to a dark place.
Once Upon a Time in Radiator Springs
I was a bit creeped out by all the long, loving close ups of tires.
Well, if we’re looking at the whole of cinema, it’s often felt that Ozu never made a bad film. Possibly Fassbinder, too. I’d also nominate Bergman’s run from The Seventh Seal in 1957 on through The Passion of Anna in 1969. That’s an unimpeachable stretch of films.
I’d call home-runs on: all of Kubrick’s movies from Killer’s Kiss to Full Metal Jacket (sorry, Eyes Wide Shut fans); Powell & Pressburger; Woody from Sleeper to Radio Days; and the Russos have four in a row too. But yeah, Pixar are up there with the 40’s/50’s MGM musical department.
I am generally skeptical of how worked-out Pixar’s stories can be, but having the characters rescued by a deus ex machina, manned by the deus-ex-machina-worshipping characters from the first movie? That’s pretty damn good.Less good — it’s been a while, but doesn’t this movie imply a toy caste, with Woody, Buzz et al made for “real” playing as opposed to the violent bashings of the pre-school set? What about the toys made for 2- to -4-year-olds?
Maybe, but once I had a couple of 2- to- 4-year-olds myself, I got it completely, and they nailed it. Little kids destroy the absolute living shit out of their toys, even the ones they have and love at home.
Oh yeah, not questioning the accuracy of the destruction at all — just how it fits into movies’ the larger depiction of toys and which ones deserve “good” treatment.
Not quite. Lotso put the system into place upon his takeover of the daycare, where he forces the new toys/toys he doesn’t care about (he offers to have Buzz moved over after sneaking into the vending machine) to “pay their dues” by having to be subject to the kids who are more destructive with their playtime before they can be considered for the nicer playroom, if at all.
That’s what I mean, though — certain toys are given or denied favor because of Lotso’s system, but even Lotso wasn’t there destructive toddler would still need things to play with. Are toys meant for that life content in their abuse? Can they not hope for something else? And on the other hand, what makes Woody so special to disdain play he deems inferior? Suck it up and accept your lot, cowboy.
I feel like we’re two people discussing the concept of a caste system of toys super loudly in a Wendy’s, lmao (six feet apart, of course).That’s a good point pre-Lotso though. It’s hard to tell, but I think the most telling thing in the mythos is the toys that’re happy to be played with in the playground in TS4, but that might just be more of “I can play when I want,” but given how it was probably way easier to leave the daycare before, maybe toys could just walk out if they wanted. Who knows. Guess it depends on the leadership.They do make it pretty explicitly clear in the epilogue that toys now swap out like a tag team to spread out the load, at least.
Good point about the swapping at the end, which I had totally forgotten about. I think the movies recognize different concepts of “play” but can’t always integrate them into the conceit of sentient toys — there was a lot of conversation earlier in this regard about Sid in the first movie.
I mean, TS2 did show that Woody can be (fairly easily) torn and destroyed, much easier than his hard plastic brethren, so I don’t blame him for being a little hesitant to get involved in rough play.
Some toys unhappy with their life take solace in the mystic markings they sport — triangles with numbers in them. If the numbers are right for the community they are in, they can hope to live again as a better toy. If their karma is good enough, that is. Otherwise they may become a plastic bag or even fuel oil.
Ha! I like this a lot, actually.
characters rescued by a deus ex machina, manned by the deus-ex-machina-worshipping characters from the first movieHoly shit that never hit me until now.
The fact that this entry in the Pixar Moment series is about ANYTHING but Spanish Buzz is a mistake and a lie.El vaquero!
If I recall, this was one of the plot points from the original, scrapped, Fuck-You-Pixar-We’ll-Do-It-Ourselves script for Disney’s TS3. Maybe a bit different (I think it results in Buzz getting recalled, which kickstarts the adventure?) but either way it’s funny to see Pixar’s braintrust look at a plot point so wacky and think “actually yeah why not.”
Is there a link to a record of that somewhere? I hadn’t heard.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/133922/the-pixar-touch-by-david-a-price/This is a book that covers Pixar from Ed Catmul’s early days as an animator to the merger/Rataouille. It gets mentioned in there; the book probably is a little weird now that we’re now post-Lasseter, but I loved reading it.
Thanks!
The team at Pixar was not legally allowed to look at the Circle 7 script or anything that was created from it.
The Gipsy Kings’ version of You’ve Got a Friend in Me that closes the film is also pretty awesome.
I like to think that Spanish Buzz actually plays the Zorro-esque guitar music from his speaker in that scene.
He needs a bullwhip.
Potato Head being able to transfer his powers of ambulation to any object that will allow him to insert his plastic limbs. That was the start of what could have been some incredible body horror set pieces, and Pixar chose not to do it like cowards.
I really wish Salvador Dali could’ve seen that scene.
There’s a real Thesus’ Ship quality to this, right? How many limbs before the transfer is compete? Are there two Mr. INSERT OBJECT HERE Heads at any moment? Can Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head become each other?
Can Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head become each other?That’s how they do it. You don’t want to know any more.
There’s a weird line in Toy Story 3 where Mr. Potato Head tells Lotso “No-one takes my wife’s mouth except me!” that gives a glimpse into their own private playtime.
Forky from Toy Story 4 is the body horror icon of the franchise now. Although again, they stop short of really exploiting his unheimlich qualities.
The original draft had Mr Potato Head’s limbs inserted into Andy by the other toys, thus allowing MPH full control of the boy’s consciousness and ensuring the toys would never be replaced. But rewrites happened and the idea changed significantly.
I saw the first Toy Story the year I started college, and one of my huge, “Holy crap I’m old” moments in life was watching Toy Story 3 and realizing that, yeah, Andy would totally be ready for college if he aged in real-time.
To feel even older, consider that he’s graduated by now and probably even has kids of his own. There’s your Toy Story 5, Pixar. I’ll wait for my check.
I assumed that would be the premise of Toy Story 4. I bet they do it some day.
There are sad cries, happy cries, scared cries…This was an embarrassing cry for me. Seeing an early screening of Toy Story 3 (not knowing there would be regular reports that such a reaction by film’s end would be the norm), I was very much feeling it would be too humiliating to cry at this ending. I held it in. Choking back tears, I vowed I would NOT let it out unless someone else in this damn theater goes first.
*someone sniffs*
Oh, thank fuck! I weep. God, how I wept. And it was still embarassing because it was like that cough-crying shit that’s hard to get under control. And what does it, isn’t necessarily the giving away of the toys, though that’s a part of it. It’s this boy playing with this little girl he just met to make her happy. This college guy being a kid again one last time. They could have been flying a kite and it’s still so beautifully done.
I know a lot of the people are pointing to the incinerator scene as the big emotional one from this movie, but the first scene with the smash to black in the middle of the “You’ve Got A Friend In Me” is the first time I think I’ve gotten an “oh fuck this is gonna get HEAVY” feeling in a kids’ movie. Like, the opening montage of Up made me sad and is more emotional, but the beginning of TS3 left me with more of a sense of foreboding than a lot of non-animated-kids-comedy movies that are actually aiming for that.
For me it was Andy’s dog, still trying to play but now clearly old and tired. We had just put down a family dog, so that was a nice unexpected gut punch.
The people at Pixar Cry Laboratory really threw a lot of R&D into this.
I just watched TS3 with my small children and my old, lazy dog. So I had the same “oh shit I’m gonna cry at a cartoon today” feeling.
The Aliens taking control of a giant Mechanical Claw, the manifestation of their own God, and deciding for themselves “who will go and who will stay,” may be the most profound existential statement in all of Pixar.
In an alternate film universe, the scene ends with the aliens declaring that they are God now, and periodically we get glimpses of them wreaking havoc elsewhere in the TS world.
I was a little kid for the first movie, in junior high for the second, in college for the third.Needless to say, Andy departing with his toys at the end got me crying like Lloyd & Harry watching that Pac Bell commercial
I was a kid when the original Toy Story came out. My mom and I saw Toy Story 3 in theaters a few days before I moved out of my childhood home. We both wept profusely. I’ll never forget it.
I first watched this movie last month. I already knew TS4 existed. I already knew they were all gonna be fine.
The incinerator scene still scared the crap out of me.
Really enjoying this series. Keep it up, AV Club team.
Tomorrow’s headline: “Cars 2 sucks balls.”
Here it is. I, of course, sobbed in theaters during this scene. Then I sobbed watching it on tv randomly one night. Then I sobbed, when, after leaving the room on Thanksgiving before this scene, I heard my cousin yell from three rooms over, “He’s leaving the toys now!” No scene in any film or television show affects me the way this one does.
Oh. Is that headline how we’re justifying Toy Story 4, then? Because it was trash. “It wasn’t meant for you” doesn’t magically make it less trash.
The ending made me cry. A lot.
But another scene that got to me was Andy’s mom looking at the empty room. Just that sigh/gasp Laurie Metcalf gives…
Haven’t read the article but I have to say something about the headline. I was 13 when the first Toy Story was released – maybe a little past the target demo, but still close. I hated it when I saw it in the theatre at that point. When Toy Story 2 came out, I don’t remember having a much more positive reaction. It wasn’t until Toy Story 3 that I actually enjoyed the series. Toy Story 4 was also very good.
‘Toy Story’ 1 and 3 (haven’t seen 2 and 4) may be the most wonderfully crafted movies that I just can’t find it within me to love. Something about the main characters being toys leaves me cold; no matter how much personality the writers put into them, I still can’t get past seeing them as things. Maybe there’s something wrong with me.
Toy Story 3 is just so, so good, but I also think our opinions are skewed because of the four films in the series, it probably appeals the most to adults. Think about the experience for young kids: a gangster teddy bear using thugs and force to maintain power, replete with a terrifying baby doll; the toys almost burning up in a furnace…. Toy Story 3 is the darkest and weightiest of the series, but I think that makes it the best.
Still, whenever I ask my kids which one is their favorite, it’s usually 2 or 4.
At the time, I felt Toy Story 3 was easily Pixar’s greatest feat. It was a remarkable film that brought a focus to the entire series as a long meditation on loss, loneliness, and belonging. Andy effectively giving away his childhood to another kid is one of the most powerful moments in Pixar history.
And what won the Best Picture Oscar that year? The King’s Speech. I remain committed to my argument that The Social Network should have won, but boy would I have been happy to see Toy Story 3 take home the brass. (Also, 2010 was a strong year for Best Picture nominees.)
For me, the moment-within-the-moment and the point where I start crying is when Andy, just for a second, clings to Woody, silently saying “screw you kid, he’s mine!” He immediately realizes that it’s an inappropriate reaction, but it…well it takes him time, if only a second.
I guess this is a fairly unique series where when I say I think the first is still the best it might count as a hot take. I revisited the first three in the lead up to the fourth, and trying as hard as I can to leave aside what it means to me personally and its significance in the history of animation (by no means all good), I still think it’s such a tight, entertaining film with not a single second wasted, and just the right amount of bite to give the humour a distinctive kick without becoming mean. It’s supremely well crafted, but it has a playful quality that’s slightly refreshing compared to many of the (often excellent) Pixar films since, which sometimes feel as if any spontaneity has been drained out of them by untold hundreds of story meetings.
I’ve always found the second a *little* underwhelming. The third is great but doesn’t resonate with me as much as it did in the theatre. The fourth is nice but very slight. But nice.
When you think about it “Toy Story” was an OK name for a film, but a pretty bad name for a film series, or for that matter a multi-media franchise spanning multiple platforms and decades. But it’s worked, clearly.