Toy Story (1995)

Before A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, Cars, Wall-E, and Up. The creative minds of Joe Ranft, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and John Lasserter introduced us to a brand new world in that of CGI Animation called PIXAR. In partnership with Walt Disney Pictures, they released their first feature film called TOY STORY. Directed by PIXAR’s chief creator John Lasseter, the film follows a group of toys who come to life whenever their owner, a six year old boy name Andy (voiced by John Morris), is not present. Focusing on Andy’s favorite toy, a traditional pull-string talking cowboy named Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), is jealous and profoundly threatened when Andy gets a new toy for his birthday, a fancy space ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen). While Andy and his family are moving to a new home, Both Woody and Buzz get lost by accident and wind up in the hands of a sadistic toy destroying teenager name Sid Phillips (voiced by Erik von Detten). Together, they must find a way to escape from Sid to get back to Andy before it’s too late. I went to see this movie with my family when I was seven years old and I really liked it. Over the years, it went from a movie that I liked to a movie I love. In addition to Hanks and Allen, The movie features a voice over cast of familiar faces in that of standup comedian Don Rickles as the moody Mr. Potato Head, John Ratzenberger (TV’s Cheers) as the wise cracking plastic piggy bank Hamm, Wallace Shawn (The Princess Bride) as the large, green, anxiety suffering Tyrannosaurus toy Rex, R. Lee Emery (Full Metal Jacket) as the gung-ho Sergeant of Bucket O Soldiers, Annie Potts (Ghostbusters) as the sweet and lovable shepherdess figurine Little Bo Peep, Laurie Metcalf (TV’s Roseanne) as Andy’s Mom, Jeff Pidgeon as the voice of the three eyed alien squeeze toys from Pizza Planet, and Jim Varney (the Ernest P. Worrell movies) as the southern Dachshund with a metal slinky in the middle name Slinky Dog. The music of this film was made by singer-songwriter Randy Newman, who was suggested by Lasseter and it was Newman’s first movie as composer. The song “You Got a Friend in Me”, which is also the film’s signature song and one of my favorites, was written in one day. Released during the Thanksgiving season on November.22nd, 1995, Toy Story was shown in 2,281 theaters before later expanding to 2,574. It remained in theaters for 37 weeks and it grossed over $350,000,000 worldwide. TOY STORY is one of the greatest animated movies of all time and it’s a childhood classic for all ages to love, whether you’re a kid or an adult. And in the words of Buzz Lightyear: “TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!”