Toy Story Reviews – Films 1-2

Forget all the soulless AI slop that plagues the internet now. If you want impressive computer animation that has true love and extensive creativity put into it by supremely talented and hard working people, I defy you to do better than the Toy Story films. It’s been over 30 years since the first one warmed our hearts with its stunning visuals, wonderful characters, entertaining storyline, great humour and uplifting music. It achieved that magical balance of appealing to both children and adults alike, and it still holds up as a masterpiece today.

The sequels have proven to be very good as well, and this year we’ve had the 5th instalment in the franchise. I’ve recently bought the Blu-ray for it, despite having never watched it before, purely on the strength of liking the previous films and reading the rave reviews for this new outing. It’s very rare that I buy a sequel I’ve never seen unless there’s very good reason, but that’s how much confidence I have that it will be up to a sufficient standard. I hope I’m right!

So as I’ve got plenty of time to do so, and as it feels like we’ve reached a significant milestone with the franchise, I figured I would rewatch all of the previous films, and then try out the new one for the first time, as well as exploring all the soundtracks and extra features.

There’s so much to look through that it really is like diving into another world, and I’m delighted to see that all of the Blu-rays have audio description available for those who need it. Also note that I’m watching the 2D versions of the Blu-rays, as I don’t have the eyesight or a suitable player to watch the 3D editions. But that’s fine, as the standard versions look amazing anyway.

So let’s get into it all. In this post I’m going to focus on the first 2 films, then in the next part I’ll explore the rest. None of this is sponsored or gifted, I’m just a big fan, and I hope you enjoy looking through it all with me!

Statues of Jessie, Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story on Paignton Pier.

My Toys
Toy Story 1 – Movie / Music / Extras
Toy Story 2 – Movie / Music / Extras
Ultimate Toy Box

My Toys

The simple idea of toys coming to life is something that we’ve all dreamed about and wished for as children, so it’s no wonder it’s so captivating. As a child I had loads of cuddly animals and toy cars that inspired my imagination in that way.

Even now, as an adult in my 40s caring for my blind mother in her 80s, I still make good use of the two cuddly toys that we own to help me look after her. One is a large lion called Leo that I’ve had since childhood, and according to the label he was made in Wales many years ago by a company called Lefray. He’s still in pretty good condition as well. The other is a teddy bear called Freddie, because he wears a t-shirt with Freddie Mercury’s face on it, who was given to me by my girlfriend 8 years ago (can’t believe it’s that long!). The t-shirt is a bit faded now, but otherwise he’s also in very good nick.

Me sitting in a chair, with a cuddly toy lion sitting on the corner of the back of the chair and looking over my shoulder.

A large cuddly toy lion, wearing a red and white Santa hat and sticking its tongue out, is sat on a dining table. Sat on its back, looking over its shoulder, is a smiling teddy bear wearing a white t-shirt with the face of Freddie Mercury on it. Behind them on the wall are a large variety of colourful festive wall stickers. In the centre is a huge Christmas tree bedecked fully in colourful decorations including bells and baubles, while around the tree are snowflakes, bells, baubles, holly, birds and dogs.

In general, they sit with Mum during the day and watch over her when she sleeps at night, and it gives her some comfort to know that they’re there. They don’t replace me by any means, as she still gets very anxious if I’m not around. But because they both have great sentimental value to me, she treasures them as the special gifts that they are. They’re not just random toys I bought from somewhere, they have real meaning and are thus a reminder that I love her.

But in addition, I also make them act as if they’re alive when they give her strokes and cuddles, fetch little items that she’s asked for, kiss her goodnight, etc. She knows perfectly well that they’re not actually sentient beings, and she’s never been confused about that. But their interactions with her always make her laugh and give her great comfort, so I’ve taken full advantage of that fact.

My mother wearing a blue plaster cast on her lower right arm, while her other arm holds a teddy bear wearing a white Freddie Mercury t-shirt. A large cuddly toy lion with its tongue out sits on the arm of the chair next to the teddy bear.

My mother's arm after it's come out of the wrist cast, with dry, flaky skin and a bit of swelling around the knuckles. She has her smiling teddy bear on her lap, his arms spread wide as if in celebration that her cast has been removed, revealing his white t-shirt with the face of Freddie Mercury on it.

They also spend some time with me as well, especially when Mum’s upstairs showering and getting dressed first thing in the mornings. Giving them cuddles and talking to them has been of real comfort and help to me during the hardest times in my journey as a carer, because they’re adorable, loyal, friendly, non-judgemental listeners. So it’s good to sound off to them, and sometimes just chatting in that way has actually helped me to think more clearly about things, come to proper conclusions or have fresh ideas. It’s amazing what a difference it can make to have them around.

So to Mum and I, they’re virtually alive in many ways, and we love them to bits. But we know they’re not really alive… right?

Toy Story

Movie

This 1995 classic is where it all began, introducing us to the large collection of toys owned by Andy (John Morris), who are led by the friendly Sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks). There’s a wide selection of characters among the group, including the arrogant Mr Potato Head (Don Rickles), the timid dinosaur Rex (Wallace Shawn), the seductive Bo Beep (Annie Potts), the clever pig Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and the stretchy Slinky Dog (Jim Varney). The fact that they behave and talk like adults, as illustrated by the staff meeting early on, helps to give it universal appeal to people of all ages.

The enjoyable opening really shows what a tight-knit family they are, with the soldiers doing a reconnaissance mission to see what Andy is getting for his birthday, while the rest of the toys anxiously wait for news. And it all seems to be fine, until Andy unwraps a Buzz Lightyear action figure (Tim Allen). Suddenly Woody finds himself cast aside as the child plays with the cool new space ranger, and all of the other toys swoon over Buzz too. Worse still, Woody is then ostracised altogether when a revenge prank goes wrong and causes Buzz to fall out of the window.

Andy is thus unable to find him and has to take Woody out to Pizza Planet instead. But Buzz tags along for the ride and confronts Woody, only for both of them to get separated from Andy. They instead end up in the hands of Sid (Erik von Detten), an evil child who tortures toys for the fun of it. Sid is Andy’s neighbour, but not for long, because Andy and his mother are preparing to move house. So Woody and Buzz have to find a way out fast to get back to their master, otherwise they’ll lose him forever. But will Buzz have the heart to try, when he learns that he’s just a toy and not the real space hero he thought he was?

Altogether It’s a great story packed with excitement, humour and tender moments. Just seeing the toys come alive at the start is a treat, as if we’re gaining access to a secret world we would never normally witness. They’re very creative at using what’s in their environment to get around and do things, and they all have their own personalities, quirks and abilities. The other places that we’re taken to are also interesting, including the imposing gas station, the pizza restaurant with the excited aliens in the claw machine and the terrifying bedroom at Sid’s house.

It’s also lovely to see how Woody and Buzz’s friendship develops during the movie, from the initial animosity they have towards each other, to Woody explaining to Buzz why being a toy is the greatest thing in the world. The way that Woody and the other toys from Sid’s room collaborate to rescue Buzz is very clever, and the pair’s pursuit of the removal van is a brilliant action sequence at the end.

The fact that it was the first ever feature film to be made entirely by computer animation, courtesy of the geniuses at Pixar, just makes it all the more remarkable, especially as it looks so good. It really was pioneering for tis time, deservedly winning many awards including 8 Annie Awards. Even by today’s standards I’d rank it way above the realistic animation we get from generative AI, which will never be able to produce a film anywhere near as perfect as this. All the characters are expressive and feel real, the story is told beautifully with good pacing, there’s an incredible amount of detail everywhere you look, and on the whole you can really feel that a lot of heart and soul has been put into it.

Music

The gorgeous, uplifting music by Randy Newman really cements the special nature of this film, and the others that follow. So I own the Legacy Collection soundtrack album that presents the entire score along with bonus tracks. It’s great because it reveals lots of musical elements that you might not have picked up on while focusing on the action and dialogue in certain moments.

One little bugbear I have with the Blu-ray is that the use of Disney’s later version of the castle logo has replaced the original fanfare music at the very beginning of the film, which makes the opening feel strange when you’re used to how it used to be. It was on the original DVD I had, but it was changed on later releases and on Disney+. So it’s good to hear it retained on this album. You can also hear it underneath the audio commentary on the Blu-ray, as it had been recorded for DVD while that original opening was still in place, making it all the more strange that they changed it for the main presentation. it’s not the end of the world, I know, but it still feels off.

The song at the heart of the film, and indeed the entire franchise, is of course You’ve Got A Friend In Me, a wonderful, positive track that plays over the opening credits, with the melody reappearing throughout the score. It was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. A duet version with Lyle Lovett also plays at the end of the film. The Legacy Collection album also includes an instrumental of the first version, and it’s nice to appreciate the underlying arrangement more that way.

Randy has performed the song live on stage, including with Taylor Swift at the Toy Story 5 premiere. It’s also been covered by the likes of Meghan Trainor, Michael Bublé, Donny Osmond with Rosie O’Donnell and Christina Perri. One of the most popular versions on Youtube, however, is a really cute rendition by 4-year-old Claire Ryann and her father, which has over 42 million views and went viral around the world, earning them an appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

Meanwhile Strange Things and I Will Go Sailing No More are lovely thought-provoking songs, about Woody and Buzz trying to process their respective life-changing realisations. The former has a lovely rhythm and a sing-along chorus to it, while the other song is much slower and quite moving, particularly with the defiant moment of hope near the end that is quickly dashed.

The Legacy Collection album includes instrumentals of both songs, and the one for I Will Go Sailing No More is a beautiful orchestral piece. There are demos for both songs too, with great piano playing by Randy, which is pretty catchy on Strange Things. There are demos of a couple of other songs as well – Plastic Spaceman, which clearly became I Will Go Sailing No More as it contains a recognisable section from that track, and The Fool. Neither song is as good as the ones in the film, but they’re interesting to hear.

The snippet of Hakuna Matata from The Lion King in the film, that the baby is listening to in the car, is also a fun little bonus.

Beyond that, the rest of the score is really nice as well. As a rock fan I like the sudden bursts of guitar we get with Pizza Planet Rock and in the Buzz Lightyear Commercial. And the trilogy of tracks that accompany them chasing the removal van evoke the moments of danger, speed and triumph in that set piece very well. The Together Again track wraps things up nicely too. And the final track on the album is a well deserved thank you to the orchestra.

Extras

There are a lot of extras on the special edition Blu-ray I own, adding up to nearly 5 hours, which are an absolute delight to look through. The menu is really nice too, with lots of drawings and conceptual artwork scrolling around the screen. It’s easy to forget that everything started on paper, but there were true artists working by hand as well as on machines throughout this production, so it’s wonderful that their hard graft is highlighted and celebrated in many of the features on this disc.

The Blu-ray menu for the first Toy Story film. The background is filled with black and white drawings and colourful sketches that were created by hand while designing the film, including images of Buzz and Woody. The various menu options are presented on a slightly crumpled piece of notepaper on the left of the screen. The options include Play Movie, Scene Selection, Bonus Features, Classic DVD Bonus Features, Set Up, Sneak Peeks and Disney BD Live.

The first section of bonus features contains the following:

Audio Commentary – Director John Lasseter is joined by Co-Writer Andrew Stanton, Supervising Animator Pete Docter, Art Director Ralph Eggleston, Supervising Technical Director Bill Reeves and Producers Ralph Guggenheim & Bonnie Arnold on this engaging commentary. They talk about writing the story, developing the characters, casting the actors, producing the animation, the inspirations and references for certain moments, ideas that were changed or dropped, and more. So it’s very insightful and well worth a listen.
Paths To Pixar: Artists (4:47) – Some of the artists explain how they got into animation and why they love their jobs at Pixar.
Studio Stories (5:26) – A trio of amusing tales by members of the production team, accompanied by animated drawings, about John Lasseter’s death trap of a car, one guy’s extreme attempt to win a Halloween contest, and the scooter races they held in the corridors of their new building.
Buzz Lightyear Mission Logs: Blast Off (3:28) – The first of 3 educational features produced with NASA, spread across the Blu-rays for films 1-3, where Buzz tells Rex and Hamm about his trip into space. They combine computer animation of the toys and spacecraft with real life footage of a model of Buzz doing the journey with astronauts, so it’s pretty cool. This first episode describes his journey to the International Space Station and gives an introduction to life on board.
Buzz Takes Manhattan (2:12) – A look at the amazing Buzz Lightyear balloon they had flying over the crowds in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
Black Friday: The Toy Story You Never Saw (7:36) – A fascinating insight into how Disney executives interfered with the early stages of production so much that the film was nearly cancelled. The notes they bombarded Pixar with led to a storyboarded scene – shown here in full – that portrayed Woody as a really nasty character, so it just didn’t work. It was only when Pixar decided to ignore Disney’s input, and produce the film they wanted to make, that things got infinitely better. It was a valuable lesson for them to trust their own instincts.
Toy Story 3 Sneak Peek (2:06) – Some teasing hints about the storyline for the third film.

And then there’s a whopping 3 hours of material carried over from the old DVDs:

Filmmakers Reflect (16:35) – John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft chat happily about making the film on its 10th anniversary, from developing the story and the problems they had to overcome along the way, to how well it was received by audiences. They clearly had a lot of fun doing it, and they even include some funny outtakes from their discussion at the end.
Making Toy Story (20:20) – A great behind the scenes feature about the origins of the film and plotline, the design of the characters and sets, the animation, the voice actors, the songs, the sound design and more. It’s rightfully made clear that the computer was just a tool – it was the people that actually created the film, and the key priority was on creating a great story and characters before the animation was produced.
The Legacy Of Toy Story (11:44) – A variety of people including actors, animators and directors recall how they felt when they saw the first ever computer animated film, and explain why it had such a huge impact on the cultural landscape. Contributors include the voice actors for Woody and Buzz (Tom Hanks and Tim Allen), as well as directors George Lucas and Peter Jackson, and even astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
Designing Toy Story (6:13) – Some of the animators talk about how they designed the characters, sets and the overall look of the film, with lots of their sketches shown on screen. It’s fascinating to see the development of Woody and Buzz in particular.
Deleted Scenes (19:01) – Here we get extended versions of a couple of animated scenes in Sid’s room, including Woody trying to persuade Buzz to help him. Then there are storyboards of other ideas that were abandoned, including alternate openings to the film with a Buzz Lightyear TV show and Andy staging a shootout with Woody. There are introductions by the filmmakers to explain why things were removed too.
Design (28:09) – This section includes big slideshows of sketches, coloured drawings and physical models for the characters and sets, 3D rendered models of the main characters, 3D rendered fly-throughs of some of the sets with audio commentary, an interview about the colour palettes used in the film, and further slideshows of concept art and the colour script. It really gives a thorough insight into how it all came together, literally illustrating the extensive work involved. The slideshows are accompanied by relevant music from the film, including an instrumental version of You’ve Got A Friend In Me.
Story (14:01) – After a short introduction about the purpose of storyboards, we see Joe Ranft pitching the scene with the soldiers at Andy’s birthday party to his colleagues, the original storyboards for Buzz Lightyear’s introduction voiced by the actors (including bits of dialogue cut from the final film), and a side-by-side comparison of the story reel with the film footage for the final chase scene.
Production (11:20) – Here we get a demonstration of the sequence of events involved in production, with storyboards, basic 3D layout, animation, and the addition of shading and lighting. Then we learn some tricks of the trade when building the layout foundations, and see how the animation is built up in stages from there. Finally, we see how the introduction of Buzz Lightyear is translated around the world, with the audio cycling through 25 different languages as the scene plays.
Music & Sound (26:20) – In this section you can watch the music video for You’ve Got A Friend In Me (the Randy Newman & Lyle Lovett duet from the end of the film), see an interesting feature about the sound design (where you can hear the noises made by many of the characters in isolation), and listen to a set of Randy’s demos of the songs (some of which were included on the Legacy Collection album, but not all).
Publicity (24:11) – In this section, there’s an amusing on-set interview with Woody and Buzz, a collection of trailers and TV adverts (some of which use the classic song The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy), and slideshows of movie posters, toys and other merchandise. Finally, there’s a collection of 15 special mini-scenes called “Toy Story Treats”, lasting from 10 seconds to 2 minutes each. They’re quite funny, as the toys try to get into hobbies, be Space Rangers, play games, tell scary stories, watch TV, and more. Plus there’s the full Buzz Lightyear commercial that he sees on the TV.

So altogether it’s a delightfully comprehensive set of features, giving you lots of insights about every step of making the movie, and demonstrating the real passion they had for making it as good as possible.