# Toy Story (1995) | Ep. 57 - Part 1

An episode of [All The Right Movies](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1471502633), 25 Apr 2025, 1 h 24 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO6112224842.mp3

The first fully computer-animated feature film, and it almost fell apart more than once. John, Westy, and Matt begin the story of how Pixar changed cinema forever and very nearly didn't. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director John Lasseter, the cast, and the second act — including the technology nobody had attempted at feature length, the voice casting of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, and the infamous early version that almost sank the whole thing. Part 2, covering the crew, the finale, reception, and the film's legacy, is available now. Connect with ATRM: To support what we do, access our archive and listen to exclusive episodes, become an ATRM patron: Listen on Patreon Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify Twitter/X: @ATRightMovies YouTube: Subscribe to our channel Instagram: @allthe_rightmovies Threads: @allthe_rightmovies Facebook: Join our movie group Bluesky: @alltherightmovies.com TikTok: @alltherightmovies Website: alltherightmovies.com

## Transcript

[0:04] All the right movies. OK, everybody, Coast is clear.
[0:11] This holiday season, turn on your imagination.
[0:16] That's using the old noodle. When toys come to life, Walt
[0:20] Disney Pictures presents the first ever computer animated
[0:23] feature film. Code Rep We are Code Rep Go
[0:27] Infinity and beyond Toy Story rated G.
[0:35] Toy Story opened in 1995 and revolutionized cinematic
[0:38] animation, telling the story of a group of toys with lives of
[0:41] their own. It was the first fully CGI
[0:43] feature, a cultural and box office behemoth, and established
[0:47] its creators as one of the most iconic studios in Hollywood
[0:50] history. My name is John and the friends
[0:52] till the end with me are Matt. The word I'm searching for I can
[0:56] say because they're preschool toys present.
[0:59] And Westy. You are a toy.
[1:02] To Infinity and beyond. All the right movies are with
[1:05] Woody, Buzz and Pixar. So stick around.
[1:08] We're not really podcasting, it's just talking with style.
[1:31] Hello and welcome to All the Right Movies, Sad Strange Little
[1:35] Men and a podcast on classic in hit films.
[1:39] This time out a slightly special 1, isn't it?
[1:42] Seems to be, yeah. We like to say we're telling the
[1:44] story of Hollywood 1 movie a time on ATRM classic, and it's
[1:48] not hyperbole to say we're talking about a film that
[1:51] changes genre forever. Today, as we get into Pixar, Tom
[1:54] Hanks and their groundbreaking animation that is Toy Story.
[1:58] Yeah. Absolutely strange things are
[2:01] happening, right? Very.
[2:02] Absolutely, yeah. I mean, usually all with us, but
[2:04] today that's in the film. I was going to say this.
[2:06] There's nothing new there, is it?
[2:09] Before we head to the Davis household and Andy's room,
[2:11] though, should we plug our own toy box over on Patreon?
[2:14] Let's do it it. Should.
[2:15] Well, if you're a regular listener to our ATRM Classic
[2:18] podcast, you can help support what we do by joining the ATRM
[2:21] community and becoming an ATRM Patron.
[2:24] Patrons get access to our bonus podcast episodes called Double
[2:27] Feature, where we talk about movies that may not get the
[2:30] instant DATRM Classic treatment, and the Watch List, where we
[2:34] review more modern releases. And you'll get access to our
[2:37] whole podcast archive, full of bonus episodes and archive DATRM
[2:41] Classic episodes, which is the majority of them now.
[2:44] Yeah, there's so much great stuff in there.
[2:46] It's like AL's toy bond when you turn up.
[2:48] AL's toy ban. And you'll get access to the
[2:52] thriving ATRM community as well, which is full of all the cool
[2:56] people really is. So to find out more, visit
[2:58] patreon.com/all the Way Movies, or you can subscribe directly on
[3:02] Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.
[3:06] Yes, back to today though, and the show and it's Toy Story.
[3:10] There's long time coming, Matt. So why are we talking about it?
[3:14] We you said it at the top, John, there's just not that many films
[3:17] where you can legitimately say the at the very least changed
[3:20] the face of an entire genre, if not cinema itself.
[3:24] And Toy, Sorry is one of those films.
[3:25] Animation was never the same after this.
[3:28] And what's really striking about this thought is that this isn't
[3:31] a film that was nearly there. It wasn't a case of the
[3:34] animation is brilliant, but the story was a bit lacking or the
[3:37] story was great and the animation, it'll get better in a
[3:40] few films time. It arrived absolutely fully
[3:43] formed with this stamp of individual quality running right
[3:46] through it. And because it's so iconic and
[3:48] it's the type of film just people know it from beginning to
[3:50] end, I think it's a bit easy to take it for granted in a number
[3:54] of ways, like just how funny it is.
[3:56] And I think when you looked at the way we do, that comes across
[3:59] and just how well, well written it is as well.
[4:01] So yeah, change the genre for good and it's well worth
[4:03] investigating. My, you've covered every point
[4:06] I'm going to make in about 30 seconds.
[4:07] That's. What I mean for?
[4:11] Well, I saw a Toy Story when it came out in 1995 at the Customs
[4:14] House Cinema, South Shields. Oh, nice, right?
[4:16] Yeah, yeah. I was 14 when with some school
[4:18] friends. I remember everyone was kind of
[4:20] quiet when we came out because we were like the age where is it
[4:23] cool? Like animations?
[4:24] Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[4:25] Yeah, until someone said they liked it, and then everyone was
[4:27] like, yeah, it was awesome, Yeah.
[4:30] And it was massive at the time. I loved it and the follow-ups,
[4:33] and I've loved Pixar ever since. Yeah.
[4:34] I'm kind of in awe of Pixar, to be honest.
[4:37] And they're like mastery storytelling.
[4:39] We'll talk a bit more about that as we go, but it all started
[4:42] here and a size how much I liked it at the time.
[4:45] Toy Story is a film that in telling the story of Hollywood,
[4:47] we have to talk about it was ground breaking, which we'll get
[4:50] into incredible technical innovations which were massively
[4:53] influential. We'll get into that as well.
[4:55] Announced the arrival of Pixar as an animation powerhouse and
[4:59] is among the most famous film series probably ever made, with
[5:02] some of the most iconic characters created as well,
[5:04] animation or otherwise. So very much looking forward to
[5:08] talking about where it all began.
[5:10] Yeah, and Wesley, Toy Story for you.
[5:12] Very similar to you John. Be honest went to the cinema to
[5:14] see this with a school friend, his parents.
[5:17] No, it was the matter Center Odeon.
[5:19] Posh. Yeah, obviously I'm not.
[5:22] Slumming it never have wasn't dragged up John.
[5:25] We were quiet after it and his parents loved it but we both
[5:29] felt like I would say kids film. Didn't really get it.
[5:31] Didn't really know if I if it was cool to like it.
[5:33] I felt a bit young for me and a lot of the jokes were missed.
[5:37] Now this film for me is about four different films.
[5:39] At what age you've experienced it and what you're going through
[5:41] at that time? When you're a kid, it's amazing.
[5:44] When you're a teenager, you kind of dismiss above it, but you're
[5:47] starting to get some of the jokes.
[5:48] When you're an adult, you kind of get the different jokes that
[5:50] you didn't get when you were a teenager, when you were a kid,
[5:52] and then when you have kids yourself, it's completely
[5:54] transformative. It's a completely different film
[5:56] because you're watching them watch it and you're enjoying it
[5:58] on a whole new level. So it's got something for
[6:00] everybody, and I think that's what's really important about
[6:03] this, is that it doesn't pigeonhole itself.
[6:05] It doesn't have a demographic really.
[6:07] It's just for the human race. Yeah, yeah.
[6:09] It is. If you don't like Toy Story,
[6:10] there's something really wrong with you.
[6:12] It's just a gold send for that. When you've got kids as well,
[6:15] because you can put it on and you know they're going to be
[6:16] absolutely fine for an hour and a half.
[6:18] You don't have to worry about them.
[6:19] They're going to be glued to the screen.
[6:20] It's really going to work and I've seen it countless times, so
[6:24] many times and I'm still not bored of it.
[6:26] That's to it's absolute credit. Like it's just a beautiful story
[6:28] about friendship. So me, I'm really excited about
[6:31] this one. I know Matt's really excited
[6:32] about this one. I'm excited for him to talk
[6:34] about it. I'm sorry for you to talk about
[6:35] it, John. I'm excited to get into it
[6:37] because it is just such a joy. It's it's a joy story, if I'm
[6:40] honest with you. Well, Joy Story, I mean Toy
[6:44] Story, used by Pixar Animation Studios, distributed by Buena
[6:47] Vista Pictures Distribution and released on November the 22nd,
[6:50] 1995. The film was directed by John
[6:53] Lasseter, written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel
[6:56] Corn and Alex Sokolow, and stars Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as
[7:00] Buzz Lightyear, and a host of other voice actors as crazy
[7:03] characters that we'll talk about.
[7:05] Yeah, let's get in there then, shall we?
[7:07] Let's do it. It's play time at Andy's in the
[7:10] beginning of Toy Story. The beginning.
[7:19] Toy Story opens in the bedroom of seven-year old Andy Davis in
[7:22] a world I think many people find the size about with children or
[7:25] toys coming to life when we're not around, we'll be talking.
[7:29] The moments of the arrival of a certain space Ranger sends
[7:32] everything into chaos, but we're starting with the very first
[7:35] moments. We are.
[7:37] So as Andy's birthday approaches, we meet Cowboy Woody
[7:40] and the rest of Andy's toys. Woody's the leader and we'll see
[7:43] play time in Andy's room and then an important all staff toy
[7:47] meeting. Yeah, a good way to set the
[7:49] stage for what's to come, Matt. Absolutely, As I mean, Andy's
[7:52] some creative kid. Like, isn't he for seven?
[7:54] Like the effort in the building? All those sets.
[7:56] I couldn't do that at 7. Don't you that now I used?
[7:58] To do that as well, Yeah, Yeah, of course you did.
[8:00] Well, you definitely did, yeah. We didn't have the Internet.
[8:02] What else are you going to do? But everything about this
[8:05] opening is so familiar and nostalgic because it's also
[8:08] recognizable because when you are a kid, that's definitely how
[8:11] you behaved and played with your toys.
[8:13] You did mix and match everything you didn't care for Mr. Potato
[8:15] Head. Doesn't make sense being paired
[8:17] with a toy cowboy because where's the front end logic at
[8:20] that age exactly? You know, and Andy's head, it's
[8:23] really funny that the reward is 50 bazillion dollars.
[8:25] Doesn't make sense. Be you a kid and that's the kind
[8:28] of thing you really respond to. But it's recognizable because
[8:31] it's also tactile as well. You can see like, the little
[8:34] indentation across Mr. Potato Head skin.
[8:36] Like when you see Rex, he has that joint where his tail is
[8:39] attached to his body. Yeah.
[8:41] You know how that twisted action feels in your hands because you
[8:44] had those toys. Yeah.
[8:45] Yeah. You know what, Slinky?
[8:46] He is made out of that felt feel.
[8:48] And you can almost smell the plastic of the characters.
[8:50] It's great. Do you play with your toys like
[8:52] you smell the matter? Just smell them out.
[8:54] I was the. Weed kid.
[8:55] I was the weed kid. The one you pray is not invited
[8:58] to your birthday eats all the crisps in the corner.
[9:03] Yeah, I think watching it now they are signed, this was a
[9:05] forerunner and what it was doing from the start.
[9:07] I mean nowadays no major mainstreaming film, which a
[9:10] pixel production certainly is, would start without a big
[9:13] action-packed opener. But Toy Story doesn't.
[9:15] It kind of eases us in with Andy's play time, which I find
[9:18] quite interesting is it's still kind of learning the best way to
[9:21] go about some things. I thought the creative
[9:23] brilliance was there from the get go.
[9:25] Within seconds you get the theme music.
[9:27] You've got A Friend in Me by Randy Newman.
[9:29] We'll talk more about that later.
[9:30] But I know that Toy Story mainstay we get yeah, which I
[9:32] love is the logo, which always kind of pops into the frame at
[9:36] the start. One of my favorite movie logos.
[9:38] It's perfect for the subject matter and barely changed for
[9:41] decades afterwards. So the nailed it first time and
[9:44] yellow typography again. I think you might be under
[9:46] something there, Westy I. Think so.
[9:48] It's been 4 years we've been talking about.
[9:49] I'm sure it's about a click sometimes.
[9:52] I mean, Pixar to me are master storytellers, specifically
[9:55] visual storytelling, and that's here as well.
[9:58] The main conceit of the world is that the toys are alive, but
[10:00] they only come to life when humans aren't there.
[10:03] Another film might have shoehorned that into the
[10:05] dialogue in the first few minutes somewhere.
[10:07] But yeah, Andy's called away by his mother.
[10:10] He drops Woody onto the bed. There's a lifeless toy.
[10:12] The camera stays on Woody. We hear the door slam.
[10:14] Woody's eyes blink into life. He turns his head to check
[10:17] Andy's gone and then stands up. It's, like, 5 seconds, no words.
[10:20] And it's like, all right, but get it.
[10:22] Yeah. You only move when Andy's not
[10:23] around. And it never got explained
[10:25] again. So like most great family films,
[10:27] it treats its audience as having brains.
[10:29] Yeah. And Woody's phrases and then
[10:31] what he says when Andy pulls his string are absolutely nuts.
[10:35] Somebody poisoned the water hole.
[10:37] What? Some people joke I would do.
[10:42] But great music, great logo, great storytelling.
[10:45] Pixar easing into Disney's clown size shoes effortlessly.
[10:50] Yeah, so we've been introduced to Woody, but now we're getting
[10:53] introduced to all of the other characters, and when he starts
[10:56] calling them up, it's so great because you know who everyone
[10:59] is, you know the personalities, all the personalities come
[11:01] across. It's a really great introduction
[11:03] to all of the characters and really nice touches, like when
[11:07] Mike comes up and he's like, thanks Mike, and then it feeds
[11:10] back and then he has to move away.
[11:12] It's just genius. Loads a little bit like that.
[11:15] You see both people just as I'm a couple of blocks away and she
[11:18] walks past the blocks. Love that.
[11:21] And then you have the actual meeting itself where everybody's
[11:23] called in and you know that this is a regular thing.
[11:25] You know that Woody's in charge and it's great exposition.
[11:28] You know there's going to be a move.
[11:29] You know there's going to be a birthday party.
[11:31] It's already set in Morton. Things are already happening and
[11:34] it's in no way boring. And it's just really, really
[11:37] wonderful because he finds out that Andy's parties being moved
[11:40] and he's not that worried. You can kind of tell.
[11:42] And he's like, the party has been moved to today.
[11:47] A line delivery is absolutely fantastic.
[11:49] Everybody going crazy thinking they're going to be replaced,
[11:52] thinking they're going to be in a garage sale.
[11:54] And you are totally bought into this.
[11:55] You're like, yeah, this is probably what they would think
[11:57] if it was a toy. Like, you don't want to be
[11:59] replaced. He said you don't want under
[12:01] your Grove. There's all of this real tension
[12:03] here. There's, like, mild peril.
[12:05] Great line from Woody when he tells everyone to calm down,
[12:08] doesn't say calm down. He just says save your
[12:09] batteries. Absolutely love that.
[12:12] That's really, really brilliant. And then when the party starts
[12:15] happening and you have them for you used to do this as a kid, if
[12:17] someone's walking into a party, you would judge them by how big
[12:20] the gifts were. You definitely would.
[12:23] And The thing is now it's like the smaller the gift, the better
[12:26] because my kids watch it and they'll go about what's that?
[12:28] That's not an iPhone. It's just it's really relatable
[12:32] for everybody. It's really familiar for
[12:34] everybody. A great introduction to the
[12:35] characters, a great introduction to the story, and just very,
[12:38] very clever, really great writing.
[12:40] I think it is as well, yeah. I mean, having established the
[12:42] concept of the world, this is where the kind of developed the
[12:44] dynamics of the characters. Like you're saying, yeah, what
[12:47] is the leader? He's got a right cushy little
[12:48] number. So someone comes in to threaten
[12:52] that, which is what happens. Obviously it does feel logical
[12:55] he would react in the way he does, but we can do that
[12:57] character set up as well. Rex the dinosaurs like an
[12:59] anxious mess which is a jokey reaction to Jurassic Park which
[13:03] was massive at the time I guess. I think it's just the T Rex in
[13:06] general, isn't it? It's like the ferocious Did I
[13:08] scare you? Like Ham the pig is a know it
[13:12] all. Slinky is a loyal dog.
[13:13] Mr. Potato Head is the angriest man in the world.
[13:16] He's amazing. All character traits are come up
[13:18] at some point later in the narrative.
[13:20] So the feeding is all this info constantly, but it's always
[13:22] engaging, which is one of the keys to writing a good first
[13:25] act, I think, isn't it? Yeah.
[13:26] Definitely. Tell you what though, Andy has
[13:29] got some terrible toys. Buddy and Buzz are cool
[13:31] obviously, but when I was a kid if I went to someones house and
[13:34] they pulled out Little Boar peep Mr. Potato Head in a Piggy Bank,
[13:38] I'd be like what's this shit? Where's the scale extric?
[13:42] Look up Mr. Spell Mr. Spell. Where's he man?
[13:45] What's this? You're welcome.
[13:48] And then create in the background characters in Andy's
[13:50] room Pixar land into real life. So we see a truck with a Little
[13:54] Tikes logo on its side. And the Tinker toy container has
[13:57] the play scale logo on it. And this actually wasn't product
[14:00] placement. They did it add authenticity to
[14:02] the world. And the companies didn't
[14:04] actually pay anything. They just had to agree to it.
[14:06] And the only toy that was made of by Pixar were the troikas,
[14:09] which are the eggs that nest in each of the database on Russian
[14:12] tea dolls. Yeah, that's great.
[14:14] Small toys at the front and they all kind of come out of each
[14:16] other. Yeah, yeah, The Troika I think
[14:19] are the only toys from the film that were never released by toy
[14:22] manufacturers in real life, right.
[14:23] There's loads of people around the world have made their own
[14:25] versions online. You can find them.
[14:27] Vary in quality, obviously, obviously, but not a bad deal
[14:31] for those toy brands. Is it free marketing a Disney
[14:33] film? OK, Yeah.
[14:35] Exactly, Yeah. We also see board games like
[14:37] Operation Mousetrap. Twister is in there, All
[14:40] bangers. Yeah, no bookeroo,
[14:42] unfortunately. Seems a bit over and over.
[14:44] He gets battleship as well, doesn't he?
[14:46] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he does. And.
[14:47] Speaking of famous toys as well, in the original draft of the
[14:50] script, one of the supporting characters was Barbie, but
[14:53] Mattel wouldn't allow her to be used in the film.
[14:54] Instead, she was replaced by Ball Peep, voiced by Annie
[14:57] Potts, who was probably best known at the time for playing
[14:59] Janine and Ghostbust. Yeah, she's got a bit of a
[15:02] softer personality here, I think than he goes Busters.
[15:05] Oh yeah, absolutely. No.
[15:06] What do you want? I think Pixar also used Bo Peep
[15:13] as a nod to one of their inspirations.
[15:14] So in 1845 there was a Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale
[15:17] called The Shepherdess and the Sheep.
[15:19] OK, it's about a porcelain shepherdess that comes to life
[15:21] when no one's around, like in Toy Story All.
[15:24] Right, OK. And are bored people and what
[15:26] are you doing it or what? What's going on there?
[15:28] It's insinuated, isn't it? Let's be honest.
[15:30] Really flirty. But if they are she's a bit crap
[15:33] because she's like I found my moving buddy when Buzz heads up
[15:35] and said what you do right for the buddy.
[15:39] And in the background in Andy's room, there are lots of Pixar
[15:41] references. When Woody's given his speech
[15:43] during the meeting, we see a book on the shelf behind him
[15:45] titled Smell, Smell, Twist and Twirl.
[15:48] This is a reference to Elliot Smell, who was on the Pixar
[15:51] modelling team, and the rebukes called Tin Toy, Knick Knack,
[15:54] Red's Dream and Luxor Junior. And these are all the names of
[15:57] the animated shorts that Pixar made in the 80s.
[16:00] Yeah, Knick knack's been massive.
[16:01] Brilliant that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[16:03] Well, those early shorts were kind of Pixar's testing ground
[16:06] for what they would become. Yeah, you can tell.
[16:07] Yeah. Yeah, we'll talk about those a
[16:09] bit more later. They've always been quite big on
[16:11] immortalizing their unsung heroes.
[16:12] Or Pixar. There's loads of references in
[16:14] this that we'll talk about. Yeah, Yeah.
[16:16] And that's our opening. You've got a friend in me, a toy
[16:19] community led by Sheriff Woody, and a comfortable status quo for
[16:22] now. If we know anything about
[16:24] movies, that's not going to last long.
[16:26] Nope. Definitely won't.
[16:27] Should we meet the Space Ranger from Star Command who tears it
[16:30] all apart then? Recon plan, Charlie.
[16:32] Execute. We've met the toys and they
[16:39] quickly have to hit panic stations when they find out that
[16:42] Judith Davis's moving house, Andy's birthday party has been
[16:45] moved forward a week. What do you call them?
[16:47] The Book of the Soldiers and the Green Army men are deployed.
[16:50] Ridiculous. They infiltrate the party and we
[16:54] meet Andy's main present, Buzz Lightyear.
[16:56] Space Ranger called Red Westy. Yep.
[17:00] How's it all going for you? This bucket of soldiers is so,
[17:04] so good, so clever. It's a short film in itself,
[17:07] isn't it? Yeah, this idea is absolutely
[17:09] huge, and the way that it's executed is incredibly well
[17:12] done. From the baby monitor coming out
[17:15] to them getting to the top of the banister and jumping.
[17:17] I mean, who didn't throw army men off the stairs?
[17:19] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then parachutes.
[17:20] Never. Always.
[17:23] Slam to the crowd. You had to open them first and
[17:25] then pretend. But it's just some incredible
[17:28] camera work here when they jump off the banister and then the
[17:31] camera just comes over the top and then the parachutes open.
[17:33] It's just that one fluid motion. Yeah, the skipping rope coming
[17:36] down the more Absilon down a skipping rope.
[17:38] I mean, there's nothing mixed out here.
[17:39] They must sit a sat round northern.
[17:41] He did absil down something. It could have been anything.
[17:43] Everything works but the bit that gets me as it cuts back of
[17:47] the room. Andy's mom stepped on one of
[17:49] them, kicked them over. The amount of times your mom's
[17:51] done that. I told him to pick their mobile.
[17:53] Yeah. Yeah, that's really familiar.
[17:54] Again. And like, they're not lying down
[17:56] on the job. Smash cut of them lying down on
[17:58] the job. They all get up inside who
[18:01] didn't realize at the time. And then when you find out, it's
[18:03] all they hear. Me, I've just laughed for about
[18:05] 45 minutes. That's incredible.
[18:07] I thought it was just the frighteners that did it, and it
[18:09] was like, no, it's even better. It's just absolute genius.
[18:14] And then again how this is for all, just for all ages.
[18:17] And then Mr. Potato was just like Mr. Potato Head.
[18:21] He's horny as hell, isn't he really a potato head?
[18:25] Be desperate for some attention. Who's the kid who brings the
[18:29] fucking bed sheets? What's going on then?
[18:31] Get out. Get out.
[18:34] I've got your Buzz Lightyear. I've got you the bed sheets.
[18:36] Well, that's rubbish, yeah. Rubbish then.
[18:39] But I'll tell you what, I fucking love that.
[18:40] Now. These are lovely.
[18:43] Yeah, but yeah, I mean, it's just a great, great sequence.
[18:46] Really engaged, really familiar. It's exactly how you play with
[18:48] them army figures. It's exactly the kind of voices
[18:50] you would want them to have. It's just fantastic stuff.
[18:54] I think one of the most exciting parts of writing the film.
[18:56] But Pixar must have been looking at ways that can use, like,
[18:59] classic toys that they knew from their own childhoods in the
[19:01] film. Yeah.
[19:02] And this is a great example of a the Army man on a Recon mission
[19:05] is such a great idea. Yeah.
[19:07] And then Serge being, like, a good soldier never leaves a man
[19:10] behind. And that they comes up with a
[19:11] plot point between Buddy and Buzz.
[19:13] So a bit foreshadowing as well. Yeah.
[19:14] Yeah. I agree, Wesley.
[19:15] I think the storytelling, it's just excellent.
[19:17] It's great when Andy's mom pulls out a surprise gift at the last
[19:21] minute. Always happens, yeah.
[19:22] Yeah, yeah, you're. Always hoping for you're a kid
[19:24] like today. Is Christmas really over?
[19:28] Great how the baby monitor breaks up and saw just seeing
[19:30] what's happening. Then Rex smashes it like a klutz
[19:32] and they get the batteries back in there.
[19:33] It's like shit Andys coming in the scatter.
[19:36] The excitement that they put into that moment just by hitting
[19:38] certain beats is just fantastic and I love it.
[19:41] Obviously just a silhouette of Buzzard ship as Andy picks him
[19:44] up. So we're like, what's that set
[19:46] up? The arrival of Buzz perfectly.
[19:48] So, as we've said, leader of the Green Army men is called Sarge,
[19:51] and as Wesley pointed out, he's inspired by Gunnery Sergeant
[19:54] Hartman from Full Metal Jacket, played by Ali Ermi.
[19:57] So when they were looking for voice actor, John Luster asked
[20:00] Ermi to play the part needed. Except.
[20:02] Yeah, you can hear his voice of my love going.
[20:04] Yeah, clearly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[20:06] The dialogues torn down a bit before Metal Jacket, thankfully.
[20:08] Just a little bit. I would have loved to have seen
[20:10] some outtakes where he's actually gone at it.
[20:13] He could have dressed down every single toy in there.
[20:15] Easily could. He would have been amazing, but
[20:17] he come up with, I would love that numb nuts.
[20:20] And like we said, the animation team was struggling to create
[20:23] the movement of the Green Army men.
[20:24] So they nailed a pair of shoes to a sheet of wood and walked
[20:27] around with them on. And that's how they came up with
[20:29] the way that the walk and the way that the jump and all the
[20:32] ways that move, which I think is absolutely perfect.
[20:34] Brilliant method animation that, yeah.
[20:36] Yeah, great. You can see footage of them
[20:37] online that picks officers in Point Richmond leaping about.
[20:40] Yeah, in those shoes, what a terrible job.
[20:42] I'd love that. Job.
[20:43] Oh yeah. Great.
[20:45] It looks fantastic. Yeah, it.
[20:46] Does look really good, yeah, yeah.
[20:48] Yes. And we've met Buzz.
[20:49] And then we get this great sequence where you realize just
[20:52] how much Buzz has taken Woody's place in this world.
[20:55] And at first you think it's OK because you see Andy still
[20:58] playing with Woody. But then you realize, actually,
[21:00] Woody is now the victim or the villain and all the scenarios
[21:03] that Andy is coming up with, and Buzz is the hero and he's the
[21:07] one having to be rescued. And he's not doing the rescuer
[21:09] now. So he's definitely in second
[21:11] place. And it's also a thing, just a
[21:12] great way to move the film along in terms of the passage of time,
[21:15] you know, seeing the pauses get replaced on the wall.
[21:18] There's that great shot where the camera pulls back to reveal
[21:20] Andy now has that Buzz bedspread.
[21:23] Brilliant. Yeah.
[21:23] And Woody is just horrified by it.
[21:25] So it's great storytelling. And even Woody's friends, who he
[21:28] could rely on, it taken by this guy.
[21:30] Buzz has got them helping with the spaceship repairs.
[21:32] He's got them doing the exercises with him, which I
[21:34] think is really funny. Buzz has helped Rex get much
[21:37] scarier, which is great. And then there's that really
[21:39] funny one where you see Buzz scratching Slinky's chin and
[21:42] then you panel on to see his wagon tail just whacking Woody
[21:45] in the face. Pissed off with.
[21:47] This he's even taking. His dog from him, pushing him
[21:50] off the bed. Yeah, pushing him off the bed.
[21:52] You know, I mean, no one's attending the plastic erosion to
[21:55] wear this seminar with buzz on the scene anymore.
[21:57] That's. Not happening now.
[21:58] So it's really moving the plot along well.
[22:00] The song is great, which is obviously common to hitting on
[22:02] the action, which is really clever.
[22:04] This is how you do a great montage.
[22:06] Yeah, another Randy Newman banger.
[22:07] Was Strange Things playing? Yeah, I like how it's very much
[22:10] from what's point of view, even though he's not necessarily
[22:12] right and this perception of what's happening and the lyrics
[22:14] kind of reflect that as well. And the montage doesn't just
[22:17] show Buzz taking what he's place in and his eyes, he's
[22:20] encroaching on what he's placed in the community by, Yeah,
[22:22] teaching the toys or the things the toys do, which anyone can
[22:25] relate to. Yeah.
[22:26] Sibling rivalry or friendship groups, Those themes are very
[22:29] much explored within the world of setting of being a toy.
[22:32] But the universal themes, really.
[22:34] Yeah. I think that's the Pixar genius
[22:35] kind of right there, finding that real world relatability in
[22:39] pretty much everything they do. Yeah, the introduction of Buzz
[22:42] is probably my favorite moments in the film.
[22:44] I think the visuals are like genius.
[22:46] The first time we'll see him, we'll start with Woody peering
[22:48] over the bed at something, then in one shot we move back through
[22:51] Buzz's legs and then pan open for the big reveal.
[22:55] Perfect. If Spielberg got Scorsese did
[22:57] that, we'd be having a panic attack about it.
[23:00] And originally after Woody opens Buzz's helmet and Buzz
[23:03] suffocating, Woody was supposed to be worried that Buzz was
[23:06] actually dying. But doing some early tests, John
[23:08] Lester saw a version where Buzz was choking but Woody was just
[23:12] stood there because they hadn't animated him yet and he thought
[23:14] it looked funny, so he asked him to change it to Woody to stand
[23:16] in there. Right.
[23:18] It is good that, But yeah, it is.
[23:19] It always kind of blows me away when animations can make you
[23:21] laugh with visual comedy. Yeah, take some serious skill
[23:25] that. It does, yeah.
[23:26] I mean, Disney has been masters of that for years, but Pixar
[23:28] pick up the button no problem was his reaction when Woody
[23:31] opened his helmet is still funny.
[23:34] And you're mocking me, aren't you?
[23:36] Yeah, great. That's not a good line.
[23:37] Yeah, it's a great line. And that's the opening active
[23:39] Toy Story. We've met our leads, seen Woody
[23:42] as Andy's favorite, and then see him knocked off his purge by the
[23:45] arrival of Buzz Lightyear. We should turn our attention to
[23:48] the man who led bringing the toys to life for a bit.
[23:50] Do you think? Should indeed.
[23:52] Yeah, let's do it, was the director.
[24:00] John Lasseter was the director of Toy Story.
[24:02] Having started his career at Disney as an animator before
[24:05] being fired, Lasseter found himself at the forefront of
[24:07] computer generated animation with Pixar.
[24:10] He directed several acclaimed short films in the 80s,
[24:13] including Luxor, Junior and Tin Toy, before being handed the
[24:16] keys to the Big One, his debut feature in Toy Story.
[24:20] Before we get too far with John Lasseter, we should probably
[24:23] mention that his Pixar and Disney career ended kind of in
[24:26] shame when he left the company in 2018 following allegations of
[24:29] sexual misconduct. Idiotic.
[24:32] We talk Toy Story, so won't be going into detail on that.
[24:35] I still think it important to at least acknowledge to some level.
[24:39] Yeah, but Matt, on that bombshell.
[24:41] Yeah, thanks. Pick it all back up.
[24:43] Get the joy back. Yeah.
[24:44] Thanks for that. Got the right man Yeah, we.
[24:47] Absolutely. Matt, how's your Lasseter's
[24:49] workers Toy Story? I mean, the job that he has on
[24:52] his hands here, it's unlike anything else anyone's ever
[24:55] done. And he has to lead everyone to
[24:58] an incredible degree behind one vision.
[25:00] He has to Marshall this team of animators.
[25:03] He has to make sure they believe in him and this project because
[25:07] undoubtedly there would have been days where they thought
[25:09] this isn't working, the technology there, this can't be
[25:12] done. He's the guy that has to pick
[25:14] them up. Go no, keep the faith, it will
[25:16] work. We can't do this.
[25:18] And at the same time that he's pushing the animation, he's got
[25:21] to get that story right as well. There's something I think we're
[25:23] going to come back to. This is so well written in terms
[25:26] of character, in terms of plot, and he's the one that's got to
[25:28] remind them. There's got to be hard behind
[25:30] the graphics. It's genuinely the work of a
[25:32] visionary, the way he just pushes everyone and harnesses
[25:35] everyone. He gets everyone to buy into a
[25:37] film being made in a way no other film has been made-up
[25:41] until this point. And it could have been a
[25:42] disaster. This could have been such folly.
[25:45] It could have been technological advancement of a story.
[25:47] And the fact that it isn't, I think that comes down the last
[25:50] day, taking all that pressure on his shoulders, having to have
[25:53] that answer to everything. And I'm sure there were many,
[25:55] many questions along the way. And he's the guy that's got to
[25:58] have a definite answer to everything.
[25:59] And he's having to believe in something that people can't even
[26:02] see yet. And somehow, all that pressure,
[26:04] all that strain, it's nowhere to be found in the film.
[26:07] Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah.
[26:08] I mean, when you're talking directorial debuts, this has to
[26:11] be up there. It has to be.
[26:13] Yeah. To find another film maker who's
[26:14] made a movie this significant, this influential on their first
[26:17] attempt, you might be going back to Orson Welles, Citizen Kane,
[26:21] 1941. You might have to, yeah.
[26:23] Yeah, I think that's the scale of the achievement.
[26:25] George Lucas isn't it. It's that scale.
[26:27] Star Wars, it is. It's that big.
[26:29] Absolutely. Yeah.
[26:29] I mean, the reason Toy Story is so beloved isn't because it was
[26:32] groundbreaking, necessarily. It's because of the great
[26:34] creative work. What are You and Boys are Great
[26:36] leads? Brandy Newman's music, The Great
[26:38] storytelling, it still stands up decades later, is an
[26:41] entertaining and engaging film. I think.
[26:43] I mean, that's a fee in itself, and we'll talk about it.
[26:46] But when you add in that nobody had ever made a fully CGI
[26:49] animated feature before, yeah, it's kind of hard to comprehend
[26:52] and convey it. I think the scale of what lasted
[26:54] and Pixar pulled off. Yeah.
[26:55] Yeah. I mean, like you're saying,
[26:57] Matt, animators and computer programmers working together on
[27:00] this kind of scale, it was pretty much an alien concept at
[27:02] the time. And to make that work, I know
[27:04] last I came up with a philosophy that was apparently drummed into
[27:07] everyone at Pixar, which was the art challenges the technology,
[27:10] and the technology inspires the art.
[27:13] So the thing was always the art and the technology is able to
[27:15] support that and enhance it. The thing was, the people
[27:19] creating the animations were like technologists.
[27:21] They weren't necessarily artists.
[27:23] So lastly, they had to work with these people and guide them
[27:25] through the language of storytelling, the language of
[27:27] film. So they were learning as they
[27:28] went, and you can't tell at all. No, no, I think Toy Story's
[27:32] understanding of visual storytelling is about as good as
[27:35] it gets. It doesn't look the first of its
[27:37] kind from that point of view, but it was nobody done this
[27:40] before. So there was so much that I had
[27:42] to learn coming up with just like work flows and processes to
[27:44] get everything done on time and to the world fast level.
[27:47] The one did going into this massive project and they were
[27:49] fully away that didn't know the potential black holes and this
[27:53] kind of thing because no one had done it before.
[27:55] Yeah. I mean, it wasn't all John.
[27:56] Last night. The whole Pixar team played a
[27:57] huge role. I think the producers Bonnie
[27:59] Arnold and Ralph Guggenheim to save loads of credit.
[28:02] And it is a massive shame the last that seemed to spoil his
[28:05] legacy with his antics later on. But that doesn't change that
[28:08] this is still an astonishing piece of work.
[28:10] And all this was done when they were treading new ground.
[28:13] It makes Toy Story one of Hollywood's great achievements
[28:15] for me. I think the reason that this
[28:18] works so well is because like you guys both touched on, this
[28:21] wasn't a singular vision. I think there was a lot of
[28:23] people attached to this. Therefore a lot of people would
[28:25] have been excited about it. And if you have people who are
[28:27] excited about something, Oh yeah and see it on this scale.
[28:31] And I think the great thing for Lasseter direct in this is that
[28:34] you would have seen it gradually really see the introduction of
[28:36] the world that gets done. You see it, you will.
[28:38] Yes, wait until you see buzz that turn up that gets.
[28:41] Good. Imagine.
[28:41] Yeah, Yeah. And all the way to the end, it's
[28:43] just every scene is more and more exciting as the story
[28:46] progresses. So if the to work on it
[28:47] chronologically, they're going to see a scene and go, that's
[28:50] amazing. And I think it's that energy
[28:52] that carries you through the film, but it's also that energy
[28:55] that carried everyone through the making process.
[28:57] Everyone had an input into it. And you can feel that this is
[29:00] written by a team of people who all agree with the tone, all
[29:03] agree with the themes, all agree with the inspirations.
[29:06] I mean, there's so much in here. There's Spielberg in here,
[29:08] there's Hitchcock in here. There's, there's so much.
[29:10] There's action films all the way back.
[29:12] You know, it really is this collaborative effort, but
[29:15] someone does have to lead it. And I think that is Lasseter's
[29:17] job. And to his credit, I think he's
[29:20] just a very, very good organizer of people and just has that
[29:24] singular vision of what it is and what it is all together.
[29:27] He's the only one looking at the bigger picture, whereas all of
[29:31] the animators are just looking at 1 frame at a time.
[29:33] Yeah. And if they lose focus, he goes,
[29:35] don't worry, it's going to be amazing because I can sing it
[29:37] all. So you have to have somebody who
[29:39] steps back and sees the bigger picture and leads everyone
[29:41] through it. So it really, really works and
[29:43] it makes it accessible for all ages because it is so
[29:45] collaborative. Last at the lead in that
[29:48] somebody has to do it. He did it really, really good
[29:50] job. But to me, this feels like a
[29:51] whole building full of people all pull in the same direction,
[29:54] all rule in the same shape. Everyone's in time, everybody's
[29:57] working and the last has beaten the drum.
[29:59] The love for what they're doing jumps off the screen still.
[30:02] Just the excitement for what they're achieving.
[30:04] If you're trying to get something, it's born in front of
[30:06] your eyes. You've got to say, I'm rendering
[30:08] these 362 frames tonight. Yeah.
[30:10] You come back the next day, you sit with a cup of coffee and you
[30:12] see them frames rendered and you go.
[30:14] It works. Yeah.
[30:15] So you buzz move for the first time or something, Yeah.
[30:17] It must have been unbelievable. So we can't tell the story of
[30:21] Toy Story without kind of telling the story of how Pixar
[30:24] came to be. The two tales are intertwined
[30:27] and mad. I think you're chomping in a bit
[30:28] to tell us all about that. Like I've never been before.
[30:33] Yeah. Put some gusto on that.
[30:36] So. Yes, the first film to ever
[30:38] feature a full computer animated sequence.
[30:40] That was 1982's Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan, which he
[30:44] obviously loved John because that used CGI to create the
[30:47] simulation of the Genesis effect and this was done by Lucasfilm
[30:50] and by 1985 that created the first ever fully CGI character
[30:54] in a film when they created the stained glass night in young
[30:57] Sherlock Holmes. That's right.
[31:00] If you've not seen that night, check it out.
[31:01] It still holds up. It does be good, right?
[31:04] And even going back, the 1973 Westworld incorporated basic CGI
[31:08] graphics and Tron 1982 as well. Obviously another John Lasseter
[31:12] is the first time you saw Tron. He knew it was the future,
[31:15] right? And believe it or not, this is
[31:17] not the last time we're going to mention Star Trek 2 with the
[31:19] wrath of God, I'm sure. All the last podcasts we're
[31:23] going to fucking mention on. And that CGI division of
[31:28] Lucasfilm was called the Graphics Group.
[31:30] And at that time Steve Jobs had just left Apple and he saw CGI's
[31:33] The Next Big Thing and bought the Graphics Group from
[31:36] Lucasfilm for $5,000,000. He rebranded it, called it Pixar
[31:40] Animation Studios, and the goal was creating the first ever
[31:43] fully CGI feature film. Pixar's a much better name.
[31:46] Surely? Much better name.
[31:48] The graphics group. Do you think George Lucas
[31:50] regretted selling it later on? He must have.
[31:53] He'd love Toy Story on his TV, wouldn't he?
[31:55] Yeah. Yeah, I think.
[31:57] So it wouldn't. And then, after he'd been fired
[31:59] as an animator by Disney in 1983, Lassiter got a job at the
[32:02] graphics group. He became one of the driving
[32:04] forces of Pixar and directed most of their first projects
[32:07] which were animated shorts like Luxor, Junior Red Stream and
[32:11] Knick Knack. So Luxor Junior, that's the
[32:14] Pixar lamp. You know, the desk lamp that
[32:16] hops about on their logo identity?
[32:18] Yeah, and looks so Junior. Also features the ball from Toy
[32:21] Story, the yellow one with the orange star that buzz like
[32:24] bounces on. Yeah, it was 1986.
[32:26] Looks so Junior and that still holds up as well.
[32:28] It still looks good. Yeah, it does does great.
[32:31] And then in 1988 lasted it directed Tin Toy, and that's a
[32:34] short film about a tin toy soldier trying to escape an
[32:37] angry baby. It was the first CGI film to win
[32:39] an Oscar Best animated Short. Yeah, I think it was at this
[32:43] point that people began to take notes of Pixar.
[32:45] It was like, hang on, this is a bit new and it looks really
[32:49] good. Yeah, well, one of the companies
[32:51] taking notice was Disney, who had fight last five years
[32:54] earlier. They often dropped to go back
[32:56] and work for them and head up their CGI animation division.
[32:58] But he said no and decided to stay at Pixar.
[33:02] Yeah, apparently, he said to Ed Catmull, 1 of Pixar's Co
[33:04] founders, something like I could go to Disney and be a director
[33:07] or I could stay here and make history.
[33:10] So they did know where things were headed.
[33:12] Like you were saying, Westie, they knew how exciting it was
[33:14] what they were doing. Yeah, CGI animation division.
[33:18] Imagine going to have a war against them guys.
[33:21] No threat whatsoever with the CGI animation division, so just
[33:26] loads of bags of crisps. But Disney was so keen on
[33:31] working with Pixar that they offered them a deal of $26
[33:34] million to produce 3 CGI animated features.
[33:37] Pixar were going through some financial struggles at the time,
[33:40] so I accepted the deal and said they wanted the first film in
[33:43] the deal to be Toy Story. Right.
[33:46] So before 1993, every Disney film had been produced entirely
[33:49] in house by themselves. But then they worked with Tim
[33:52] Burton on The Nightmare Before Christmas.
[33:54] Yes. When that was a success, that
[33:56] became open to the idea of making deals with other studios
[33:58] like Pixar. And the rest is kind of history,
[34:01] yeah. Yeah, so Disney initially set a
[34:04] budget at $17 million, but that had to increase.
[34:08] Pixar did a 32nd animation test as proof of concept and realized
[34:11] they had massively underestimated what was
[34:13] involved. Steve Jobs and Ed Campbell went
[34:16] back to Disney and told them the budget had to be 30 million and
[34:19] Disney agreed. Through gritted teeth, no doubt.
[34:24] Yeah, Steve Jobs, he's got a way of talking to people.
[34:26] He's very persuasive, I guess. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
[34:29] Yeah. Well, last I said that, Steve
[34:30] Jobs told him don't hold back. You've got a chance to do
[34:32] something. Yeah.
[34:33] That'll last forever. Yeah, exactly.
[34:35] He knows a thing or two about that.
[34:36] And absolutely, it turns out he was kind of right.
[34:38] Yeah, yeah, enough to spend in the next few months working on
[34:41] the film. Pixar presented their first
[34:43] draft of Toy Story to Disney in November 93, but it went so
[34:46] badly that it's become known within Pixar as Black Friday.
[34:50] Disney said the film was watchable and that Woody was a
[34:53] sarcastic jerk, and we're ready to just shut down production
[34:56] entirely, right? You've had a few Black Fridays
[34:59] and see him, I bet, Matt. Oh, more than one.
[35:01] Yeah. Every Friday.
[35:03] Definitely being a sarcastic jerk.
[35:07] There is footage of the Black Friday version of Toy Story out
[35:09] there and it is pretty bad. Woody looks quite a bit
[35:12] different and worse than what we know now, and he is a bit of an
[35:15] asshole to the other toys. It feels like really mean
[35:17] spirited. Yeah, really, right.
[35:20] Well, Laster then asked Disney to give them time to rewrite the
[35:23] script before they made a decision.
[35:25] Disney agreed as long as Pixar paid for it.
[35:27] So Steve Jobs had to fund all the rewrites personally.
[35:30] Laster and his team sort of putting in 100 hour work weeks
[35:34] where they redo storyboards, attended storytelling seminars,
[35:37] and rewrote the script almost entirely changing the tone and
[35:41] making Woody more likeable. Yeah, they attended Robert McKee
[35:44] seminars, apparently. You know, storytelling.
[35:47] Yeah, I've read a couple of his books.
[35:49] Yeah. I didn't realize he played a
[35:50] part in Toy Story. Wow.
[35:52] And we'll talk more about somebody that changes in a bit.
[35:54] There was quite a few, but imagine the stress of that whole
[35:56] situation. 100 hour workweek, mental.
[36:00] No fans. That's impossible.
[36:02] Yeah. Definitely is.
[36:04] Last time I saw Toy Story as a pretty personal project and he
[36:07] brought in a few elements from his own childhood toys.
[36:10] When he was a kid he had Casper the Friendly ghost doll which he
[36:12] had like a pulse string as a talking feature that influenced
[36:15] the same feature on Woody. And he also loved Etcher sketch
[36:18] as a kid, which is why etches in the film.
[36:20] Yeah, I love that. Always shit the hell out of it
[36:22] clear on the screen. Etch draw.
[36:27] Brilliant. Laster also said that he used to
[36:30] write Johnny on all of his own toys, which is where the idea of
[36:33] Andy writing his name on Woody and Boz came from.
[36:35] Right? OK.
[36:36] Right. Before we finish up on John
[36:38] Laster and this direction on Toy Story, we have our first ATRM
[36:41] Patreon question. OK, so the benefits of becoming
[36:44] an ATRM Patreon keep rolling in and one of them is that will
[36:47] answer your questions on the show.
[36:49] We have the first of those now, and it comes from Roger poor
[36:52] Doctor. Hello, Roger.
[36:54] Hello, Roger. Which sounds a bit like Roger
[36:56] Podcaster it. Does.
[36:58] Yeah. Roger says fun to finally get
[37:01] into the arena of animated movies.
[37:03] Very true. Roger.
[37:05] Wondering what each of you say is your favorite animated movie
[37:07] of all time? My choice would be Disney's
[37:10] classic version of Robin Hood. All right.
[37:12] The voice acting is outstanding, it's hilarious, and Maid Marion
[37:15] is 1 hot. Fox she is.
[37:17] He's not wrong. Again, very true, Roger.
[37:19] I love that badminton scene. What do you think, Matt?
[37:23] Your favorite animated movie? Oh, where to start?
[37:26] I'll try and make this quick. If we're talking Pixar, I think
[37:30] Up, Wally, Inside Out, Coco, Monsters, Zinc.
[37:33] They are top tier. Studio.
[37:35] Shapely, we have to talk about them.
[37:36] Spirited Away, that's a real favorite of mine.
[37:38] Yeah, different kind of animation, but I have to mention
[37:41] Artman with Wallace and Gromit, particularly The Wrong Trousers
[37:45] because that packs more ingenuity and genuinely great
[37:48] action and hard into 30 minutes more than most of the 2 1/2 hour
[37:52] blockbusters. Yeah, yeah, and it's hilarious.
[37:54] And it's hilarious. It's fantastic.
[37:56] Robot dreams, which if you watch it, that will break your heart
[37:59] into 1000 pieces. Fantastic.
[38:01] Have you seen it? I've seen it, yeah.
[38:03] Brilliant. But Roger mentioned Robin Hood
[38:05] there, which I totally agree. I've always loved that since I
[38:07] was a kid. It's so funny.
[38:08] The songs are great. I love The Jungle Book for
[38:11] pretty much exactly the same reasons, but if I have to pick
[38:13] just one. I was going to say all of this.
[38:17] This is like me answering the question totally rubbing off on
[38:20] you here. If I had to pick just one note
[38:21] to represent what this medium can do brilliantly, a would go
[38:24] classic Disney and I'd have to see a Dumbo.
[38:26] Nice. Just because that's got emotion,
[38:29] it's got hilarity and it's got psychedelic sequences in it as
[38:32] well, all in 60 minutes. It's.
[38:34] Brilliant. And a flying elephant, I mean.
[38:36] What more do you want? Yeah, Toy Story would be in that
[38:39] conversation for me, as with Toy Story Two.
[38:41] Yeah, I love classic Disney in the 100 animations.
[38:44] And yeah, The Jungle Book, The Lion King, Up Brilliant, Snow
[38:46] White and the Seven Dwarfs. That was groundbreaking.
[38:48] Yeah. My favorite in terms of how it
[38:49] looks is probably 101 Dalmatians.
[38:52] Yeah, the animations are stunning, right?
[38:53] Yeah. Yeah, still holds up.
[38:55] But yeah, it does, yeah, really good.
[38:57] I also think Pixar basically like storytelling geniuses, as I
[39:00] keep saying, and they've done loads of incredible stuff.
[39:02] Finding Nemo as a joy Court War totally blew me away when I saw
[39:06] that. Yeah, it's amazing.
[39:07] Yeah. And yeah, I agreement Studio
[39:08] will give Lee. Spirited Away is extraordinary.
[39:11] No spoilers, but watch it if you haven't seen it.
[39:13] Great with the Fireflies. If you've seen that award drama.
[39:16] One of the most harrowing things you could ever see.
[39:19] Yeah, yeah. And from anime.
[39:20] Akira, obviously. Massively influential.
[39:22] Still one of the coolest films I've ever seen.
[39:24] And the most copied shot of a motorbike slide they will ever
[39:27] be, surely. Yeah, yeah.
[39:30] And Rusty, how about you with animations?
[39:32] I mean is there any left? Should have killed you first,
[39:36] shouldn't I? Sorry.
[39:37] No, I've only got 3. One of them is me being like,
[39:40] well Wesley, what's your favorite animation?
[39:42] It would be great with the fireflies of.
[39:45] Course it would. Yeah, because it was one that
[39:49] really, really hit home for me, was inside out.
[39:52] I thought that was just so intelligent, so well made, so
[39:54] important. And even the second one as well,
[39:56] you know, teenage daughter makes perfect sense.
[39:58] She watches that. She feels better about herself.
[40:00] We all feel better about everything that's going on.
[40:02] It really, really works. And the other one the Blues were
[40:05] is Ratatouille. I never, I never get sick of
[40:07] that guy. Oh.
[40:08] Yeah, great. I never get sick of that film.
[40:10] It's fantastic. Just when he eats it at the end
[40:12] and he goes back to his childhood and then comes back
[40:14] again. Yeah, brilliant.
[40:16] Absolutely inspired. Yeah, Them 3 for me.
[40:18] Lovely. Well, back to John Last Dad and
[40:20] Toy Story and despite the ground breaking work, there was no
[40:23] Oscar recognition in the Best Director or Best Picture
[40:26] categories. Probably unsurprising, but do
[40:28] you know what wasn't that yet? Same film for both.
[40:31] Which is 96. Braveheart.
[40:34] It was Mel Gibson, Best director, Best picture to
[40:37] Braveheart. Toy Story's probably a bit more
[40:39] realistic. Factually accurate, yeah.
[40:43] Factually accurate, yeah. John Lass I did, though, receive
[40:45] a special achievement Academy Award for They said it inspired
[40:48] leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the
[40:51] first feature length computer animated film.
[40:54] Yeah, yeah. It was the first animated film
[40:56] to get an award like that since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
[40:58] also Disney in 1937. Wow.
[41:00] Yeah. And that was their first, wasn't
[41:01] it? So it's a first for everybody.
[41:03] Yeah, Yeah. And after Toy Story, Pixar last
[41:06] that went from strength to strength.
[41:07] Last that I looked at the second Pixar feature film, A Bug's
[41:10] Life, in 1998. And Pixar went on to produce hit
[41:13] after hit and become one of the most beloved and successful
[41:16] studios in Hollywood. And it all started with Toy
[41:19] Story. Yep.
[41:20] It really did, and I also like Shrek.
[41:24] Nobody mentioned that. Don't care the.
[41:30] Cast. John Lasseter was making history
[41:34] with Toy Story, and he had a stellar voice cast to help bring
[41:37] the plastic characters to life. We're about to dive in the
[41:40] detail on our two main leads. That's Tim Allen's Space Ranger,
[41:44] Buzz Lightyear, but we're better to start than with the old
[41:47] sheriff himself. Definitely.
[41:49] Yeah, definitely. So Tom Angus plays Woody, a Paul
[41:52] string cowboy doll who's been Andy's favorite toy for years.
[41:56] The leader in Andy's room? Woody's life's turned upside
[41:58] down when Buzz Lightyear arrives.
[42:00] We watch Woody's struggles with jealousy and attempted murder.
[42:04] Outrageous. Before you change us to learn
[42:07] the true value of friendship. Yes, a sad, strange little man,
[42:11] Matt, but thanks. How was Woody and Tom Hanks?
[42:13] Not you, OK. That sounded really loaded that
[42:16] I. Really did.
[42:17] Like Woody in the original cut. Black Friday, John, what a
[42:21] bastard. Sarcastic jerk.
[42:25] I think if you're launching an entirely new genre of animation
[42:29] and you need someone on board to help you sell it, be the literal
[42:32] leader. In many ways, it makes complete
[42:36] sense. In the 90s, you get Tom Hanks to
[42:37] do it. I mean, the single most
[42:39] dependable, trustworthy actor out there.
[42:42] Absolutely believe that he would be the voice of a cowboy doll,
[42:45] absolutely believe he would be your boy's best friend, and
[42:47] absolutely believe he would be the leader of the rest of the
[42:50] toys. But what I love about Woody, and
[42:52] This is why he's such a great character, all that
[42:54] dependability goes straight out the window as soon as Buzz
[42:57] arrives on the scene. He's such a petty little man.
[43:00] As soon as Buzz turns getting in, all those little digs at
[43:04] Buzz's name, calling them light beer and light snack.
[43:08] Light snack, I love that. That's so funny.
[43:11] Making jealousy his defining trait for most of the time is so
[43:14] effective at one thing driving the narrative because it's easy
[43:18] for kids to understand that they know what it's like to be
[43:20] jealous. And when it's all coming out of
[43:22] the mouth of Tom Hanks, you don't judge Woody for it.
[43:24] No, he is in the wrong, but you also understand why he behaves
[43:27] like that. I think it's perfect casting
[43:29] getting Hanks in. Yeah.
[43:31] It is, yeah. I think Woody's like the heart
[43:32] of the film to me. And really his argues he learns
[43:35] to compromise, essentially a theme that you might say is
[43:38] something aimed at children. But I've met more than a few
[43:40] adults who benefit from the lessons of what he does, to be
[43:42] honest. He learns that he doesn't have
[43:45] to have others dependence or obedience to have their respect.
[43:48] He does have some not so great character at the beginning.
[43:50] He's controlling a bit, power hungry, quite selfish.
[43:53] And he's not like that by the end.
[43:55] And I think it's a perfectly plotted arc done bit by bit.
[43:59] Even at the start, though, what he has to be likable to some
[44:01] extent. So he is redeemable.
[44:02] So who bad a cast? And Tom Hanks, one of our most
[44:05] popular actors. And this was the first time he'd
[44:07] done voice acting in an animation.
[44:09] But it doesn't show. No, not at all.
[44:11] I think there's something in Hanks, his voice that always
[44:14] kind of radiates decency to me, even when he is being petty with
[44:18] balls. Like you're saying, Matt, I
[44:19] never dislike Woody no, and I think it's an anxious delivery
[44:22] when he's like both like an alien where ridiculous when all
[44:27] these created comedy. Obviously I like it when the
[44:29] shark has Woody's had on and he's like howdy howdy howdy and
[44:32] Woody does the most sarcastic laugh I've ever heard.
[44:39] It's great. My kids love that.
[44:42] That's his favorite bit. Give me that.
[44:46] And you can do drama Hanks by the end when Woody goes back to
[44:49] save Buzz. Totally bias, totally sold on
[44:51] the transformation. And they give us a better plot
[44:54] arc in 80 more minutes than 99% in movies do in two hours or
[44:57] more. Yeah, exactly.
[44:59] I think Woody's one of Hollywood's great animated
[45:01] characters. And the Tim, the Tom Hanks, one
[45:03] of the great roles in a great career, I think.
[45:05] Yeah. I think it's really important
[45:07] that the cast, both of the leads around the same age because the
[45:12] dynamic between them is so fresh and so exciting, even though
[45:16] that dynamic is really old fashioned, You know, the cowboy
[45:19] and the spaceman. Yeah.
[45:20] Yeah. If Disney had done this story
[45:22] like after Snow White, late 40s early 50s, James Stewart would
[45:26] have been Woody. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[45:28] He's the next best person to do that, 95 Tom Hanks, obviously,
[45:31] and that's what he brings to it. It's that classic charisma and
[45:35] that classic charm. But through the film you see him
[45:37] mature and grow and he learns as much as everybody else does.
[45:41] I mean, he's got a great plan. We'll get to the end of it, but
[45:43] that plans absolutely incredible.
[45:45] It's unbelievable. It's.
[45:46] Unbelievable that it that it works, but I think like you
[45:49] said, I think the the range of Hanks here is kind of forgotten
[45:53] about. And I think the impact of the
[45:55] film, at the end of the day, it didn't need Tom Hanks.
[45:57] It was just a bonus that it was Hanks, really.
[46:00] Yeah, it doesn't need him, does it?
[46:01] Doesn't. Need that.
[46:02] I don't think it needs him at all.
[46:03] It needs him for that range and the range that he brings to me,
[46:06] because it doesn't feel like it's a classic Tom Hanks
[46:07] performance. It feels like he's very loose
[46:09] and he's doing whatever is needed for the character and he
[46:12] becomes Woody. It's a completely different
[46:15] performance. I think he changes his voice, he
[46:16] changes his persona, and he becomes the character, and
[46:19] that's what Tom Hanks is really, really great at doing.
[46:21] But again, it's got that really traditional vibe, that all
[46:23] American vibe, that good guy, and Hanks nails all of that
[46:27] really, really well. It's really well done.
[46:29] Brilliant performance. Absolutely.
[46:31] But originally the main character in Toy Sobby wasn't
[46:34] going to be Woody, he was going to be Tinny, the drummer boy
[46:36] leading tin toy that we talked about.
[46:38] But lastly, I realized Tinny was just too old fashioned a toy to
[46:41] resonate with audiences in the 90s so changed to his space
[46:45] based all. Right, yeah, I think the story
[46:47] was apparently that Tinny had been taken on a family vacation
[46:50] with his owners and then got left behind it at rest stop and
[46:52] they got found by a junk man. He escapes and ends up at a
[46:55] children's play home where you'll never, like, grow out of
[46:58] favour, right? So some of the themes in the
[47:00] Beats were there from the start, but it did change a lot.
[47:02] But that story sounds kind of like Toy Story 3 with the
[47:05] children's play home. And a bit like 4 as well.
[47:07] Yeah, and a bit like 4, like a lot of the themes that they came
[47:10] up with weren't thrown away, they were just put on the shelf
[47:12] because they're all good ideas. Yeah, it does this work for
[47:15] this. That just couldn't fit them all
[47:17] in one. Exactly.
[47:18] Yeah. So they're cherry picking
[47:19] exactly what works, and that's why this film's that good.
[47:21] They're not scared to say no to an idea.
[47:23] Yeah, Yeah. And then the Woody character was
[47:25] then going to be ventriloquist dummy.
[47:27] And it was a Pixar designer called Bud Lucky who suggested
[47:29] the last day that they change Woody to a cowboy doll.
[47:32] One of the reasons was because the thought a cowboy doll would
[47:35] contrast well with the more modern space figure they already
[47:37] had. Yeah, yeah.
[47:39] Doing research, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when these
[47:42] changes were made, but the Black Friday incident we talked about,
[47:44] that played a big part. Yeah.
[47:46] Apparently in that version, would he deliberately push both
[47:49] out the window? And I mean, it's hard to come
[47:51] back from that. It's a little bit like get out.
[47:54] It's more like Chucky. What's next?
[47:56] Like a lasso around his neck and just throw it over the curtain
[47:59] ball? It's to pull them up.
[48:01] I poisoned the water hole. You piece of shit.
[48:06] And the first designs of Woody still look like eventual crystal
[48:09] with this mouth separated. But you can see the concept are
[48:11] gradually changing what we know now.
[48:13] Yeah, yeah, I think it looks really good, Woody.
[48:16] Yeah. Massive head, huge head, And
[48:20] there's a shot early on when Woody's on the bed talking with
[48:22] Slinky. There's a drawing on the wall
[48:23] behind him of a cowboy. That's early concept art for
[48:26] Woody. Right.
[48:27] Great. And it's never mentioned in the
[48:29] film, but the editor on the film, Lee Unkrich, he later said
[48:32] Woody's surname is Pride, which is something picks on you early
[48:35] on. And that's inspired by Woody
[48:37] Strode, a real life NFL footballer turned actor.
[48:40] Right, yeah. I think it was a bit of a
[48:42] trailblazer in terms of being a black player in the NFL, what he
[48:45] strode. And he was in loads of films as
[48:46] well. He was in Spartacus.
[48:47] He was, yeah. And he was in westerns, which I
[48:49] guess inspired Woody, the man who shot Liberty Violence, Once
[48:52] Upon a Time in the West. The Crook and the Dead was his
[48:54] last film. All right.
[48:55] Yeah, he's great in that as well.
[48:56] So once I had the concept set of the two leads being a cowboy and
[48:59] a space Ranger, Pixar knew who they wanted to voice them.
[49:02] They wanted Paul Newman to play Woody and Jim Carrey do the
[49:04] Voice of Buzz, but couldn't afford the salaries.
[49:07] Course, I couldn't imagine Kerry ludicrous flailing arms
[49:11] everywhere. Robin Williams was the genie in
[49:14] Aladdin. It would have just been like so
[49:16] much ad Lib. Yeah, you need to stick to this
[49:18] script, Jim. I mean, Robin Williams is
[49:19] brilliant as the genie. Of that change the animation for
[49:22] what you just don't yeah. But yeah, I think Newman and
[49:27] Kerry were apparently to reflect the idea of old Hollywood being
[49:29] taken over by newer Hollywood, which is a good idea, to be
[49:32] fair. It's a great idea, yeah.
[49:34] And Pauline was in cause a few years later, so the budget must
[49:36] have went up obviously. Yeah, his salary went down,
[49:39] Yeah. Yeah, maybe.
[49:41] But last I only ever wondered Tom Hanks to play Woody, but
[49:44] Hanks was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood at the time
[49:46] and had never done an animation before so wasn't sure about
[49:49] doing it. So to convince him last, I had a
[49:51] short proof of concept made, which was a short film of Woody
[49:54] animated to some of Hanks's dialogue from Turner and Hooch
[49:57] and Ron Hanks saw that it just convinced him it could work and
[49:59] he was straight in. Oh, nice.
[50:00] Yeah. Yeah, I've seen that the
[50:02] dialogue from Turner and Hooch is the Don't eat the car.
[50:06] But. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, right.
[50:08] What do you like hitting the ground?
[50:09] It's really fun, right? So Hanks was already signed up
[50:12] to work on 4 films and had to figure out where to fit in Toy
[50:15] Story. He didn't want to record a comic
[50:17] role while he was making Philadelphia.
[50:18] I mean, obviously, yeah, imagine that.
[50:21] He shouldn't lose this in Jurassic Park at the same time,
[50:26] so he decided to record the part of Woody and Bricks and filming
[50:28] of Sleepless in Seattle and A League of Their Own.
[50:31] That makes more sense. Yeah, a bit more light hearted
[50:33] than once. A league of their own doesn't
[50:35] make more sense. I'd love to see a proof of
[50:36] contract for Woody with There's no crying in Baseball was work
[50:42] as the voice of Woody, Tom Hanks received widespread praise but
[50:45] no major award nomination. Voice acting was still
[50:47] overlooked by major awards at the time.
[50:49] Yeah. For us, though, we think Tom
[50:51] Hanks brings Woody to life pretty expertly.
[50:53] And Toy Story among his biggest films.
[50:56] Yeah, Custom. Yeah, definitely.
[50:57] He's part of the ensemble and it works really well.
[51:01] The other main lead is Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Tim Allen,
[51:05] a Space Ranger action figure who believes he's the real Buzz
[51:08] Light year. We follow Buzz's journey from
[51:10] deluded hero to accepting his status as Andy's toy, forming a
[51:13] bond with Woody along the way. Yes, the world's greatest
[51:17] superhero is now the world's greatest toy.
[51:19] Westy he is. How's Tim Allen?
[51:21] How's Buzz Light? Yeah.
[51:23] Space Ranger, he's fantastic, absolutely fantastic because he
[51:30] totally gets the different levels that this character has
[51:33] to go through, the different arcs that he has to go through.
[51:35] He's he finds out that he doesn't necessarily exist and
[51:39] that's terrifying for everyone. That could be really
[51:41] heartbreaking, but it's just his nonchalance and his absolute
[51:45] belief in the fact that he is a space Ranger and he's reading
[51:48] out the blurb on the back of that box with such conviction.
[51:52] And even when he breaks down, he's like years of Academy
[51:55] training for nothing. That bit's amazing.
[51:59] He's fall from grace is amazing. Believing he can fly the cock
[52:02] sureness of it, but it could have been overplayed and being a
[52:05] little bit cheesy. But I think it's just a really
[52:08] great twist on it, and I think it's one that you get when
[52:10] you're more grown up in that he is the representation of acting
[52:14] like an adult. When you want to act like a kid,
[52:16] you can let it all go. You don't have to be your job.
[52:19] Like, you can just be a toy if you want.
[52:21] You can just relax. And the physical animation of
[52:25] Buzz perfectly matches the personification that he brings
[52:28] to the voice. You know when he's like, he hits
[52:31] the laser and his feet are crossed over and he's walking
[52:33] around the bed. Yeah, I love it.
[52:36] It's just that and then you just when you go right, well, when
[52:38] this guy talks, it's got to match that.
[52:40] It's like you don't want to be around.
[52:41] My laser goes off, the voice matches that walk, do you know?
[52:46] What I mean? The whole personality just
[52:47] matches everything that animation matches.
[52:49] It's the same with what do you be fair?
[52:51] And same with all the characters.
[52:52] But I think it's such a surprise that Tim Allen's in there
[52:55] because it wasn't a big name for me, but he really brings it
[52:58] here. And there's some really, really
[53:00] wonderful bits of acting from Tim Allen that I would never
[53:02] have expected. Just really, really good, really
[53:06] funny. Just when he picks him up and
[53:08] he's at that tea party and he's like, you see the hat?
[53:11] I am Mrs. Nesbitt. Yeah, when I saw that in the
[53:14] cinema, that got one of the biggest laughs I think I've ever
[53:16] heard in the cinema. It's amazing.
[53:18] It's so good. It's so well done, so well
[53:21] voiced. I still don't quite believe it's
[53:22] Tim Allen. I think it's somebody completely
[53:24] foreign, someone completely different.
[53:26] I actually believe it's Buzz like you.
[53:30] Yeah, I love Buzz Light year. He's great.
[53:32] Love him again, it starts in the writing.
[53:34] Just the idea of having him believe he's the real Buzz Light
[53:36] year is just genius. It is genius.
[53:39] Elevator dynamic between Buzz and Woody by like tenfold and it
[53:42] makes Buzzes arc massive. He does lose your identity, like
[53:45] you're saying, Rusty. He goes through depression,
[53:47] which is crazy, but they pull it off and he comes out the other
[53:50] side by learning that happiness comes in being who you are and
[53:53] focusing on the people around you rather than the opinions of
[53:55] people you'll never meet or who won't ever care about you Yet
[53:58] again. Universal stuff within the world
[54:01] of being a toy. So they both have Ox and it's a
[54:04] buddy story. I know that one of the writers,
[54:06] Andrew Stanton, he said the reason they decided to do a
[54:08] buddy story was just because it had never been done before in an
[54:11] animation. Yeah.
[54:12] And Toy Story is one of the best body stories out there for me.
[54:14] Yeah. Two totally different people
[54:16] don't get on, get thrown together on an adventure, have
[54:19] to work together and then both change to meet in the middle.
[54:22] Classic stuff. The kind of difficulty you've
[54:24] got is you're going to come up with not one great character,
[54:26] but two. Yeah.
[54:27] And if you cope with Woody and Buzz Lightyear, you're doing all
[54:30] right. Yeah.
[54:31] I think it's fantastic character writing.
[54:33] And Tim Allen playing him. I haven't always been a massive
[54:35] fan of my that Westy. Yeah, but he's perfect.
[54:38] There's deadpan delivery set against the huge vocals of
[54:41] Hanks, works great, and he plays it straight.
[54:43] He never winks at the audience, He never acts like he's on the
[54:46] joke. Buzz believes everything he
[54:48] said, which is essential to me at the moment that he realizes
[54:51] land as powerfully as it does. The only thing I'm not sure why,
[54:55] if Buzz believes he's the real Buzz, he also pretends to be
[54:59] anonymous when Andy's around. Is that a plot hole?
[55:02] Yeah, that's a good point, yeah. Yeah, it's a good point, Yeah.
[55:04] But then again, if you're going to go down that rabbit hole,
[55:07] there's so much to do. I mean, how do the no Andes
[55:09] coming back? Yeah, Yeah.
[55:10] You know, how many times is he going to catch them?
[55:12] Did you leave your present on the bed in your birthday party?
[55:16] No, you don't. You take it with.
[55:17] Something right in the middle of the private bed in.
[55:19] The middle of the buffet just level and say there's loads that
[55:22] you can kind of tap into. So I mean, maybe I think people
[55:25] have said, oh, it's based on the child's love and all this kind
[55:28] of thing. And yeah, again, it doesn't have
[55:29] to explain that. I think it's Miles Neeta that he
[55:32] just falls over of. Course, Yeah, it's great.
[55:34] Brilliant. I mean, it's not often you get
[55:36] to say Tim Allen is the absolute equal of Tom Hanks in the film,
[55:40] but it's 100% true in this case. It's just more perfect custom
[55:44] because Alan gets what Buzzes character is, which is pompous
[55:48] and praying and full of himself and the performance.
[55:51] For me, it's this beautiful combination of William Shatner
[55:53] and Roger Moore at the same time.
[55:55] Oh hey, ignore the BTF. Exactly which is perfect.
[55:59] Listen to me. So many line deliveries have
[56:01] done with this little like self satisfied smirk or a raised
[56:04] eyebrow. Like you're all mocking me
[56:05] aren't you? It's the sincerity of it all.
[56:08] Imagine if Shatner and more of a buzz and woody.
[56:12] How are you talking it? Would have been too much for the
[56:15] average person. But Alan, he's just constantly
[56:17] hilarious. I suppose it it will never not
[56:20] be funny how seriously he takes his lasers.
[56:22] That's brilliant. And that journey to discover and
[56:25] accept who he really is, that's just as compelling as Woody's
[56:29] journey to stop being jealous of Buzz.
[56:31] Like, Buzz could have easily been an idiot of the bad guy
[56:34] here, but he's not, Neither is Woody.
[56:35] They're both written with this nuance like you really get in
[56:38] kids animations. And Tim Allen is as iconic and
[56:41] as important in the film as Tom Hanks is, and that says a lot.
[56:44] Yeah, I think you're right. I think he is.
[56:46] As we mentioned, the idea of one of the leads being a space
[56:48] action figure came about before the other one being a cowboy
[56:51] did, but he went through changes.
[56:53] He was originally called Luna, Larry and then Tempest from
[56:56] Morph. Ridiculous for the settled.
[56:59] I called him Buzz Lightyear after Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz
[57:02] Aldrin. Yeah, yeah.
[57:03] Not Buzz from Home Alone. Then obviously calling Woody
[57:06] flemward. Life-size Michael Jordan at the
[57:10] back of Andy's room. I mean, it's an incredible name
[57:15] for a character, isn't it? Buzz Lightyear.
[57:17] Buzz Lightyear, it's amazing. It's unbelievable.
[57:19] When they came up with that, it must have just been like, all
[57:21] right, fair enough that the lunar Larry.
[57:27] And Buzz was designed by a Pixar production designer called Bob
[57:31] Pauly and he took inspiration from classic real life action
[57:34] figures like Jai Jaw and Major Matt Mason.
[57:37] And in the first designs he was dressed in a red spacesuit and
[57:40] it was much smaller than Woody, but he then changed the dress in
[57:43] a white suit with green and purple trim and that's because
[57:45] that's lasted it in his wifes favorite colours.
[57:48] Something I've thought since I first saw Boys when I was 14 and
[57:51] still think now. How good does he look?
[57:53] Yeah, the design work is magnificent.
[57:56] It's great. Looks like the coolest toy in
[57:58] the world. Top to bottom he looks great.
[58:00] Yeah, it was a cool toy. I had the actual toy.
[58:02] Did you? Yeah, still got it.
[58:04] Have you really? Yeah, Yeah.
[58:06] Oh wow like 95 they were selling out and I was buying this
[58:09] because of nice All me past experiences mean I'm giving away
[58:11] a loads of me Star Wars figures. I'll post a picture on paper and
[58:16] if anyone's interested. Let's get it up there for sure.
[58:18] And Paulie said one of the biggest challenges he had in
[58:21] designing Buzz was his face. Eventually, he based him on John
[58:24] Lasseter. Face.
[58:25] Buzzes, eyebrows, cheekbones and chin dibbles in his chin were
[58:28] all taken from Lasseter. If you're going to base on
[58:31] someone just based on the director, not going to go wrong
[58:34] there. Get signed off.
[58:36] That looks great. He does look totally different
[58:40] than Woody, but all the contrast between the characters.
[58:42] Buzz has a button that says Buzz Light year to the rescue, which
[58:45] is pretty cool. What he's got upholstering,
[58:47] saying there's a snake in my boots, which is not cool.
[58:51] All the way down to woodies, like made of cloth, buzzes, hard
[58:54] plastic. I think it's all so well thought
[58:56] out and thought through. Yeah.
[58:59] And an early test. Buzz was voiced by a Pixar
[59:01] animator called Pete Doctor. He had a story writing credit on
[59:04] Toy Story and helped come up with the character of Buzz by
[59:07] bullying Buzz style faces it himself in the mirror.
[59:11] Andy Wilmes, direct up and inside out.
[59:14] Pete, Doctor. Right.
[59:15] Yeah. Yeah, another big name it picks
[59:16] up. Lassiter always wanted an
[59:19] established actor though, and apparently considered Mel Gibson
[59:22] and Bruce Willis before deciding he wanted to cast Billy Crystal.
[59:25] Wow. They did the same thing as with
[59:27] Hanks and created a proof of concept with Buzz alongside some
[59:29] Crystal dialogue from When Harry Met Sally.
[59:32] But Crystal said no, and he's later said turning down Buzz was
[59:35] the biggest mistake of his career.
[59:37] Yeah. Is that why he wanted to do
[59:39] Monsters Inc you think? It definitely was.
[59:41] Yeah, that's not so. Yeah.
[59:43] Well, that's what I called Crystal again a few years later.
[59:45] I'd offer him the part of Mike Wazowski Monsters Inc.
[59:47] And Crystal said that his wife was like John Lasseter on the
[59:50] phone for you. And Crystal just picked up the
[59:51] phone and went, yes, I'll do it. Lovely.
[59:54] Amazing. But at that time, Home
[59:56] Improvement was one of the biggest sitcoms in America.
[59:59] John Lasseter was a big fan of that, and it star Tim Allen.
[1:00:02] He said he knew Alan could play a macho guy with a soft
[1:00:04] underbelly, so asked if he'd be interested in playing Buzz and
[1:00:07] Alan said yes. Apparently, it wasn't until they
[1:00:10] heard Tim Allen's test as Buzz and heard his deadpan delivery.
[1:00:13] Then they came up with the idea of having Buzz believe he's not
[1:00:16] a toy. Oh, really?
[1:00:17] He was so good at the Space Ranger stuff.
[1:00:18] Yeah, Yeah. For that alone, it's an
[1:00:20] incredible piece of casting. Wow.
[1:00:22] I mean, that story beat. It makes the narrative like
[1:00:24] seeing us It does. So what was the script?
[1:00:27] The whole film's based around that.
[1:00:29] Yeah, yeah, I guess he knew it was a toy, right?
[1:00:31] OK, definitely not as good. Voice actors in animations often
[1:00:35] record their parts by themselves, but because Hanks
[1:00:37] and Alan had never worked in animations before, they decided
[1:00:40] to record their parts in the studio together at the same time
[1:00:43] so they could bounce off each other.
[1:00:45] While judging by the results, it worked the treat it is, the
[1:00:47] chemistry between Woody and Buzz is about, I think, as good as it
[1:00:50] gets. Between 2 lead characters.
[1:00:52] Yeah, and you can see four of them recording the part in the
[1:00:54] studio as well. And even that is just a bit of a
[1:00:56] joy bet. It is, yeah.
[1:00:58] Doing the meet up like once a month still now just for lunch.
[1:01:01] Do they really? Yeah, I think they do, yeah.
[1:01:03] Kind of mad, yeah. Really, really close.
[1:01:05] Our first performance as Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen, also
[1:01:08] received acclaim but no awards nominations.
[1:01:10] He did return the voice pause in every Toy Story feature follow
[1:01:13] up though. And again, for us, pretty great
[1:01:16] piece of voice casting. Perfect again.
[1:01:18] Wonderful came from Norway and it's here today.
[1:01:23] Woody and Buzz are our leads, of course, but it's not about them
[1:01:25] 100% of the time. We mentioned Bo Peep earlier,
[1:01:28] and there are a plethora of supporting characters in Toy
[1:01:31] Story, mostly at that. Toys and Andy's room, yes.
[1:01:34] So which of the toys do we think are worth discussing?
[1:01:37] I mean, lots of great support and voices.
[1:01:39] I do love Wallace. Sean is Rex, but I'm going to
[1:01:42] talk about John Ratzenberger, his ham.
[1:01:44] Nice one Matt, that's using the old noodle.
[1:01:47] Yeah, that's me, because I won't suggest that none of these toys
[1:01:52] may be, with the exception of Rex, none of them have the
[1:01:55] personality of a child. They're all adults.
[1:01:57] And Ratzenberg, obviously, for people of a certain generation
[1:02:00] will always be Cliff Clavin from cheese.
[1:02:02] Of course he will. And there's definitely an
[1:02:04] element of that. He he's such a know it all.
[1:02:07] When he saw about like the cup of wiring, it was a ship.
[1:02:09] Like he knows about it all of a sudden, so it's a really funny
[1:02:13] character performance. And then Ratzenberger.
[1:02:15] He then became a Pixar lucky charm because his voice featured
[1:02:18] in every one of their films for the next 25 years until.
[1:02:21] Saul. Wow.
[1:02:23] Yeah, He was mostly known as Cliff the Mailman, obviously.
[1:02:25] So a bit of a left field casting choice, but I think he's great.
[1:02:28] And it's almost like a mini. You start like when you hear him
[1:02:30] in a Pixar film, like, oh, there he is.
[1:02:32] There's Cliff, Yeah. And Rex.
[1:02:34] Yeah. Well, Shawn, you mentioned
[1:02:35] there, Mark, that's the inconceivable guy from The
[1:02:38] Princess Bride. Yeah, apparently lasted.
[1:02:40] I wanted Ricky Moranis to play Rex all.
[1:02:42] Right, I could say that. Yeah.
[1:02:43] What have been great, yeah. Teaming back up with any pots.
[1:02:46] Yeah, yeah, that would be wonderful.
[1:02:47] Yeah. And Jim Varney plays Slinky.
[1:02:49] He's best known for playing Ernest P Worrell.
[1:02:51] As in like, Ernest goes to camp and goes to jail, all that
[1:02:55] stuff, right? Yes, apparently for Slinky
[1:02:56] though. Lasted.
[1:02:57] I originally wondered John Cleese.
[1:03:00] Right. It's just furious all the time,
[1:03:02] yeah. Give him a damn good.
[1:03:04] Thrashing, getting the fire extinguisher out.
[1:03:11] I'm doing it. I'm doing it now.
[1:03:15] And Rusty, I think we'll save the best last for you.
[1:03:18] Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, what a piece of shit sometimes.
[1:03:22] This guy is. And one of the funniest bits is
[1:03:25] that what you know, was said that Tim Allen totally makes it
[1:03:27] and everything that Buzz Lightyear does really matches
[1:03:30] the voice. But everything that Mister
[1:03:32] Potato Head does matches Don Rickles personality.
[1:03:35] He does not become Mr. Potato Head.
[1:03:38] It's just Don Rickles in that form.
[1:03:40] It's almost like he's been injected into a toy.
[1:03:43] That's like child's play. But it's just Don Rickles soul
[1:03:45] inside Mr. Potato Head. It's so good because you can do
[1:03:49] anything with it. You know, he's gambling over
[1:03:51] battleships and when Slinky's trying to stick up for what, he
[1:03:54] takes his lips off and he's kissing his arse and he's like,
[1:04:00] that's so funny. He's selfish, he's ignorant
[1:04:03] right to the very end. Throw him overboard.
[1:04:06] Like he doesn't stop. He doesn't stop to think of any
[1:04:08] compassion whatsoever. And he's just so funny and so
[1:04:12] cutting. I honestly think this is
[1:04:16] possibly the reason why anyone would prefer 2 / 1 because he
[1:04:19] has that companion and Mrs. Potato Head have that dynamic.
[1:04:23] He's a great addition. Yeah, and that edition really
[1:04:25] does help Rickles just soften a little bit.
[1:04:29] And this is just pure Don Rickles.
[1:04:31] And I think a lot of his dialogue was what happens in the
[1:04:34] scene. I'll just say something.
[1:04:36] Yeah. Feels like it's just Don Rickles
[1:04:38] just riffing on. It does have a feeling.
[1:04:41] And the fact that he's such a bastard at times, when stuff
[1:04:45] happens to him, it's like when I say, hits him at the end, it's
[1:04:47] just, yeah, it's like, good, yeah, you need someone in there
[1:04:54] who gets smacked about a bit and it really works.
[1:04:56] But his first joke was like, I'm Picasso as I don't get it.
[1:04:59] It's so good, so funny. Don Rickles is always, always
[1:05:03] funny. And I have him in what's
[1:05:05] predominantly a kids film. There's nobody better than done
[1:05:08] right to do that for me. Yeah, absolutely.
[1:05:10] And he does get trapped like shit Potato Head, doesn't he?
[1:05:13] Does, but he deserves it though. That's the best thing about it.
[1:05:15] At the store, when Molly and his sister gets hold of him, she's
[1:05:18] bashing him against the grave, bites his arm off.
[1:05:21] That's really funny when you watch your back and you know,
[1:05:23] Potato Head. You know he's going to be sick.
[1:05:25] He'd be like, yeah. I'm not sure why he's so horny
[1:05:28] though, constantly wanting to get in there with the ladies.
[1:05:31] Yeah, when Buzz turns up, Potato Head says to him.
[1:05:33] The dolls must love you. Can you teach me that?
[1:05:36] And talk about laser envy. Yeah.
[1:05:38] Yeah. And Lassiter had always wondered
[1:05:42] Mr. Potato had to be a toy with a chip on his shoulder, which
[1:05:45] we've been talking about. And he did always want stand up
[1:05:48] comic Don Rickles to play him in Potato heads line.
[1:05:50] When he says what are you looking at you hockey puck?
[1:05:53] That's one of Rickles signs he used to shout on hecklers when
[1:05:55] he's doing stand ups. Like Wes, he says he's probably
[1:05:58] revising a lot of his own lines here and.
[1:05:59] Then they're like, well, let's make a hockey puck that would
[1:06:01] never see you again just for that one.
[1:06:07] And last I said that he visited Rickles home in Malibu to offer
[1:06:10] him the pot. He turned up with a Mr. Potato
[1:06:12] Head toy and when he went to give it to him, he said all the
[1:06:15] parts fell off and he said it looked just like him.
[1:06:18] So kind of got to say yes, it's like fit.
[1:06:22] So that's our main cast, some great supporting characters and
[1:06:25] voice actors, but it's mostly our leaves that sell it.
[1:06:28] And Tom Hanks is Woody and Tim Allen, Buzz Light year two
[1:06:31] performances that bring the kind of heart that makes Toy Story
[1:06:34] more than just a technical milestone.
[1:06:36] Definitely. Yeah, when they did it again and
[1:06:38] again. All the right movies will be
[1:06:47] back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by
[1:06:49] listening to this episode. Sponsors.
[1:06:54] Thanks for listening to our sponsors.
[1:06:56] Now back to the show. The middle.
[1:07:05] Heading into the middle of Toy Story and things are getting
[1:07:07] pretty serious. For our Child's Play things,
[1:07:09] we're going to be looking at the scenes across the road from
[1:07:11] Andy's in Sid's House of Horrors.
[1:07:14] But first, it's pizza time. Everyone loves pizza time.
[1:07:17] Always. So I want pizza time.
[1:07:21] Absolutely. So Woody's jealousy gets the
[1:07:23] better of him and he accidentally inverted commas
[1:07:25] knocks put out the window, leading to both toys being left
[1:07:28] behind when Andy and his family go out for food to their
[1:07:31] favorite restaurant. Yeah, West York there to enter.
[1:07:34] Yeah. Welcome to Pizza Planet.
[1:07:36] Thank you so very much. How's it all go for you?
[1:07:38] It goes really well for me. I love this scene.
[1:07:40] I love this whole sequence. First of all, Pizza Planet.
[1:07:43] You know when your mum comes in and goes?
[1:07:45] How about lunch it Pizza Planet? Yes.
[1:07:49] Man, and I love doing that, like with the kids, like I know this
[1:07:53] is going to make them happy. It's just an ace of your sleeve.
[1:07:55] It really works. You know that joy?
[1:07:56] Yeah. But just outside the house, the
[1:07:58] virtual Realty, that's not lost on me.
[1:08:01] Yeah, yeah. Nice.
[1:08:02] Wonderful. But this sequence has just got
[1:08:04] that classic 80s action movie all over it.
[1:08:08] It's fantastic. And then he gets the idea is
[1:08:10] just going to put Buzz behind the desk so he can go to Pizza
[1:08:12] Planet, right? And he's just cooking this plan.
[1:08:15] And he's like, boss, boss, we've got trouble, trouble way.
[1:08:17] And he's just so excited to help that one in trouble whatsoever.
[1:08:21] And then he's looking there. And I think the great thing
[1:08:23] about RC is RC doesn't really say much, but he's got this real
[1:08:26] moral compass. Yeah.
[1:08:27] And you get the tax from the cork board that falls down.
[1:08:30] Really Indiana Jones, really Raiders of the Lost Dog.
[1:08:32] Then the globe falls. The globe chases him, really
[1:08:35] Raiders of the Lost Dog. And then rolls out the way on
[1:08:37] the windowsill. Really Raiders of the Lost Dog.
[1:08:39] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:08:40] It's absolutely brilliant. And Buzz gets knocked out by the
[1:08:43] lamp. He falls down and then it turns
[1:08:45] into like a whodunit. It turns into a Hitchcock film
[1:08:48] all of a sudden and everyone's pointing the finger and
[1:08:50] everybody's looking at the crime scene and then the turn around.
[1:08:52] Is that kind of like pushing Woody as I he did it And the bit
[1:08:56] that I love about this sequence and watch it again and you'll
[1:08:58] see how clever the writing is. But your classic three act
[1:09:00] structure are all described as Act one introduction.
[1:09:04] We've got that already. Act 2 confrontation, Act 3
[1:09:07] resolution, right? So this is the start of Act 2.
[1:09:09] That was shadow of a doubt. This is the start of the
[1:09:12] confrontation and I ask Rex what he thinks and he goes I don't
[1:09:15] like confrontation. Very nice.
[1:09:19] So well done, so well written, such a nod to cinema.
[1:09:22] Not not Hitchcock and Spielberg in the same 2 minute sequence
[1:09:26] doesn't get better for me. It's just wonderful at this
[1:09:28] point. Yeah, it is great.
[1:09:30] What, are you sick of his life by this point?
[1:09:33] Yeah, he is. Yeah.
[1:09:34] But I do enjoy the writing as well.
[1:09:35] It was going out the window. It was planned by Woody, but
[1:09:37] also an accident, which works perfectly with his arc because
[1:09:40] he's able to tell himself it was an accident but then comes to
[1:09:42] accept he was in the wrong. Yeah.
[1:09:44] And Toy Story is famous for Easter eggs.
[1:09:46] And the first one I think is. Yeah.
[1:09:48] You mentioned it was the obviously Raiders of the Lost
[1:09:50] Ark when the globe rolls towards Buzz.
[1:09:52] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:09:53] The music changes to be very India Jones desk as well, so it
[1:09:56] must be intentional. Yeah.
[1:09:57] Do you think you wanted to put behind where the air ball was
[1:09:59] behind the desk? I think so, yeah.
[1:10:00] I think so. He didn't want to go out the
[1:10:02] window. No.
[1:10:02] Not. Definitely not.
[1:10:03] That's a bit too, you know, Black Friday buzz, isn't it?
[1:10:06] Yeah, but my favorite moment of the whole fallout is definitely
[1:10:10] worrying buzzers argument slash fight at the gas station.
[1:10:13] Yeah, buses, even though you're trying to terminate me.
[1:10:16] Revenge is not an idea we promote on my planet and what
[1:10:18] he's like for you. And then Buzz goes.
[1:10:20] But we're not on my planet, are we?
[1:10:24] Buzz, buzz, buzz. Like you're the rescue, that is.
[1:10:26] So funny. That's probably my favorite bit
[1:10:28] in the whole film. Do you reckon?
[1:10:30] Probably, but the drama is there as well.
[1:10:32] When Andy's car drives away and Woody's devastated, it's great.
[1:10:34] It's funny, but I feel it as well, and one of the most famous
[1:10:37] lines of the film. You are, you said, strange
[1:10:39] little man, and you have my penny.
[1:10:41] Farewell. Good riddance you looney.
[1:10:43] I love that bit as well. So at the gas station we hear
[1:10:50] the Pizza Planet delivery boy asked for directions to West
[1:10:52] Cotton Blvd. West Cotton Blvd. is the street
[1:10:55] where Pixar was located in Richmond, CA at the time.
[1:10:59] I bet they had a few pieces delivered there with those late
[1:11:01] nights. I did, yeah.
[1:11:03] I wonder if that's why they added that in the pizza boy
[1:11:05] looking for their office. Bit of an in joke.
[1:11:07] Maybe. Yeah, yeah.
[1:11:08] I wouldn't be surprised. Sound stoned as well.
[1:11:10] Probably got that. And then after this, they get a
[1:11:16] pizza planet and Buzz sees a spacious boy, thinks he does.
[1:11:19] So obviously it's the most excited he's ever been.
[1:11:22] Goes rush in the waters and those aliens in that pit.
[1:11:25] I mean, again, it's just something else in this film
[1:11:26] where you go that's not only iconic and absolutely part of
[1:11:31] this Toy Story universe from the get go, but the soul
[1:11:33] recognizable as well and familiar.
[1:11:36] Like it's another one where I think I know what that toy feels
[1:11:39] like in my hand. I know like the pressure I need
[1:11:41] to do to make that noise. But also characters where we've
[1:11:44] kind of mentioned like other like logic holes in this, where
[1:11:47] if you think about it a bit too much, it gets a bit wobbly.
[1:11:49] Because do they know they're toys or do they think the
[1:11:52] creatures because they've got this concept of religion somehow
[1:11:55] and they think they're being more to a better life somewhere?
[1:11:58] If that's too wide, some toys know and some don't.
[1:12:01] But I'm probably overthinking it.
[1:12:02] Just a bit, just a bit I'm. Not going to go too far down the
[1:12:05] rabbit. Hole.
[1:12:07] I think it's a very reflection of a group dynamic.
[1:12:10] And when you're in a group dynamic like that, under so much
[1:12:12] pressure, you kind of start having God like delusions, don't
[1:12:14] you? There must be something else.
[1:12:15] Yeah. We can't be stuck here forever.
[1:12:17] It kind of has that vibe for me. Yeah.
[1:12:19] Yeah. We don't think I really like
[1:12:20] this. It's that really funny line you
[1:12:22] get from Woody when he's trying to get out of the pit and just
[1:12:24] go stamped you zealots. Yeah, I'm just like, you've got
[1:12:27] zealots in the kids film. What are the kids?
[1:12:29] You want us to put that in there?
[1:12:31] Oh, where would he's heard that? Oh.
[1:12:32] Where would he said that? Yeah, I see the question and
[1:12:35] then a lot, obviously, even though no one at Pixar would
[1:12:37] kind of think of this at the time.
[1:12:39] What's great in retrospect is this sets up the big rescue from
[1:12:42] the furnace and Toy Story Three. Yeah, yeah, which is 1A hell of
[1:12:45] a callback. I like how we're somewhere into
[1:12:47] the story here. There's been lots of evidence,
[1:12:49] but Buzz hasn't even entertained the thought that he might not be
[1:12:52] the real Buzz. Like yeah, but.
[1:12:54] I want to go. To Pizza Planet.
[1:12:57] It looks great. That shot, that puns around the
[1:12:59] whole place always reminds me of Jack Robert Slims in Pulp
[1:13:02] Fiction. Yeah, establishing shot there.
[1:13:04] There was one in Florida when I went.
[1:13:05] I beat the Pizza Planet. Oh, really good was it?
[1:13:08] Yes, of course it was. Well, we talked about real as
[1:13:11] before, and there's another blinking you'll miss in
[1:13:13] reference to a classic film in Pizza Planet when we've talked
[1:13:16] about 4. Okay, so when we first see said
[1:13:19] he's playing on whack an alien, which is basically a sci-fi
[1:13:22] whack A mole and the game is national lying on a table and
[1:13:25] the aliens are bursting out of his chest like alien big
[1:13:27] gruesome for a family film. Yeah, yeah.
[1:13:29] Exactly. First episode said yeah.
[1:13:31] I was like, is that Will Porter? Yeah.
[1:13:34] Yeah. Well, he set up a little bit
[1:13:37] earlier than this stage when we see the toys watching him
[1:13:39] blowing up. Comeback call.
[1:13:40] Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's a comeback call.
[1:13:42] Yeah, that was meant to be GI Joe.
[1:13:44] But when Hasbro heard the planet blow him up, they said no
[1:13:46] chance, obviously. But the toys are terrified, they
[1:13:49] said. So it sets them up and we see
[1:13:50] him laughing like a total psychopath and buzzes like who?
[1:13:53] That happy child. Look like there's hardly any
[1:13:58] grass because he's blown up so many.
[1:13:59] Toys. Yeah, yeah.
[1:14:00] Scotched Earth everywhere. Yeah, yeah.
[1:14:03] The original ID for the pizza restaurant was that it would be
[1:14:06] part pizza parlour, part crazy golf course and be called pizza
[1:14:10] put. It was changed to tie in mall
[1:14:12] with Buzz and the space theme. And the pizza planned delivery
[1:14:14] truck is another Pixar regular. It's appeared in some way in
[1:14:17] almost every Pixar movie since. Yeah, pizza put.
[1:14:22] I once had an idea for a Star Wars themed crazy golf course
[1:14:25] called Jabba the Put. Nice they didn't go.
[1:14:29] Anywhere not going Dragons end with that one, did you not?
[1:14:32] Imagine that I'm out. I'm out.
[1:14:37] Some major plot points there. Then what are you in Buzz lose
[1:14:39] Andy? And then said finds them.
[1:14:41] Should we find out what he's got in store?
[1:14:43] Let's do it, yeah. The Claw is chosen, and having
[1:14:49] won double prizes, we follow say that he takes Buddy and Buzz and
[1:14:52] the hapless little Green Man back home.
[1:14:55] We're thrust into the disturbing world of Sid's room, where toys
[1:14:58] are dismembered and rebuilt in pretty horrifying ways, and Buzz
[1:15:02] finally finds out what's what. I don't know about you, Matt,
[1:15:06] but I don't believe that man's ever been to medical school.
[1:15:08] He definitely hasn't. What do you make of Sid's House
[1:15:11] of Horrors? I mean, it's horrifying, to be
[1:15:14] honest, isn't it? It's just an absolute IMF from
[1:15:16] beginning to end. And then you get that scene
[1:15:18] where Buzz gets out of the room and he's that advert playing on
[1:15:22] the TV. And I think it's just kind of
[1:15:23] amazing that you can have this knock about really funny kids
[1:15:26] cartoon just being really pretty light hearted up to now.
[1:15:29] And in the middle of it you have a character having a full blown
[1:15:31] existential crisis all of a sudden, like but it's done with
[1:15:35] such a light touch as well. It doesn't bring the rest of the
[1:15:37] film down with it. I mean I think the seeds have
[1:15:40] been sewn for Bus to make this realization.
[1:15:42] Like his laser obviously didn't work on sits toys.
[1:15:45] Woody knows to push the button on his back to make him do the
[1:15:48] karate chop action. How?
[1:15:49] Do you know that? Brilliant.
[1:15:50] Yeah, so. I think by the point he sees the
[1:15:53] advert, I don't think it's too convenient, which you could have
[1:15:56] felt if it hadn't been written as well.
[1:15:57] It does feel like it's built, not really to this point.
[1:16:00] And the torn is balanced so well because it is funny to a point.
[1:16:04] Because he's been so pompous about himself.
[1:16:06] It's funny to see that picked a little bit, but I think it's
[1:16:08] just weirdly poignant at the same time.
[1:16:10] You are quite good at form. And when that feeling comes
[1:16:13] across just through the way he's animated his face with no
[1:16:15] dialogue, the way he just kind of closes his eyes and realizes
[1:16:19] he's just covered in stickers, it is just a little light
[1:16:22] blinking on and off that tells you how amazing the animation is
[1:16:25] working to convey all that. I mean, you're right, Matt.
[1:16:28] Existential crisis for Buzz. Yeah.
[1:16:30] They go deep Pixar, don't they? Yeah.
[1:16:32] I think the TV ad for Buzz the toy is great, really authentic.
[1:16:36] And he does it like a cool toy. Yeah.
[1:16:38] And the moment he tries to fly, how sad is that?
[1:16:40] How good is it? Yeah.
[1:16:42] Yeah. Randy Newman's song.
[1:16:43] I will go silly no more. Yeah, I know the song.
[1:16:45] Perfect to score it, yeah. Gives it all such a melancholy
[1:16:48] feel. And then the way they execute
[1:16:49] it, the filmmaking is excellent. Buzz leaps off the banister,
[1:16:53] slow motion as he falls. Then it cuts back to normal
[1:16:55] speed when he hits the floor. And then there's that overhead
[1:16:57] shot that spins open away from him.
[1:16:59] He's lying there, broken. Just fantastic.
[1:17:02] Yeah. I mean, it does have some goods.
[1:17:03] It's a big theme and identity crisis mental.
[1:17:06] But the brilliance is not the presenter in a way that works
[1:17:08] for kids and has layers for adults.
[1:17:10] Buzz has built his entire agenda around being a space Ranger, and
[1:17:13] that's taken away. So it's exploring a pretty major
[1:17:16] loss. And he takes it well, doesn't
[1:17:18] he? Or Buzz stays in there.
[1:17:19] Mrs. Nesbitt. After the business, Nesbitt a
[1:17:25] few times, yeah, I'm going to go for the bit where the
[1:17:31] realization is set in. He has the opportunity to leave,
[1:17:35] but he realizes that there's more.
[1:17:37] And there's a kid over there who needs Woody as well as he needs
[1:17:40] Buzz, and he can't be left behind.
[1:17:42] And it's just that bit where Woody tells me you can go if you
[1:17:44] want to get out while you can. And then it cuts to the next day
[1:17:47] and it's completely empty desk and you think, well, he's gone
[1:17:51] and that slow head down from Woody this like.
[1:17:54] Yeah, it's really sad. But Buzz is still Buzz, even
[1:17:58] though he knows the truth. He's still keeping this real
[1:18:02] pride, not necessarily with the same role, but he's still just
[1:18:05] as courageous in that new role. And I think he's excited about
[1:18:09] being an individual. I think he's excited about not
[1:18:11] being this space Ranger, this Buzz Light year that he has to
[1:18:14] be. And there's a real light heart
[1:18:16] and this to it, which is quickly switched on its head.
[1:18:19] Sid wakes up, the alarm goes off.
[1:18:22] To be honest, really exciting, strapping a rocket, fly away and
[1:18:26] explore. I'd love to do that.
[1:18:28] That would be great. But all of the other guys come
[1:18:31] out now. I really want to highlight this
[1:18:33] bit because this is really, really important and I think
[1:18:35] it's really well played, said. How inspiring is this for any
[1:18:39] kids who feel that they're different, who feel like they
[1:18:42] don't fit in I. Think that's the idea, Yeah.
[1:18:44] And what they do here, not only with the revelation of everybody
[1:18:48] working together, but the way they work together uses their
[1:18:52] disability and inverted commas, is something that's uniquely
[1:18:56] positive. Nobody else can do this but you.
[1:18:58] Yeah, yeah. Legs, you're with Ducky, but
[1:19:02] Doug is the only one who can swing.
[1:19:04] She's the only one who can get them down.
[1:19:05] They all have to use the disabilities as a positive
[1:19:08] thing. That hit me much later on as an
[1:19:11] adult. And it'll hit kids and go, yeah,
[1:19:13] you think you're wrong. You think you've got something
[1:19:14] wrong with you. You're not uniquely positive.
[1:19:17] And that's the message just in this whole House of horrors at
[1:19:20] Sid's house. Such positivity.
[1:19:22] A beautiful subliminal message for kids out there who don't
[1:19:26] feel like the fame. It elevates this film 10 rooms
[1:19:30] up the ladder for me. Just putting things in like
[1:19:32] that, it really, really makes a difference.
[1:19:34] Yeah, I think you're right, Wesley.
[1:19:35] He does have like more depth than it needs to have.
[1:19:37] Really. Definitely.
[1:19:38] And something I get from it as well is it said is insane,
[1:19:41] obviously, But I also think he's pretty sad.
[1:19:43] He's sad. Hannah, his sister is a
[1:19:45] sweetheart. But Said doesn't seem to have a
[1:19:47] great home life. His room is an absolute dump,
[1:19:51] sleeps fully clothed with his trainers on where his parents,
[1:19:54] and when Buzz sees the TV out and finds out he's a toy in the
[1:19:57] living room where Sid's dad's asleep on the chair, he's
[1:19:59] surrounded by empty cons. Even Skoda the scary dogs are
[1:20:02] free to go in there. So is that implying anything?
[1:20:05] Is that the idea? I think it is.
[1:20:07] I think it's just Sid being the way he is.
[1:20:08] Maybe it's down to his personality and they've kind of
[1:20:10] given up on him a little bit. Yeah.
[1:20:12] I mean, he turns his channels over on his telly with a wrench.
[1:20:14] I don't know if you've noticed that a wrench on the channel
[1:20:17] changer, but I honestly think it's the relationship because
[1:20:19] you don't necessarily see the parents.
[1:20:20] But Sid can't ask his man where the matches are, which I find
[1:20:25] really bizarre. Yeah, man, where's the matches?
[1:20:28] Or doesn't matter. I found them.
[1:20:29] Like there's a real underlying neglect where the daughter
[1:20:33] rooms. Lovely.
[1:20:33] She's got all the toys and he's craving attention.
[1:20:36] Yeah, it seems to be intentionally written into it as
[1:20:38] well. Doesn't.
[1:20:38] It, I think so. There's a real undertone there,
[1:20:40] really nasty undertone that's very nicely done.
[1:20:43] But it doesn't paint him as the victim.
[1:20:45] I think it paints his parents as the reason he is the way he is.
[1:20:48] Yeah, yeah. And Sid's full name is Sid
[1:20:50] Phillips. He was named after Sid Fishers
[1:20:52] from the Sex Pistols and voiced by a 13 year old actor called
[1:20:55] Eric von Detten. And he was known to American
[1:20:58] audiences at the time for playing Nicholas Alamein in the
[1:21:01] classic TV. So, Days of Our Lives.
[1:21:04] Right. Yeah, that's the soap that Julie
[1:21:06] Tribbiani stars in in Friends. Yes, that's right.
[1:21:09] Yeah, I thought that soap was made-up for.
[1:21:11] Years. I did for years.
[1:21:13] Yeah, I did until the last 20 seconds.
[1:21:19] I think he does really well as Sid though.
[1:21:20] Eric von Denton. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:21:22] It's great. Right little swine.
[1:21:23] Really memorable. Brilliant.
[1:21:24] Yeah. Lastly, I said that the idea for
[1:21:26] Sid came from Pixar brainstorming sessions where
[1:21:29] some animators said they used to destroy their own toys.
[1:21:31] As kids once said, he used to melt green army men with the
[1:21:34] magnifying glass, which is why Sid uses a magnifying glass to
[1:21:37] torture Woody. Hilarious from Woody leaps up
[1:21:40] with that burning dot in his forehead.
[1:21:42] Sticks his head in the dog's water or something.
[1:21:45] But then again, that leads to the end as well.
[1:21:47] It's like how that's solved. Everything is kind of linked
[1:21:49] together. Oh yeah, the writing is just
[1:21:51] insanely good, yeah. It's really good.
[1:21:54] And that's what I've said. There are references to other
[1:21:56] movies without Toy Story and there's a few in Sit's house.
[1:22:00] Laster said when they were creating a dismembered toy
[1:22:02] Sidders butchered that took inspiration from Todd Browning's
[1:22:05] classic pre Court horror Freaks, which is from 1932.
[1:22:09] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:22:10] The way some of the toys like crawl along the floor, I think
[1:22:12] you can see the influence. Yeah, with that, yeah.
[1:22:15] Yeah, and then to highlight Sid's home has been a House of
[1:22:18] horrors that animators gave his landing the same carpet as the
[1:22:21] famous hexagonal pattern that the Overlook Hotel has in The
[1:22:24] Shining. Very nice.
[1:22:26] One of the best Easter eggs ever.
[1:22:27] Yeah, that's brilliant, That one.
[1:22:29] Yeah. Also apparently the scene when
[1:22:31] the toys attack bulls, I think they were talking bulls.
[1:22:33] And the fix is on in some in the national versions.
[1:22:36] Hannahs doll Janie, she says Red Room 0.
[1:22:39] Really. Really.
[1:22:40] Yeah, another shining reference. OK.
[1:22:42] And then when Buzz rescues Woody from the crate, we see a can
[1:22:45] that says Catmull Root Beer. And that's enough to add Catmull
[1:22:48] Co, founder of Pixar and the toolbox that Buzz pushes.
[1:22:51] That is Binford, which is the same Brad that Tim Allen's
[1:22:54] County uses in home improvement. Right.
[1:22:57] OK, nice. Great when Buzz pushes the
[1:22:59] toolbox off and it just lands on Woody.
[1:23:01] Yeah, really funny. Are you OK?
[1:23:03] Yeah, OK, really dazed. I think the funniest lie in the
[1:23:08] film for me comes at SIDS when buzzers like I've changed my
[1:23:11] laser from stun to kill, you know, Woody goes, oh great, if
[1:23:15] anyone attacks we can just bring him to death.
[1:23:18] And that's the middle of Toy Story, a wild ride from Pizza
[1:23:21] Planet to the terrors of SIDS bedroom.
[1:23:23] We've seen a desperate Woody and a broken Buzz.
[1:23:26] Signs they may be able to work together to escape SIDS
[1:23:29] clutches, though. Let's hope so, the crew.
[1:23:38] The creative team behind Toy Story was breaking ground left
[1:23:41] and right, bringing together technological innovators with
[1:23:43] artistic storytellers to create history tinkering away behind
[1:23:47] the scenes. We'll be talking Randy Newman,
[1:23:49] creating the soundtrack and the team behind the visuals.
[1:23:52] But first, let's look at the folks who crafted the story.
[1:23:55] Should we? Absolutely.
[1:23:56] Has Randy Newman ever tinkered? I don't know.
[1:23:59] We'll find out. The Tinker Man.
[1:24:02] Yeah. So the screenplay of A Toy Story
[1:24:04] was written by Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Corn, Not
[1:24:08] That one. And Alex Socolor, with a story
[1:24:11] by credit going to John Lasseter, Pete Doctor, Andrew
[1:24:14] Stanton and Joe Ranfs, A collaborative effort.
[1:24:17] Lord of them. Yeah, yeah, massively.
[1:24:19] So, Matt, what do you make of Whedon, Stanton Corn, Socolor,
[1:24:22] Lasseter Dr., and Ranfs work in writing Toy Story?
[1:24:26] Well, I'm glad you said it and I didn't have to.
[1:24:28] That's good to say. Go through them one by one,
[1:24:30] Matt. The thing about the writing for
[1:24:34] me, and I'm sure Wesley will agree because we're both
[1:24:37] parents, because when you repaired, you sit through so
[1:24:40] many kids films, great way to kill 90 minutes with them.
[1:24:44] And when you've seen a lot, it really stands out how
[1:24:46] predictable and obvious the writing is.
[1:24:48] For a lot of them, it's like here we go.
[1:24:50] He's the big moral of the story, the big speech at the end.
[1:24:52] This is the lesson that the need take away be nice right around
[1:24:55] blah, blah, blah. And that's all fine.
[1:24:57] But the flip side to that is then you really appreciate
[1:25:00] something that is as well written as this is for a kids
[1:25:03] animation. Because yes, there are lessons
[1:25:06] and need for kids to learn, but they're never just hammered home
[1:25:09] like Woody's jealousy of buzz arriving on the scene.
[1:25:11] That will resonate with so many kids who suddenly have to
[1:25:14] contend with a little brother or sister who's came along.
[1:25:18] But that's never overtly on the nose.
[1:25:19] It's it's never actually kind of put into the script in a line,
[1:25:22] the jealousy, it just powers the narrative instead.
[1:25:25] And you can tell they've gone over and over and over this with
[1:25:28] a fine tooth comb in a writers room, refining it to the NTH
[1:25:32] degree to the point where you go, yes, the plot points are
[1:25:35] predictable to a certain degree. Obviously Woody and Buzz are
[1:25:38] going to get over the differences and become friends,
[1:25:41] but they're written with such intelligence and such finesse
[1:25:44] and such a lack of talking down to the audience.
[1:25:46] You don't care if it's predictable because it just
[1:25:48] works superbly and every kid will recognise something in
[1:25:51] this. And having said that as well, I
[1:25:53] mean, Andy has got a new born sister.
[1:25:56] She's just a toddler. Yeah.
[1:25:57] And that's in there and that's obviously he's been relegated to
[1:26:00] the back seat when they're moving, you know, you can see
[1:26:02] there's all these themes in there.
[1:26:03] It's amazing. Yeah, yeah.
[1:26:05] I mean, Pixar are a CGI animation studio, obviously with
[1:26:08] a reputation as being the best there is.
[1:26:10] And the design and animation work, it is world class.
[1:26:13] But the thing that sets them apart from other great animation
[1:26:15] studios, to me is the writing. That's where they're like a
[1:26:18] class above, I think. And it was there from the start
[1:26:21] in Toy Story. We talked about how they don't
[1:26:24] shy away from some big themes a tackle jealousy, betrayal,
[1:26:28] attempted murder, identity crisis.
[1:26:30] Sounds mad, but that's all there.
[1:26:32] Yeah. The narrative, an outstanding
[1:26:34] body story, like we said. And we've seen through great
[1:26:36] explorations of friendships in movies, Stand by Me or Thelma
[1:26:39] and Louise or Shawshank, And I think this is right up there
[1:26:42] with them. I think where Pixar are like
[1:26:45] Master, right? As though it's creating
[1:26:47] relatable characters in an unrelatable world.
[1:26:50] Like I mentioned before, the concept's great, obviously.
[1:26:53] I mean, the idea of toys coming alive wasn't original.
[1:26:56] Babes in Toyland with Laurel and Hardy, that was like 1934.
[1:26:59] So not original. But Toy Stories now,
[1:27:02] undoubtedly, I think the definitive version of that idea.
[1:27:06] And they're not presented as humans, the characters.
[1:27:08] They're presented as toys with the kind of motivations and
[1:27:11] issues toys would have. Their purpose is to be played
[1:27:13] with by a child. That's their biggest joy.
[1:27:16] Their worries come from being thrown away or lost.
[1:27:19] But Pixar will eat all of it back to being human, being alone
[1:27:23] or not, wanted or unpopular. Those are all things that in a
[1:27:27] totally different way, we as humans can totally relate to.
[1:27:30] Yeah. I think it's just like,
[1:27:31] incredible writing, creating humanity in non human
[1:27:34] characters. It's something that pixel nail
[1:27:36] to the wall time and time again. Yeah.
[1:27:38] I think they teach children how to be good humans and adults for
[1:27:41] that matter. Yeah.
[1:27:42] While telling these exciting, funny tales.
[1:27:44] They're among the greatest cinematic storytellers we've had
[1:27:47] for me. Yeah.
[1:27:47] And it all started here. I think Toy Story still among
[1:27:50] their best pieces of writing. Yeah, I think there's so many
[1:27:52] layers to this. Like I've said over and over
[1:27:54] again, it appeals to so many people.
[1:27:56] It appeals to everybody because you can find something that you
[1:27:59] find familiar in this, if not everything for me really.
[1:28:02] But that's how close this is to the story of, let's say,
[1:28:05] Pinocchio. It's a toy that believes it's a
[1:28:07] human, but nobody references that.
[1:28:10] It seems to be so fresh and so new and so up to date that all
[1:28:15] of its influences are there and the very clear to see.
[1:28:19] But the homages to this story, the kind of the building blocks
[1:28:22] to this story, everyone can get something from this.
[1:28:25] There's the action set pieces, there's the humor that's written
[1:28:28] into it that doesn't feel crowbar in.
[1:28:30] All the gags help move the story forward, help the characters
[1:28:33] develop. Shows their immaturity, then
[1:28:36] shows the maturity. All of the characters are
[1:28:38] lovable and they're all stand out, but they all work together
[1:28:41] and I think that's great writing as well.
[1:28:43] It's very much like Cuckoo's Nest in that vibe.
[1:28:46] Everyone's got a personality and everyone's stuck in the same
[1:28:48] position, but everybody's different and that's really
[1:28:51] clever. It's just really well handled,
[1:28:54] really multi layered. And like what Matt said, we've
[1:28:56] sit through so many of these kids films and it's such a joy
[1:29:00] for us to see something that breaks that blueprint.
[1:29:04] And it's also great for the kids because they don't expect it and
[1:29:07] they don't see it coming, and they know it's different and
[1:29:09] they know it's new and they know it's fresh, but they don't know
[1:29:11] why. It's for us to figure out when
[1:29:13] we're older. That's why I like this so much.
[1:29:15] It's such an innovation in its technique, in its animation, but
[1:29:19] also a real innovation in its writing.
[1:29:22] Absolutely, yeah. The reason there were so many
[1:29:24] credited writers on Toy Story is because of the Black Friday
[1:29:27] incident that we mentioned earlier.
[1:29:29] So the screenplay was originally written by Andrew Stanton based
[1:29:32] on a story by him Last Day, Pete Doctor and Joe Ranft who were
[1:29:36] all Pixar employees. But after Black Friday, Lassiter
[1:29:39] decided they needed some experienced screenwriters.
[1:29:42] So Joel Coen and Alex Sokolow were writing partnership and
[1:29:46] they had sent a spec script to Disney called The Wooden
[1:29:48] Policeman and based on that they were high to rewrite Toy Story.
[1:29:52] Right. Yeah, The Wooden Policeman was
[1:29:54] never developed into a film, but apparently the thing that
[1:29:56] grabbed Pixar's attention in the script was a scene in there when
[1:30:00] a kid opens a Christmas present. He thinks it's a toy gun, but
[1:30:03] it's real, and he accidentally kills his entire family.
[1:30:06] Wow. What?
[1:30:07] Get those guys in to write Woody and Buzz.
[1:30:10] Yeah, that sounds about right, yeah.
[1:30:12] I mean, that's really good. So Corn and Sokolow wrote about
[1:30:16] 6 drafts. They took it much closer to the
[1:30:19] film we see now, and they're responsible for coming up with
[1:30:21] Buzzers, Catch Phase to Infinity and Beyond.
[1:30:23] But Pixos still thought it was too dark.
[1:30:26] Yeah, apparently in Corn and Sokolow's version, after I, Buzz
[1:30:29] found out he wasn't a toy, he jumped off the band instead.
[1:30:31] Not to fly, but to try and kill himself.
[1:30:34] Big grim. Wow.
[1:30:37] To Infinity and beyond. Or do you know where they took
[1:30:39] that from? That phrase.
[1:30:40] No, I don't. So it's from the 3rd chapter of
[1:30:43] 2001, the Space Odyssey. That's called Jupiter and beyond
[1:30:46] the infinite, right? OK.
[1:30:48] And they took it from there, yeah.
[1:30:49] I'm so pleased that wasn't more obvious.
[1:30:51] I was kick myself, never noticed.
[1:30:54] Yes, Chapter 3 to Infinity and beyond.
[1:30:56] What? It's a great catch phrase
[1:30:59] though, isn't it? Yeah, it's brilliant.
[1:31:01] Yeah. Oh, it's great.
[1:31:01] Yeah. So Cohen and Sokolow left the
[1:31:04] project, and Pixar hired Joss Whedon, who had written Buffy
[1:31:07] the Vampire Slayer, and he'd also done rewrites on Speed and
[1:31:10] Waterworld. So he lightened the Torn, and he
[1:31:13] came up with Rex the dinosaur. And he came up with what sounds
[1:31:16] like a really good idea for the end of the film, which Pixar
[1:31:18] wanted to do but couldn't. So stick around for that at the
[1:31:21] end. OK.
[1:31:22] But yeah, I think he's probably the most well known of the
[1:31:24] writers. Joss Whedon went on to create
[1:31:26] the Buffy TV show and he wrote and directed a couple of The
[1:31:29] Avengers films later on. Yeah, that's right.
[1:31:31] He did. Yeah.
[1:31:31] The working title for Toy Story was Toy Story from the start,
[1:31:34] but Leon Krich later said that there were 200 other titles
[1:31:37] considered 200. Wow, that's a lot.
[1:31:40] Wow. Like we say, there's probably
[1:31:42] loads of these on the shelf and they're just working through
[1:31:44] them. The Cowboy and the Spaceman
[1:31:46] sounds like an Elton John song. Great to Infinity and beyond.
[1:31:52] Made in Taiwan Bring me the arm of Buzz Lightyear and Toys in
[1:31:56] the Hood is me favorite. Toys in the hood, Yeah.
[1:32:00] I mean, Toy Story, surely taken from Tokyo Story, the classic
[1:32:04] Japanese drama, I think. Yeah.
[1:32:05] Maybe, yeah. They made the right choice.
[1:32:07] I think Toy Story is a great title, yeah.
[1:32:09] Joy story is bad, self reasonable.
[1:32:16] And we've talked about the books on Andy Shelf having inside
[1:32:18] references to Pixar, and there's lots of others in the film.
[1:32:21] So Andy is named after Andreas Van Dam and he's an animation
[1:32:25] pioneer and he taught many of the Pixar animators at Brown
[1:32:28] University. Right.
[1:32:31] Yeah, no relation to Jean Claude Van Dam, sadly.
[1:32:33] I mean, presumably, maybe there is.
[1:32:35] I don't know. I don't know.
[1:32:36] Hopefully not. And on the back of the Pizza
[1:32:41] Planet truck, there's a sticker that says Krat FM, and this is
[1:32:44] reference to TW Kratter who was a digital painter on the film.
[1:32:48] Right. Yeah, Her job description was
[1:32:50] imperfectionist. Apparently it was her job to
[1:32:53] make things look more realistic by adding scuff Marks and
[1:32:56] scratches and like, dirt to surfaces.
[1:32:58] Right? Something that everybody else
[1:32:59] started doing like. Straight away, I'll bet.
[1:33:01] My dream job that. Sits backpack had a message
[1:33:06] written on it. Julie Mcbaughle house cooties
[1:33:09] and this is reference to Julia McDonald, a camera manager, and
[1:33:12] she asked to be referenced in the film.
[1:33:15] Yeah, presumably she asked for it to be done in a playful way.
[1:33:17] Otherwise, Julia Mcbothell is a bit harsh.
[1:33:21] We've got you in there. Look out for it.
[1:33:23] And the day of his family car's license plate registration is a
[1:33:26] 113. And a 113 was the number of her
[1:33:29] classroom at California Institute of Arts.
[1:33:31] And that's where lots of Pixars animators studied.
[1:33:34] That's in lots of films that isn't it.
[1:33:36] There's loads of references to that.
[1:33:37] It's in Lords, Yeah. John lost us to be there.
[1:33:39] Yeah, you're right. You're Finding Nemo or Monsters
[1:33:41] University, Wally. It's in Lords of Them, yeah.
[1:33:44] Yeah. And then lastly, the removal
[1:33:46] company who helped the Davises move, they are called Eggman
[1:33:49] Movers and that's named after the art director Ralph
[1:33:52] Eccleston. And the license plate of the
[1:33:54] removal van is ML Y1K9 and that means Molly 1K9, a reference to
[1:33:59] the Pixar office dog at the time.
[1:34:01] Oh nice. And Molly's also the name of
[1:34:03] Andy's sister, isn't it? It is, yeah.
[1:34:05] So go work at Pixar. Not just a cool job, but they'll
[1:34:08] probably put you in one of the films as well.
[1:34:09] Immortalized. Yeah.
[1:34:11] Yeah, I want to live with a musician.
[1:34:14] For their work in writing Toy Story, Joss Weed and Andrew
[1:34:17] Stanton, Joel Coen and Alex Socolow were nominated for Best
[1:34:20] Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards, the first
[1:34:23] animated film to ever be nominated for that award.
[1:34:25] Which is some going, yeah. Wow.
[1:34:27] They lost out to Christopher Mcquarrie for The Usual
[1:34:29] Suspects, right? Which right, Losing with style
[1:34:32] at least. Yeah, fair enough.
[1:34:33] Yeah. And for us, in creating the
[1:34:35] world, the characters, the narrative of Toy Story, the
[1:34:38] screenplay here is pretty timeless, brilliant.
[1:34:41] Yeah, it's incredible. From the writing we moved to the
[1:34:46] music and the composer on Toy Story in Randy Newman.
[1:34:49] Yeah. Already established as a pop
[1:34:51] singer-songwriter and film composer, Newman had released 8
[1:34:55] studio albums by this point and composed scores for films like
[1:34:58] The Natural, Parenthood, Awakenings, and Maverick.
[1:35:02] Yeah. Yes, the music and Toy Story.
[1:35:05] It's got a friend in you, I bet, Matt.
[1:35:06] Oh, definitely does anyway, because this is another element
[1:35:10] where it's just astonishing how pretty much perfect it sounds
[1:35:13] straight off the bat and you just think this just simply
[1:35:17] couldn't have sounded any other way.
[1:35:19] How else would you score this apart from this way?
[1:35:21] There's a warmth and a likeness to the music.
[1:35:24] I think the songs are really cleverly used as this kind of
[1:35:27] Greek chorus on what the characters are feeling, so you
[1:35:29] don't have to have exposition in the script.
[1:35:31] I mean, to start off with, You've got a friend in Me.
[1:35:34] I mean, that works on the level of it's the relationship between
[1:35:37] Woody and Andy, it's the relationship that Woody and Buzz
[1:35:40] will develop by the end, but it's also the relationship
[1:35:43] between Pixar and the audience. It's saying you're going to be
[1:35:45] all right with us, we're going to hold your hand, we're on your
[1:35:48] side, and everything's going to be OK through this film.
[1:35:50] It's just yet another perfect element to the film.
[1:35:53] Yeah. You already had this, like,
[1:35:54] folksy Americana sound in the solo stuff, Brand new human.
[1:35:58] So a great choice to write music about this classic part of
[1:36:01] Western culture. Toys, specifically toys based on
[1:36:03] a cowboy and a spaceman, which is about as American as you can
[1:36:06] get. Yeah.
[1:36:07] And I think he achieves this great kind of balancing act in
[1:36:09] the music. It's nostalgic without being
[1:36:12] overly sickly or sweet. It's childlike, but never
[1:36:15] childish. Yeah.
[1:36:16] And there's like, a bounce and a playfulness of the background
[1:36:18] music all the way through, which works perfectly.
[1:36:21] And I think his versatility shines.
[1:36:23] Scoring drama when Buzz tries to fly, tension when they're
[1:36:26] trapped in SIDS room, action in the climax.
[1:36:29] And it does it across genres. It's Western, The times for
[1:36:32] Woody, based in the times for Buzz.
[1:36:34] And it's all of a piece. It all kind of fits together.
[1:36:36] Yeah. And you've got a friend in me.
[1:36:39] As songs written for films go, you can't ask for much more from
[1:36:42] your composer, I don't think. Not really, no.
[1:36:44] Is there a more heartwarming piece of music than the opening
[1:36:46] bars? If you've got a friend in me,
[1:36:48] you're. In it's just beautiful.
[1:36:50] He's managed to grab it. The she'll record the film into
[1:36:54] like 3 minutes. It's about friendship, obviously
[1:36:57] a major theme of the film, but also represents Woody's ark.
[1:37:00] The first time we hear the song in the opening, it's about Woody
[1:37:03] and Andy. When we hear it again in the
[1:37:04] closing credits, I think it's about Woody and Buzz, yeah.
[1:37:07] Yeah, it is. Yeah.
[1:37:08] He was already really successful, Randy Newman, but I
[1:37:10] think now he's probably most well known as the guy who did
[1:37:13] Toy Story I. Think so, yeah.
[1:37:15] Yeah, and for good reason. Great work I think.
[1:37:18] The thing about the songs on Toy Story, right, is that the songs
[1:37:21] on Toy Story, if you've got a best friend, you wouldn't send
[1:37:23] them. You've got a friend in me.
[1:37:25] No. It'd be like, this is our song
[1:37:27] because it belongs to Toy Story. It belongs to that world.
[1:37:32] Strange things are happening to me, like someone's having a bad
[1:37:34] time to listen to this. This song will get you through
[1:37:36] it. You're like, no, because that's
[1:37:37] not my song. That's what he's song.
[1:37:39] He's written songs that absolutely live in this universe
[1:37:43] in the same way that the dialogue does, in the same way
[1:37:45] that the animation does, in the same way that the voice actors
[1:37:48] do. And I've heard when do you get
[1:37:51] some, you know, shit over time? And I don't understand why.
[1:37:55] And they're like, oh, well, his voice isn't that good.
[1:37:57] Or it's just nonsense and it's just overly nonchalant.
[1:38:00] I totally disagree with that. I think that was the whole
[1:38:03] point. It's supposed to sound
[1:38:05] nonchalant. It's supposed to sound like a
[1:38:07] guy at a piano in a saloon at some points, and to me it is the
[1:38:13] ball on this package. It ties it all together and it
[1:38:16] just helps reinforce the scenes, reinforce the feel of the film,
[1:38:20] which is the most important thing.
[1:38:22] But having said that, I don't listen to these songs away from
[1:38:26] the film. No, no, no.
[1:38:28] They're not going to be massive hits on the radio.
[1:38:29] That's not going to be like Bryan Adams at #1 for 12 weeks
[1:38:34] or whatever. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
[1:38:37] Then you think, well actually what films that are.
[1:38:39] This is ingrained in the film. If you hear that song on the
[1:38:42] radio when it finishes, the have to talk about Toy Story.
[1:38:46] Yeah, it doesn't feel complete without the film being with it,
[1:38:48] does it? Exactly.
[1:38:49] It's just part of the package. Yeah.
[1:38:51] And Brandy Newman ties all that together for me.
[1:38:54] And Disney animations were known for usually being musicals at
[1:38:56] the time, and the plan early on was for Toy Story to be a
[1:38:59] musical too. But Lasseter didn't want to make
[1:39:01] a musical. So Pixar and Disney came to a
[1:39:03] compromise, which was that it wouldn't be a musical, but music
[1:39:06] would be used as a major part of the storytelling instead.
[1:39:10] And it is. Imagine what are you just
[1:39:12] bursting into strange things? A buzz actually singing I will
[1:39:15] go sailing no more to jumps off the bandstand.
[1:39:17] That's what it would have been. Yeah, with a little mic coming
[1:39:19] out of his helmet like Madonna. John Lasseter said he wanted the
[1:39:25] music for Toy Story to be touching and witty, and he liked
[1:39:28] the music. Randy Newman had written for The
[1:39:30] Natural, the sports film with Robert Redford, and told Disney
[1:39:33] he was perfect composer. Newman wrote the score.
[1:39:36] And also three songs that we've talked about strange things.
[1:39:38] I will go sailing no more. And you've got a friend of me.
[1:39:42] And I agree with you, Westie. I think these vocals are really
[1:39:43] good. Randy Newman.
[1:39:45] Yeah, the grace. He's got this kind of
[1:39:46] insincerity in this delivery, which someone makes a song sound
[1:39:49] more sincere, which is weird. Yeah, it's almost like a drunk.
[1:39:53] It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sincere when I want to be.
[1:39:56] But then, like tomorrow morning, not be the same guy, but on a
[1:39:59] night time, he's Randy Newman. Like we're here.
[1:40:02] And the second version of You Got a Friend in Me that were
[1:40:04] here on the end credits, that's a duet with Lyle Lovett, the
[1:40:06] country singer, presumably to represent It's not just Woody
[1:40:09] song now, it's Woody and Buzzers.
[1:40:11] Exactly. In Newman said that last two was
[1:40:13] keen on him coming back with his own ideas, but he said he never
[1:40:16] sought to write music for moving until he's got enough of a brief
[1:40:19] from the director. He said he eventually managed to
[1:40:21] get out of Gloucester that the main theme should be about
[1:40:24] friendship, it should be witty and it should probably be slow.
[1:40:27] And based on that, he wrote, You've got a friend in me in one
[1:40:29] day. Based on that.
[1:40:31] In one day as well. Ridiculous.
[1:40:33] Yeah. I mean, yeah, like we've been
[1:40:35] saying, I think in any setting it's a good song.
[1:40:37] It's catchy, nice sentiment. You couple it with Toy Story and
[1:40:40] the visuals and the characters you think of, that's when it
[1:40:42] becomes a great song. Yeah.
[1:40:44] Yeah. For his work on Toy Story, Randy
[1:40:46] Newman was nominated for not one, but two Academy Awards Best
[1:40:49] Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song for
[1:40:53] You've Got a Friend In Me. He lost both to Alan Menken and
[1:40:56] Stephen Schwartz for Pocahontas and Colours of the Wind from
[1:40:59] Pocahontas. Right, OK, right.
[1:41:01] Neither of them I can remember. No.
[1:41:04] Neither can I, not at all, but. That's whatsoever.
[1:41:06] Yeah, I can't even remember Pocahontas.
[1:41:08] Still, I watch Avatar, obviously.
[1:41:12] But yeah, over the years, Randy Newman's music for Toy Story has
[1:41:14] grown in reputation and now among the most recognisable
[1:41:18] movie music from the 90s. Very much, yeah.
[1:41:20] Even the 1st 2 bars you know where you are.
[1:41:22] Instantly. Yeah, yeah.
[1:41:25] Last but not least, in the crew section, we are looking at the
[1:41:28] visuals of Toy Story, which as we've been saying, we're
[1:41:30] breaking new ground. At the time, there was no
[1:41:33] director of photography as such, with it being a new venture, but
[1:41:36] some key contributors were lighting supervisor Sharon
[1:41:39] Callahan, supervising layout artist Craig Goode and director
[1:41:43] John Lasseter overseeing everything.
[1:41:45] Yeah, the visuals in Toy Story. Westie, how does it all look for
[1:41:48] you? I mean, it all looks great for
[1:41:49] me. I think it's just has a really
[1:41:51] bold, really colorful, really energetic look to it.
[1:41:54] It's really accessible. I mean, there's some frames you
[1:41:57] look at this and go, Oh, yeah, Rex is a bit pixelated there or
[1:42:01] that desk doesn't look as good as it should.
[1:42:04] But anyone who does that, it would just be like, shut up,
[1:42:06] man. There's no room for that because
[1:42:09] at the time it was incredible. I saw this at the cinema and saw
[1:42:13] nothing wrong with it. In 1995.
[1:42:16] It was absolutely flawless. It was so clean, it was so
[1:42:20] clear. There was whip pans, there was
[1:42:22] crash zooms. Everything felt very cinematic.
[1:42:26] And we grew up watching cartoons.
[1:42:27] Now, if you watch Tom and Jerry, they run from left to right,
[1:42:31] right to left, and you go slightly there, but you're never
[1:42:34] in the world. The background just repeats.
[1:42:36] It's running. Yeah.
[1:42:37] And you just, there's this need to get it done quickly.
[1:42:40] There's no laziness to this. Like everything in that frame is
[1:42:43] definitely there for a reason, because it has to fill that
[1:42:45] frame. This is a lesson in miss on
[1:42:47] scent is like if you're going to put something in front of the
[1:42:50] camera or behind the camera, it needs to be there for absolute
[1:42:53] reason. But they didn't overuse that.
[1:42:55] They didn't fill it with things. The backgrounds work really
[1:42:58] well, but it has its own look. And I'm always baffled looking
[1:43:02] back at this, that it wasn't done with the mix of live action
[1:43:06] because we've got who friend Roger Rabbit, you know, Stuart
[1:43:09] Little came out in 99. This could have been Stuart
[1:43:12] Little where you've got live action and then the toys are
[1:43:14] basically Stuart Little running around doing stuff.
[1:43:16] I'm amazed that that didn't happen and they just went, no,
[1:43:19] we are creating a whole world. Like we've said, we're going to
[1:43:23] probably say this about everything when it comes to the
[1:43:25] crew and when it comes to the execution is that everyone's
[1:43:28] created something water tight and the visuals needed to be as
[1:43:33] good as everything else. But I think everything stepped
[1:43:36] up because the visuals are so good.
[1:43:38] Yeah. I mean, the visuals of the time
[1:43:39] 1995 that were groundbreaking. Like we've been seeing the first
[1:43:43] fully CGI animated feature film that's significant itself, but
[1:43:47] it's not just that no one did it before.
[1:43:48] That makes it special. I don't think it's still kind of
[1:43:51] sets the standard. I mean, the animations evolved
[1:43:54] obviously with technology over the years, but in terms of just
[1:43:56] CGI animated storytelling, the Toy Story IP is still the
[1:44:00] benchmark. It is.
[1:44:02] One of the best decisions I think they made early on is that
[1:44:04] at the time, lots of CGI animators, like you said,
[1:44:07] Westie, they were using CGI to create things that looked real,
[1:44:10] like ILM used it in Jurassic Park, Terminator 2.
[1:44:13] Pixar didn't go that route. They leaned into making it look
[1:44:16] like an animation with the tropes and the rules and the
[1:44:19] limits that come with that, and then work kind of towards
[1:44:21] realism from there. That was sensible with how far
[1:44:23] they aimed, and that just made it look kind of like light years
[1:44:27] ahead of its competitors. What are you?
[1:44:29] And Buzz don't look real necessarily, but they still
[1:44:31] didn't look like like anything we'd seen before.
[1:44:33] Yeah. Yeah.
[1:44:34] And it picks up understanding of animation and visual
[1:44:36] storytelling just shines. I said Sharon Callahan was
[1:44:39] lighting supervisor. What you ever see is an
[1:44:42] incredible the texture and the depth on the images is like
[1:44:45] nothing we'd seen. He just couldn't really do that
[1:44:47] to that level than hand roll animation.
[1:44:49] Yeah. And lighting can convey emotion.
[1:44:50] Can't, as we often talk about. No, Absolutely, yeah.
[1:44:53] Pixar tapped right into that from the star.
[1:44:55] Yeah, some of the visuals still blow me away.
[1:44:57] I mentioned the shot when Buzz first arrives on the bed and
[1:44:59] also in that scene we get that Buzz POV looking inside his
[1:45:03] helmet. Yeah, yeah, it's great.
[1:45:05] It's amazing. There seems to be no sign of
[1:45:06] intelligent life anyway. Hello.
[1:45:10] It's just the sound of the breathing as well.
[1:45:12] Yeah, it's great. But I think it's the contrast
[1:45:14] ratios that they're really taking on board, and it looks
[1:45:16] like real life because you've got shadow in there.
[1:45:18] Like we've talked about when Andy's holding up buzz and
[1:45:20] there's a silhouette, it's not a pure black silhouette.
[1:45:23] Yeah, yeah. You still see some detail in
[1:45:25] there, so it looks realistic. So there's them contrast ratios
[1:45:28] that really work. Absolutely, Yeah.
[1:45:30] I mean, the technology did obviously advance a lot in the
[1:45:32] years and the decades after Toy Story.
[1:45:34] But I think that visual language, they established the
[1:45:36] kind of exaggerated cartoons with realistic elements like the
[1:45:40] shadows and the lighting, but defined Pixar's approach
[1:45:43] instantly. And CGI animation as a whole,
[1:45:45] everyone just followed suit. And I think it still looks
[1:45:49] great. It probably always will, yeah.
[1:45:51] Yeah. I mean, ground breaking's the
[1:45:52] word, isn't it? And I completely agree with what
[1:45:54] you're saying, Yeah. If you look at later Pixar
[1:45:57] films, yes, they definitely get better at animating humans in
[1:46:00] particular. I think maybe you could say some
[1:46:02] of the faces in this are a bit stiff and a bit generic when
[1:46:05] they kind of compare them to the other ones.
[1:46:08] But you know, the starting from scratch here.
[1:46:10] So any criticism you have, I think it's OK to kind of dismiss
[1:46:13] it like Wesley's saying. But for me, it's the way that
[1:46:15] they kind of replicate the way that the camera moves in the
[1:46:17] scene. You know, a lot of previous
[1:46:19] animations could be a bit static, but this one shots like
[1:46:22] the POV of Woody being pushed down the banister or going round
[1:46:25] and round and round on the swivel chair.
[1:46:27] You know, that's taking the idea of movement in animation to
[1:46:30] another level entirely. And it's also a film that's not
[1:46:33] just content to just have day and night animation, which I
[1:46:36] would guess is probably easy. You know, that's seen before
[1:46:38] Pizza Planet. It's dusk, and evidence is
[1:46:41] bathed in that orange glow. And it looks incredible.
[1:46:44] Yeah. So yes, he could argue they will
[1:46:46] improve the visuals as they develop as a company, but that
[1:46:49] doesn't take away anything from how good they are here.
[1:46:52] Absolutely, for sure. Yeah, and John Lasseter said the
[1:46:55] intentionally drew storyboards and created animations as if
[1:46:58] they're all being filmed by somebody with a camera.
[1:47:00] So the camera moves at times like on a crane, like said, and
[1:47:03] other times like it's on a steady Cam.
[1:47:05] Really, really excellently done. Yeah, yeah, that show we talked
[1:47:08] about with Buzzers duvet, yeah, the camera kind of spins, but
[1:47:11] like it's on a crane. Yes, it's kind of strange
[1:47:14] because I think it kind of messes with us subconsciously a
[1:47:17] bit. It does with me.
[1:47:18] It does a little bit, yeah. Well, you're kind of thinking I
[1:47:20] know this wasn't filmed by a cameraman, but it looks like it
[1:47:22] was. But it looks like it was, yeah.
[1:47:24] And the camera going over the top with the Marines jumping
[1:47:26] down with the parachutes, it's just how would you do that?
[1:47:30] And one thing to mention is that Andy's dad has never seen or
[1:47:32] mentioned in the films and there's been a lot of online
[1:47:35] speculation about the reason why.
[1:47:37] Is he at work? Did he leave, abandoned the
[1:47:39] family? Is he dead?
[1:47:40] And Andrew Stanton said the actual reason we don't see Andy
[1:47:43] Sadd is actually very simple and not as interesting as a
[1:47:45] theories. It just would have taken too
[1:47:47] long and being too expensive to animate another human being.
[1:47:51] And for the same reason all the human characters have short hair
[1:47:54] and Andy's mum has hair. Hair tied up in a ponytail.
[1:47:57] Yeah, it was. Woody won it.
[1:47:58] That's Andy's dad. That's why he's called Woody.
[1:48:05] Well, that's the same reason it's only 84 minutes long,
[1:48:07] Presumably. Yeah.
[1:48:08] I mean, they're dipping their toes in the water a bit.
[1:48:09] I'll get cost. Yeah.
[1:48:10] Yeah. And similar to that is the
[1:48:12] birthday party we talked about. When we look through Sergey's
[1:48:14] binoculars, we'll see the kids. And if you look, you can see
[1:48:16] they all look very similar to Andy.
[1:48:18] Yes they do. We just got different colour
[1:48:20] skin. Different colour hair.
[1:48:21] Yeah, because they use the same model.
[1:48:23] Yeah, time is money, I guess. Well, Disney did that.
[1:48:25] Didn't know with Jungle Boot, Robin Hood it's all repeated.
[1:48:28] Of course. Yeah, of course they did.
[1:48:30] Yeah. The team that created Toy Story
[1:48:32] was relatively very small. Pixar employed 100 written 10
[1:48:35] people in total to make the film.
[1:48:37] To make The Lion King, which came out in 94, Disney had a
[1:48:40] team of 800 employees working on it.
[1:48:42] Well, yeah, this is before the days of the Internet has been
[1:48:45] known today. And because the team was so
[1:48:47] small, they didn't have runners like a big Disney production
[1:48:49] like The Lion King usually would.
[1:48:51] Yeah. So when an animator finished a
[1:48:52] shot, apparently they would put it on a videotape and then
[1:48:55] someone would jump on a scooter and shoot around the Pixar
[1:48:57] office to take it to the editors.
[1:49:00] Not why these people need to a Plank award.
[1:49:01] Hopefully that would. Have been fine on a moped
[1:49:06] though, yeah. Yeah, that's alright.
[1:49:09] And Lassiter said the animators had to overcome huge challenges.
[1:49:12] Every leaf and blade of grass had to be created individually.
[1:49:15] The character of Woody alone had 723 motion controls, including
[1:49:20] 212 for his face and 58 for his mouth, and 300 computers we used
[1:49:25] to render the final movie. It took 800,000 hours and
[1:49:29] 114,240 frames of animation in total.
[1:49:34] That's about 91 days to render. And you've noticed as well, when
[1:49:37] the toys blink, their eyes always open and close one or two
[1:49:40] frames apart, which was to make it look more realistic.
[1:49:42] Yeah. Made your attention the detail
[1:49:44] in there. Yeah.
[1:49:45] Blades of grass individually done know.
[1:49:47] Mental. Imagine that was, you know, W
[1:49:49] you're in charge of the grass in California Sound.
[1:49:52] No, no, no, no. No, the Toy Story grass.
[1:49:56] The technology and animation goes hand in hand today, but
[1:49:59] Lasseter said that at the time they were so different that find
[1:50:02] an animator who knew how to use computers was pretty much
[1:50:05] impossible. So they had the higher hand
[1:50:07] drawn of stop motion animators and teach them how to use
[1:50:10] technology. Andrew Stanton said he would
[1:50:12] regularly come across animators trying to draw on the screens or
[1:50:16] move the screen models by hand as it didn't really understand
[1:50:19] it. Like Armageddon teaching a bunch
[1:50:21] of drillers how to fly a spaceship.
[1:50:24] This makes more sense. Yeah.
[1:50:27] You can't teach an animated how to draw, can you?
[1:50:30] Yeah, I understand that the Pixar last star setting, these
[1:50:32] people who are learning on the job are still like sky high.
[1:50:36] But I guess if you pull it off, you end up with greatness.
[1:50:38] And that's kind of what they did, yeah.
[1:50:40] Yeah, definitely. Yeah, no direct Oscars
[1:50:42] recognition for the visuals on Toy Story.
[1:50:44] It didn't exist as a category at the time, but by 2002 there was
[1:50:48] a Best Animated Feature award, right?
[1:50:50] Secure with no small part of Pixar, I think.
[1:50:52] Absolutely, yeah. The first winner, though, wasn't
[1:50:54] a Pixar film. Do you know what it was?
[1:50:56] Matt Well 2. 1002. Shrek.
[1:50:59] It was Shrek. Some boy you like.
[1:51:03] Unbelievable. And in doing pioneering work,
[1:51:05] Toy Story did help establish a visual language that would kind
[1:51:08] of define computer animation for years to come.
[1:51:11] Oh. Definitely.
[1:51:11] Oh, absolutely, yeah. So some people who worked on Toy
[1:51:14] Story there, the writers, and there was a few of them bringing
[1:51:17] the script to life, Randy Newman creating the famous soundtrack
[1:51:20] and the animation teams setting new standards.
[1:51:23] All in all, pretty impressive stuff from the Pixar crew.
[1:51:26] Very impressive. Yeah.
[1:51:31] The end. The final active Toy Story sees
[1:51:37] Woody and Buzz facing their biggest challenges yet.
[1:51:39] The climax where our heroes chase down Andy in a death
[1:51:42] defying car pursuit is coming, but first it's the final
[1:51:45] confrontation with Sid. Yeah, it is.
[1:51:48] So with Buzz accepting he is a toy after all, and deciding to
[1:51:51] help Woody escape potential disaster strikes with Sid
[1:51:56] planning to launch Buzz skyward on a firework at 8:25 AM, Woody
[1:52:00] and the other dismembered tour is Hatch your plan?
[1:52:03] Yeah, you set the alarm for 8:25 and it goes off at 7.
[1:52:07] Bit of an error, but what do you make of the show down in SIDS
[1:52:09] backyard Westie I mean. It's fantastic, isn't it?
[1:52:13] It's just a great, great plan from Woody.
[1:52:16] It is. It's ingenious, I'll be honest
[1:52:19] with you. When he puts his little temper
[1:52:20] aside, he's really got a intelligent brain there and it
[1:52:23] really works. But that's excellent that the
[1:52:25] match goes in the holster. But I love this revenge that
[1:52:28] happens on said. This is where it goes from, you
[1:52:30] know, the action films of the 80s.
[1:52:32] And now we're in the horror movies.
[1:52:34] There's Night of the Living Dead in there.
[1:52:36] Hell raises in there. There's an excellent not with
[1:52:40] the Exorcist which that head spin.
[1:52:42] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which has been done so many
[1:52:44] times before and it's always made me give it a bit of an eye
[1:52:47] roll of like. But it works so well here
[1:52:51] because of the speed that it's done and the dialogue that
[1:52:54] accompanies in that those toys, we see everything and that must
[1:53:00] freak them out. That would freak them out at the
[1:53:03] time, but then I think that would be enough.
[1:53:06] But then when he comes to life and he's just really in his face
[1:53:09] and he becomes a real life toy and they're closing in on them
[1:53:12] and he's just that's it. He's had enough.
[1:53:14] Sid gets a pretty bad rap. I'm going to say that he's quite
[1:53:19] inventive, but he does it from the wrong spectrum.
[1:53:22] So he does it from the wrong side.
[1:53:24] He does it from a side of aggression and a side of
[1:53:27] destruction, which is never good.
[1:53:30] But if it was done in a playful way, I think it would have been
[1:53:32] nice to see a bit more of a resolution for Sid's character
[1:53:36] because I feel like, yeah, he's the bad guy, but I would like to
[1:53:38] have seen him altering toys for good at the end.
[1:53:41] Yeah, just before the Christmas bit.
[1:53:43] Maybe it cuts back to say, like, fixing the toys at Christmas and
[1:53:46] then pans around and goes through Andy's window and just
[1:53:49] kind of travels down the road where they've moved to.
[1:53:52] Yeah, yeah, that might be really nice.
[1:53:54] I agree. I think it kind of needs that,
[1:53:56] you know, he's a bad kid, but there's loads of bad kids out
[1:53:58] there. Yeah, he doesn't know they're
[1:53:59] alive, to be fair, does he? And no, he doesn't.
[1:54:01] And I think that's the point. And once he knows they're alive,
[1:54:04] if he could have a little bit of retribution and then he's
[1:54:06] helping them and fixing them up, I think that would have been
[1:54:09] really, really nice. But this whole bit and said yard
[1:54:12] is excellent because it's what you want.
[1:54:13] It's, you know, retribution for the toys, It's revenge for the
[1:54:16] guys who are there. It sets up the match, it sets up
[1:54:19] the end, and it sets up the rocket.
[1:54:21] And it from here just gets ridiculous.
[1:54:24] And by ridiculous, I mean fucking excellent.
[1:54:28] That election scene they would get before that where they just
[1:54:30] factors good to get him out of the house.
[1:54:32] And then she or the dog flop on the skateboard.
[1:54:34] Great little moment that lean back.
[1:54:36] Yeah, yeah. But what is saving Buzz?
[1:54:40] Also kind of redeeming himself. His walk in the films about
[1:54:43] overcoming his jealousy, his selfishness, and this moment
[1:54:46] proves his transformation is complete.
[1:54:48] He's willing to risk everything and break the Tories kind of
[1:54:51] prime directive to save Buzz. There's a great little touch
[1:54:54] when they do go to leave, Woody jumps on the car and Buzz gets
[1:54:57] stuck in the fence and says I'll catch up.
[1:54:59] Yeah, Woody earlier would have left him.
[1:55:01] Not anymore. He.
[1:55:01] Comes back here. And you mentioned a few there,
[1:55:04] Westie. There's another classic film
[1:55:05] reference our spot here as well When the mangled Army Man about
[1:55:09] The Dirty water. Apocalypse Now reminds me of
[1:55:11] Apocalypse Now all right. And surely SIDS never getting
[1:55:14] over this. No, his scream when the spider
[1:55:17] baby thing lands on his head is like blood curdling.
[1:55:20] He's. Terrified, he ends up being a.
[1:55:22] Binman. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:55:24] He's off to therapy after this. Yeah.
[1:55:26] Michael Myers. Just listening to music and
[1:55:28] hitting bins for the rest of his life to a kid.
[1:55:32] Just saying, the writing is so good in this same because the
[1:55:34] film has been so much about the rivalry between Woody and Buzz,
[1:55:38] but at the same time, they've built up this threat of Sid as
[1:55:41] an actual villain in the background.
[1:55:43] And Woody and Buzz resolve their problems just in time for Sid to
[1:55:46] take center stage. But at the same time, Andy is
[1:55:49] about to literally leave to go to his new house.
[1:55:52] So it's like there's a ticking time bomb going on in the
[1:55:54] background. You know, they've got to get out
[1:55:56] of there now or they'll miss the chance to go with Andy.
[1:55:58] So there's a lot of plates being spun here, and not one of them
[1:56:02] is wobbling. They're all perfectly In Sync.
[1:56:04] And it even sets up a small thing like Woody having the
[1:56:07] match with them at the end in a way that makes perfect sense.
[1:56:10] As Wes, he says, makes perfect sense.
[1:56:12] He'd put it in his holster. Why wouldn't you of?
[1:56:14] Course it would, yeah. The writing is just so perfectly
[1:56:17] done for this scene, and you get that queer trauma that just
[1:56:20] pulled back and we're talking about it mimic and camera moves
[1:56:23] like that pull back to real. And being surrounded by the toys
[1:56:26] in the circles, the advancing towards them.
[1:56:28] Yeah, Yeah. Brilliant.
[1:56:29] It's incredible. After the film came out, Pixar
[1:56:32] apparently discussed whether the Toy Story toy line should
[1:56:35] include the toys. Sit has been torturing and
[1:56:37] reconfiguring Think We're Toys were the toy manufacturers and
[1:56:40] said it was a bad idea. I disagree with that.
[1:56:44] I would. Have bought that spider baby
[1:56:47] head. Baby head spider legs thing.
[1:56:50] Imagine getting that. I think you should have got them
[1:56:52] all as a pack though. But then you can kind of pull
[1:56:54] them apart and move them around your own configurations of SIDS
[1:56:58] toys. But it would have made Sid more
[1:57:00] of the hero, wouldn't I guess? I don't know.
[1:57:02] Yeah, maybe, but is it just me as well or is it pretty sad how
[1:57:05] old SIDS are? The toys just get left behind.
[1:57:07] Yeah, straighten the bin for them, surely when the parents
[1:57:09] find them. Before we leave SIDS for good
[1:57:11] though, we have our second DAT RM patron question.
[1:57:14] OK. It comes from Philip Beattie and
[1:57:16] is about Sid. OK.
[1:57:18] Hello, Philip. Hello Philip.
[1:57:20] So Philip asks how much of a little swine is said.
[1:57:23] Philip didn't say swine, but OK. What are the kids in movies are
[1:57:27] there that could do with an old fashioned clip round the year?
[1:57:30] Right, OK. It's plenty for you would
[1:57:31] imagine, Westy. Lords, there's nothing really
[1:57:35] gets under my skin more than an annoying kid in a film.
[1:57:38] I think since misunderstood, I've already said that, but I'll
[1:57:40] put that forward again. Yeah, the kid who bought the bed
[1:57:42] sheets and his party needs a clip.
[1:57:47] The Raptor kid at the start of Jurassic Park.
[1:57:50] Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:57:52] It's like a giant Turkey. Yeah, yeah.
[1:57:55] Gets his comeuppance. That's fine.
[1:57:57] Any kid in either of the Charlie in the Chocolate Factory films.
[1:58:01] Yeah, yeah. Even Charlie.
[1:58:03] Any of them. Charlie.
[1:58:04] Yeah, definitely. Just messing around with shit.
[1:58:06] Just leave it alone. John Connor in Terminate.
[1:58:10] Oh, definitely. Easy money, turn it off.
[1:58:13] Then I kind of watch it because of him.
[1:58:16] By the way, I'm not getting at the kids who are playing them at
[1:58:18] all. The characters, that's what I'm
[1:58:20] talking about. It's as if that's annoying
[1:58:22] character. And the worst one for me, Always
[1:58:24] Will Be, Always Has Been, is played by a guy called Billy
[1:58:27] Lombardo and it's Benny in the Money Pit.
[1:58:30] Wow. What's your money Pit again?
[1:58:33] That kid is a piece of shit. He's a piece of shit and it's
[1:58:38] really well played and that kid supposed to be, but that
[1:58:41] character of Benny in the Money Pit is the worst kid in any film
[1:58:44] ever. Right.
[1:58:46] Nice. Yeah.
[1:58:47] I mean, Sid's definitely up there on the list of movie kids
[1:58:49] who need to be taught a lesson, which is why it's all so great
[1:58:51] when it happens. Yeah, they are others, but it's
[1:58:54] done well. I actually kind of like those
[1:58:56] evil child characters. Oh, it's done well, yeah.
[1:58:59] Yeah, like a book assault from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate
[1:59:01] Factory. I don't think we're meant to
[1:59:02] like her because she's a bit spoiled and a loudmouth, but I
[1:59:04] think she's great and she's really funny.
[1:59:06] She's not great like. His characters who were meant to
[1:59:10] like that, I often don't. Right.
[1:59:12] Got you. Like for me on Jurassic Park,
[1:59:14] Tim the new and old kid, they should have turned that
[1:59:17] electricity defense up, not off. Anakin from the Fundamentals is
[1:59:22] a classic. Yeah, it is.
[1:59:23] Yeah. But the most repulsive child
[1:59:25] character I've seen anywhere isn't in movies.
[1:59:27] He's on TV. Joffrey from Game of Thrones.
[1:59:30] Right. I knew that would kind of come
[1:59:32] up. I think you might be the best
[1:59:33] love to head character I've ever seen anywhere.
[1:59:35] Yeah, what a bastard. But brilliant.
[1:59:37] Yeah, and spoilers. Game of Thrones definitely got
[1:59:39] worse for me after he went right.
[1:59:41] Yeah, I definitely have drawn Connor on my list as well.
[1:59:44] No. Do you call Moi the dipshit?
[1:59:47] Oh yeah, call you worse than that, sunshine.
[1:59:49] You keep on going like that. If.
[1:59:53] You've seen there's a Christmas horror film called Krampus about
[1:59:56] a visiting family and all the kids.
[1:59:58] Not obnoxious. Yeah, I agree with that.
[2:00:01] Yeah. Good film though.
[2:00:02] It's a really good film. Yeah, you do want to slap the
[2:00:04] kids off. And then Draco from Harry
[2:00:06] Potter. Yeah.
[2:00:07] He has one expression throughout 7 films, Potter and that's it.
[2:00:13] Or any of them in the first Harry Potter, to be honest.
[2:00:15] Actually, yeah, Ron's all right. Any.
[2:00:18] No, bloody hell. Rubbish.
[2:00:22] Well, As for our Toy Story heroes, they're back in the game
[2:00:26] and after the removal van and for said sad or glad to see him
[2:00:30] go. I'm glad to see him go.
[2:00:32] I'm sad not to see him redeemed. Yeah, I'm coming around to that
[2:00:35] idea as well. With Sid dealt with our heroes
[2:00:40] now face an even bigger problem catching up with the family
[2:00:43] moving van. What are you in Buzz?
[2:00:45] High tailing after Andy with scored in hot pursuit Andy's
[2:00:48] remote controlled car RC turns up to help.
[2:00:51] Sid's firework comes in very handy and Buzz flies them to
[2:00:54] safety. Yes, Matt, Is it flying or
[2:00:57] falling with style for the Toy Story climax?
[2:01:00] Oh, it's absolutely flying. So much great storytelling here
[2:01:03] in terms of how everything this chase needs has been set up.
[2:01:06] The magnifying glass effect on what he was set up scenes
[2:01:09] earlier, That's going to come back.
[2:01:10] Yeah. As I said, the match comes back
[2:01:12] in the play that was set up in the previous saying, yeah.
[2:01:15] And none of it feels overly convenient.
[2:01:17] It just dovetails together beautifully in the scene itself.
[2:01:20] It's classic blockbuster. Again, we've mentioned earlier,
[2:01:23] but it's very Spielberg. You know the way that Spielberg
[2:01:26] will construct an action scene in an indie film by adding
[2:01:29] layers of power. It's not just one thing or
[2:01:32] Marion said the fuel on fire, but just trapped in the plane.
[2:01:34] And then he's got to fight the engine at the same time. 3
[2:01:37] layers of power. So it's not just the chase in
[2:01:39] the van, but the bean chase by is good.
[2:01:41] And it's not just that, but the toys in the van.
[2:01:43] Still don't trust Woody? Led by Potato Head.
[2:01:47] It's really funny when he gets in there and he's shook and
[2:01:50] everything out and Rex goes he's at it again.
[2:01:53] Yeah. I love that.
[2:01:55] So crash zoom, isn't it? Yeah, Crash.
[2:01:57] Yeah. Really funny, then the ducking
[2:01:59] under the cars and then just when the Leafs cut behind the
[2:02:01] batteries run out and then the match gets blown out.
[2:02:04] That match getting blown out is so good.
[2:02:06] Great. Yeah, it's great.
[2:02:08] Because there's so many moving parts of the sequence and just
[2:02:10] when you think this is it that happens, like, well, how do they
[2:02:13] get back? And everything is so harmonious.
[2:02:16] Everything is just beautifully In Sync.
[2:02:17] So when you get to the resolution of the exploit, the
[2:02:19] rocket, and you get the call back to the fallen with style,
[2:02:23] this could be really on the nose, but it's not.
[2:02:25] It's just perfectly judged. I agree much.
[2:02:28] I think this is how you write and execute an action climax to
[2:02:31] your film. It's like a master class.
[2:02:32] It's got everything. It's funny, it's exciting, it's
[2:02:35] got the feels in there, and it's the writing of it to start with.
[2:02:38] I think as a climax. The plotting is perfect.
[2:02:41] Starts with them running after the van.
[2:02:43] Scud spots them from the porch, which ties into when they lured
[2:02:45] him at the front door level. When Scuds yanking Woody off the
[2:02:48] back of the van and Woody twanged his eyelids.
[2:02:51] Yeah, yeah, yeah. RC getting involved is a great
[2:02:55] idea, and both Woody and Buzz get their moments.
[2:02:57] It's Woody who comes up with the idea of using Buzz's helmet to
[2:03:00] light the rocket. Yeah.
[2:03:01] Hilarious. When the rocket goes off and we
[2:03:03] get that close up on Woody's face with AG force effect on it.
[2:03:06] Yeah. Yeah.
[2:03:07] And is there a more joyous moment in any film than when
[2:03:10] Buzz starts to fly? Yeah, it's got to be up there.
[2:03:13] And they bring it full circle. What?
[2:03:15] He's like Buzz, you're flying. This isn't flying.
[2:03:17] It's falling with style. Yeah, I'm just like, right, Turn
[2:03:19] it off. Yeah, too good.
[2:03:21] I'm not having it. Accepted who he is, friend.
[2:03:23] Yeah, yeah, You know what? You see something in the film, I
[2:03:26] think you'll get this Westy. And it's creatively, like, so
[2:03:28] good that it makes you kind of emotional.
[2:03:30] Yeah, absolutely. Buzz flying is one of those
[2:03:32] moments for me, just how good it is.
[2:03:34] Yeah. Hello.
[2:03:35] The ditch RC film in the back of the van.
[2:03:37] Thanks very much. See you later.
[2:03:39] You did most of the work. The noise going to make it.
[2:03:41] He hits Potato Head as well, so it's totally worth it for that
[2:03:43] comedy. Beat.
[2:03:44] It's fantastic. I mean, it's just as good of a
[2:03:49] final action set piece as you're going to get.
[2:03:51] Yeah, when we did the Aliens episode years ago, you turn
[2:03:55] around and said the end of Aliens are so good.
[2:03:56] I can't believe it exists, and I feel exactly the same about the
[2:04:00] end of Toy Story because it ties so many things back together
[2:04:04] again. That match going out, like we've
[2:04:05] mentioned, is such a good punch, but then it's euphoric, it's
[2:04:09] down, then it's up. It's brilliant the way this is
[2:04:13] all put together and there's certain lines to it that you
[2:04:16] know that they've found the place in the world.
[2:04:19] And that's kind of all we want to do as human beings.
[2:04:21] All we want to do as people is find your place and find your
[2:04:24] meaning and find out where you're necessary and who you
[2:04:27] care about and what your small group of friends is and your
[2:04:30] family. And Boss has found that, and he
[2:04:32] knows the importance of it now, and he gets it when he admits
[2:04:35] that it's fallen with style and Woody then repeats to Infinity
[2:04:39] and beyond, the kind of buy into each other's personalities.
[2:04:43] Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I really just said I love
[2:04:46] you. I love you too by like, I buy
[2:04:48] who you are now. I get who you are now.
[2:04:50] And it's such a beautiful thing. It's just really encapsulated
[2:04:55] and surrounded by this action sequence.
[2:04:57] But I tear up every time I watch it now because I'm like, that's
[2:05:00] what life's about, really. It's about finding your place,
[2:05:04] accepting who you are and accepting everyone else around
[2:05:06] you for who they are. And that's what it does at the
[2:05:09] end of this film. And they miss everybody.
[2:05:12] They know everyone's fine. They drop RC off because they
[2:05:14] can't explain that. And then when he says we've
[2:05:16] missed the truck and says we're not aiming for the truck.
[2:05:19] Brilliant. It's just gets better and better
[2:05:22] and better. And that final scoop up, he
[2:05:24] can't fly. Yeah.
[2:05:25] Yeah. He is a space Ranger.
[2:05:27] He's done everything that he wanted to do, everything that he
[2:05:29] thought he was. He is, but just in a different
[2:05:31] context. So everything you think you are,
[2:05:34] you probably are. But you've got to find your
[2:05:36] context. You've got to find your space in
[2:05:38] life. You've got to find your people
[2:05:39] in life. You've got to find your room,
[2:05:40] and that's what the end of Toy Story does.
[2:05:42] So important, so good, so powerful, so emotional, but so
[2:05:47] joyous. Joy Story.
[2:05:50] A beautiful piece of writing isn't.
[2:05:51] It. Yeah, it is.
[2:05:51] Yeah. Such a gift.
[2:05:54] So we mentioned earlier that Joss Whedon had an ID for the
[2:05:57] end of the film that pixel light but couldn't do.
[2:05:59] And we also said that Barbie was originally meant to be in the
[2:06:02] film but Mattel wouldn't allow it.
[2:06:04] So when Joss Whedon came onto the film to do rewrites, he
[2:06:07] wrote Barbie into the climax. And originally the idea was that
[2:06:11] when Woody and Buzz are chasing the van, Barbie would drive her
[2:06:14] Corvette off the back of the truck and rescue them from Scud,
[2:06:17] right? Which sounds amazing.
[2:06:19] Whedon said it was inspired by Sarah Connor in Terminator 2,
[2:06:22] but Mattel said they didn't want to give Barbie a defined
[2:06:24] persona, which is why they said no.
[2:06:27] That's a good point. Yeah, it does sound like it
[2:06:29] would have been good though. Imagine to terminate a toy
[2:06:31] voiced by Arnold. Best character ever.
[2:06:34] It would have been raining outside before she drives off,
[2:06:37] probably. There's a storm outside.
[2:06:38] I know. And then?
[2:06:42] It still worked with RC though pretty well.
[2:06:44] RC is great, I love it. Runs out of batteries and turbo.
[2:06:47] Turbo is great. Yeah, it's great.
[2:06:48] Yeah. I love it when they're back in
[2:06:50] the car with Andy and Woody and Buzz Winky each other and the
[2:06:53] scene. Perfect.
[2:06:54] There you go. Done.
[2:06:55] Yeah, done. Exactly where we need to be.
[2:06:57] Yeah, doesn't end just there though, does it?
[2:06:59] We get there. You will tie Daniel more.
[2:07:02] Any thoughts on that? I mean, all the writing in the
[2:07:04] film has been about dotting the eyes and crossing the T's and
[2:07:07] threading everything together. So it does feel very circular
[2:07:10] that it should end with Andy getting presents again at the
[2:07:13] end. Yeah, look, feels a bit too.
[2:07:14] It's Christmas, not his next birthday.
[2:07:16] Yeah. I don't know if that's just me,
[2:07:18] but it's nice to see that Buzz is the worried one this time.
[2:07:22] It's a great gag and a great callback, Like Mr. Potato Head
[2:07:24] finally gets a Mrs. Potato Head. Yeah.
[2:07:27] Obviously, you know, great end because the only thing worse
[2:07:30] than the none of the toy is a puppy because not only is that
[2:07:32] going to take Andy's attention, it will chew on everything.
[2:07:35] So it's a perfect way. To wrap it all up, I think that
[2:07:37] gift is the reason that it is Christmas, because if it was
[2:07:39] Andy's birthday, there'll be Andy's dog.
[2:07:41] I think it's a family dog that comes to Christmas.
[2:07:43] OK, so that lands the end and really, doesn't it?
[2:07:45] Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
[2:07:47] I just can't believe there's not be a Toy Story Christmas film.
[2:07:49] That would have been great. Yeah.
[2:07:51] Did they not do a short film? Definitely did a Halloween 1.
[2:07:53] I think they have, yeah. And Mrs. Potato Head turns up.
[2:07:56] We know what Mr. Potato heads up to on Boxing Day.
[2:07:59] Dirty dog. Great final scene though.
[2:08:02] I love the iris fade to black at the end as well.
[2:08:04] Perfect. Yeah, it's really good try to do
[2:08:05] that. Indiana Jones didn't work, did
[2:08:07] it? No, definitely not.
[2:08:09] And that is the end of Toy Story.
[2:08:11] From traumatizing said to chasing the moving van.
[2:08:13] What are you in Buzz? Go from rivals to best friends.
[2:08:16] Pretty joyous and all wrapped up with a neat Christmas ball for
[2:08:19] us. Absolutely.
[2:08:20] Really joyous, yeah. Deception and awards.
[2:08:28] So that is the story of Toy Story, and it opened in cinemas
[2:08:32] in November 1995. Yeah.
[2:08:34] How did it do when its release? Well, Matt, the stats had his
[2:08:37] eyes on so many numbers, we've had to replace them.
[2:08:39] Like Mr. Potato Head. I have.
[2:08:41] So tell us all about it, Matt. So production budget was $30
[2:08:45] million and Toy Story cost a massive $394.4 million
[2:08:51] worldwide, making it the biggest global hit of the year, and it
[2:08:54] did well at the Oscars. 2 While it wasn't eligible for Best
[2:08:57] Animated Feature, as we've said, John Lasseter was awarded a
[2:09:00] special Achievement Academy Award, and the film was also
[2:09:03] nominated for three other Oscars.
[2:09:05] Randy Newman for Best Score, Best original song for him again
[2:09:08] for You've Got a Friend of Me and Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton,
[2:09:12] Joel Coen and Alex Socolow for Best Screenplay.
[2:09:15] Okay. Didn't do too badly then, is
[2:09:17] what you're saying about No. I bet I couldn't believe it, The
[2:09:20] reception that it got our best. Yeah.
[2:09:22] About the budget, Oh, thank God for that.
[2:09:23] Yeah, yeah. You might have graphed that went
[2:09:25] into it. Made those 100 hour weeks worth
[2:09:27] it. Not even celebrating, just being
[2:09:28] like, yeah, that makes sense. Week is up in a week.
[2:09:33] Yeah, I haven't slept in like 3 years.
[2:09:35] Several months before release, Disney had some secret
[2:09:38] screenings of the film while it was still being worked on.
[2:09:40] Audiences were told that they were going to see a screening of
[2:09:43] Operation Dumbo Drop at Disney War Comedy, and when they were
[2:09:47] in the theatre they were told it was actually an experimental
[2:09:49] animated film called Toy Story. They all had to sign ND as if
[2:09:53] they wanted to stay in and watch.
[2:09:54] It definitely would have done that 100%.
[2:09:57] Imagine the people that left Furious didn't get to see
[2:09:59] Operation Dumbo drop. I'm not signing that.
[2:10:02] Storming out? Yeah, I bet that was nerve
[2:10:05] wracking as hell for last time Pixar people are watching and
[2:10:08] judging something they've not really seen the like of before.
[2:10:10] Exactly. Yeah, NDA like no Dumbo
[2:10:13] aggression. And Disney offered Hasbro and
[2:10:18] Mattel the chance to manufacture a Toy Story toy line to coincide
[2:10:22] with the film. They both turned it down.
[2:10:23] They were saying the eleven months they had before the film
[2:10:26] came out wasn't enough time and they would need 18 months.
[2:10:29] So a Canadian company called Thinkwear Toys got the license
[2:10:32] instead, just five months before the film was due to release.
[2:10:36] And the Woody doll that they produced, the voice for that,
[2:10:38] that's done by Tom Hanks's brother, Jim Hanks.
[2:10:42] Keeping it in the family, nice touch.
[2:10:44] Yeah, he does quite a few, doesn't he?
[2:10:45] Jim Hanks. Just a computer game and stuff
[2:10:47] and he did some of the shorts. OK, I think he has.
[2:10:50] Yeah. But yeah, obviously a massive
[2:10:51] deal if I think we're toys. But do you remember at the time
[2:10:54] that Christmas everywhere was selling out a Buzz Lightyear
[2:10:57] toys? Yeah, it was a big thing at the
[2:10:59] time, wasn't it? So that's why, yeah, think we
[2:11:01] weren't one of the big toy manufacturers and they couldn't
[2:11:03] keep up with the demand, right. That's why there was a shortage.
[2:11:06] Yeah, right. OK.
[2:11:07] And that's also why we got Jingle all the Way.
[2:11:09] So swinging roundabouts. Exactly every cloud.
[2:11:12] Yeah, under the critics. And we'll start, as we usually
[2:11:16] do, with Roger Ebert. What did Big Rog make?
[2:11:19] A Toy Story, do we think? Easy for easiest for you ever.
[2:11:22] Yeah, he would have loved it. Of course he bloody did.
[2:11:24] Yeah. If anyone was a classic, it's
[2:11:26] Rog when he sees it. Yeah, it was a bopping 4 stars
[2:11:29] out of four and he said takes apart the universe of cinematic
[2:11:32] visuals and puts it back together again, allowing us to
[2:11:35] see it in a new way. Yeah, long review from the big
[2:11:38] man. I think we'd be hard pressed to
[2:11:41] disagree too much. Definitely.
[2:11:42] Yeah, definitely. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment
[2:11:45] Weekly also reads about Toy Story writing.
[2:11:48] It has the purity and ecstatic freedom of imagination that's
[2:11:51] the hallmark of the greatest children's films.
[2:11:54] It also will have the kind of spring loaded, elusive
[2:11:56] Frankishness that at times will tickle adults even more than it
[2:11:59] does kids. Yeah.
[2:12:01] Yeah, definitely. I agree with that.
[2:12:02] It does work pretty perfectly for kids and olds I think.
[2:12:05] Yeah, and the full 5 stars from Empire magazine where Caroline
[2:12:09] Westbrook said just perfect script, character, animation.
[2:12:14] This managers to break free of the York of children's movie to
[2:12:17] simply be one of the best movies of the 90s, full stop.
[2:12:20] Nice. Yeah, I think if anything,
[2:12:22] Caroline's been proved even more right there with Einsight,
[2:12:24] probably. I think so, yeah.
[2:12:26] Yeah. Definitely.
[2:12:26] Yeah, and today in Rotten Tomatoes, Toy Story has a
[2:12:29] perfect 100% approval rating from critics and 92% from
[2:12:34] audiences. And on IMDb, it currently sits
[2:12:37] with a rating of 8.3 out of 10, which puts at 75th in the IMDb
[2:12:42] top 250. And that is one place above
[2:12:44] Avengers End Game and one below your favorite John Amadeus.
[2:12:50] Amadeus will be the last film we cover in that 250.
[2:12:54] You're doing that on my fucking deathbed.
[2:12:57] Just like the film. Maybe that's.
[2:12:59] Yeah, maybe that's what they're waiting for.
[2:13:02] But 100% from critics are rotten to models.
[2:13:04] Wow, yeah, that's crazy. So Toy Story wasn't instant
[2:13:08] critical darling, a box office mega hit and had award success
[2:13:11] too. Some disappointed children who
[2:13:13] wanted their hand on the Buzz Lightyear that Christmas.
[2:13:15] Not Westy. No, got one.
[2:13:17] But aside from that, not too shabby.
[2:13:20] Your debut from Pixar. Yeah, they did all right.
[2:13:23] Didn't. They they certainly did sequels
[2:13:28] and influence. Toy Story was a huge success, as
[2:13:32] we just talked about. South unsurprisingly spawned
[2:13:35] multiple sequels over the years, with the full gang returning
[2:13:38] each time and some new faces popping up as well.
[2:13:42] Yeah, and on the sequels, we also have our third and final
[2:13:45] ATRM Patreon question. OK, it comes from Matthew Horn.
[2:13:50] Another Matthew. How do you feel about that,
[2:13:51] Matt? The more the better.
[2:13:53] The amazing. Like Toy Story 2, where there's
[2:13:55] two buzz layers. Yeah, exactly.
[2:13:57] Yeah. Yeah, sing Spanish doesn't sound
[2:14:01] like it. We'll see.
[2:14:03] Well, this Matthew's asked easy question for the team.
[2:14:06] What's your favorite Toy Story film?
[2:14:08] But Matthew 3 is perfect. But 2 is simply the best and
[2:14:11] maybe the best sequel ever made. Right.
[2:14:14] Yeah, in the conversation. It is in the conversation.
[2:14:16] What do you think about the Toy Story sequels?
[2:14:18] I'm going to go 3 because to have the first film as good as
[2:14:22] it is, for one thing, for then Toy Story 2 to come along and
[2:14:26] arguably be even better is another thing entirely.
[2:14:29] But then I have a third instalment which sticks the land
[2:14:32] and as it was originally meant to be back then, that's some
[2:14:35] achievements. I mean, it continues to
[2:14:36] introduce brilliant characters. Timothy Dalton is Mr. Prickle
[2:14:40] Pants is brilliant, Michael Keaton is Ken is just inspired
[2:14:44] past it. But I think when you talk about
[2:14:47] 3, you talk about two sequences, don't you?
[2:14:49] And I'll never, ever forget watching this at the cinema.
[2:14:52] The sequence when the trapped in the furnace and the oldest give
[2:14:56] up hope and they just hold each other's hand.
[2:14:58] It's unbelievable. It's unbelievable.
[2:15:01] It's one of those ones where you think logically, I know I'm not
[2:15:03] watching a Toy Story film where the toys are going to melt, but
[2:15:07] for that 30 seconds you forget it and you doubt it.
[2:15:10] It's just incredible. And then obviously the end.
[2:15:13] Not a dry eye in the house. I think 3 could just be pixels.
[2:15:17] Jewel in the crown. Wow, that's why I bought Peeps.
[2:15:20] Not in there, isn't it? And not in three, because she
[2:15:21] would have melted in that furnace.
[2:15:23] Is that right? Yeah, that's why she's not in
[2:15:25] that film, because she was part of like a lamp.
[2:15:27] Yeah, actually porcelain, yeah. It was porcelain, so yeah.
[2:15:30] We've met for me now that's amazing.
[2:15:33] Yeah, I think what's most impressive over the Toy Story
[2:15:35] sequels is that they do tend to feel like necessary.
[2:15:37] So many sequels feel like cash grabs to this sort of thing.
[2:15:40] But each Toy Story film does have a purpose, and that's
[2:15:42] especially two of the first three.
[2:15:44] The Toy Story trilogy, the first film, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story
[2:15:47] 3. Like you've just talked about
[2:15:48] Matt, Toy Story 2, like I said, that might be my favorite
[2:15:52] animated film. Expands on Woody's character,
[2:15:55] introduces Jesse in Bullseye and Stinky Pete.
[2:15:57] Yeah, all great via that Buzz. Love him.
[2:16:01] Yeah. The development of the world and
[2:16:02] what he's back story and the deeper exploration of the themes
[2:16:05] like abandonment and rejection is all brilliant.
[2:16:08] When she loved me, the song in that fantastic.
[2:16:11] Yeah, it's amazing. I'll save more until we do an
[2:16:13] episode on Toy Story 2, as we surely will, because I love it.
[2:16:15] Yeah, straight in the pool with Amadeus.
[2:16:17] So it definitely wins the first three.
[2:16:20] I think it's a genuinely great trilogy, and probably the only
[2:16:23] trilogy we have our reviewer for, like Empire or something.
[2:16:26] I'd give every film in the trilogy five star reviews.
[2:16:28] Yeah. But yeah, to answer Matthew's
[2:16:30] question, my favorite is Toy Story 2.
[2:16:32] OK, well what? Didn't even rehearse this, but
[2:16:34] mine's the first one. Oh, brilliant.
[2:16:36] Perfect, we've. Got 321.
[2:16:38] Wonderful. It always has been, always will
[2:16:40] be. I like the way that the branch
[2:16:42] things out in the second one, and I love the way the branch
[2:16:44] things out and wrap it up in the third one.
[2:16:46] But I think I always come down to this.
[2:16:48] If it wasn't for the ingenuity, the confidence, the right and
[2:16:53] everything that was put into the energy of the first one, you
[2:16:56] wouldn't be able to expand on such a really good idea.
[2:16:59] And I always come back to that. Of course, second one's amazing.
[2:17:02] It is really close in the conversation as one of the
[2:17:05] perfect sequence. It's up there for me with The
[2:17:07] Dark Knight Godfather Part 2. Yeah, yeah, great.
[2:17:09] It's in that conversation. It is that good.
[2:17:12] Every character has an arc in that film.
[2:17:13] It's brilliant. 3 again, every character has an arc.
[2:17:16] It's fantastic. And if this had stayed Toy Story
[2:17:20] 1-2 and three, it would finally have answered the greatest
[2:17:24] trilogy debate of all time. It was done.
[2:17:27] It was perfect. We lived at that time when there
[2:17:29] was a perfect trilogy. It was such a relief for the
[2:17:32] whole world, while especially for me to have the perfect
[2:17:35] trilogy out there. But that trilogy needs a start.
[2:17:38] No pressure, no diamonds. It needs to come from somewhere.
[2:17:41] And Toy Story one, for me, it's the slickest, it's the funniest,
[2:17:45] and it's the best for me. One each, then.
[2:17:47] That's good. Yeah.
[2:17:48] Nice. So the Toy Story franchise
[2:17:50] continued to be a powerhouse decades after the first film.
[2:17:53] But how about the impact that first entry had?
[2:17:56] What kind of influence and legacy has Toy Story had since
[2:17:59] 1995, do we think? I mean, I think this has got a
[2:18:02] good child to be the most influential film we've talked
[2:18:05] about so far. Well, because, well, how
[2:18:07] revolutionized the entire genre? You think how many studios came
[2:18:11] after Pixar and just followed in their footsteps?
[2:18:13] You know, DreamWorks, Blue Sky and Duvall just kind of try to
[2:18:18] not copy that form I guess, but emulate it, emulate it.
[2:18:21] That's the shoulders that they're standing on.
[2:18:23] So when you think about it's influence, it's just so
[2:18:26] wide-ranging and it's so deep and it's so long lasting.
[2:18:29] And then it's legacy is for Pixar to be the studio that it
[2:18:34] is to be so successful to go back to that very first film and
[2:18:38] go, that's still one of their very best as well.
[2:18:40] That's some legacy to have. It certainly is.
[2:18:43] I mean the first of its kind, the biggest film of the year.
[2:18:45] The box office became a bit of a cultural phenomenon.
[2:18:48] Its impact was bound to be huge. And it was.
[2:18:50] I think it proved that CGI animation was ready for like
[2:18:53] prime time after Toy Story. CGI features were everywhere
[2:18:57] across films on television and change animation forever.
[2:19:00] As a direct result, Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks
[2:19:03] invested massively in CGI animation that led to their
[2:19:06] animation studios. And Shrek, like you mentioned,
[2:19:08] another massive title. Yeah, within a decade, it seemed
[2:19:11] like 100 Animation was kind of obsolete.
[2:19:14] Yeah, it's gone. Yeah.
[2:19:15] And I know that by 2050% of animated films use CGI.
[2:19:20] By 2009, that was 90%. Wow.
[2:19:22] And that's because of what toy store we started.
[2:19:25] But beyond the technical stuff, I think the storytelling was
[2:19:28] really important. Pixar established their formula,
[2:19:30] engaging narratives with emotional depth about big
[2:19:33] characters and with universal themes that appeal to adults and
[2:19:37] children. These films are kind of for
[2:19:38] everybody, easy. So you're going to do that, but
[2:19:41] extremely difficult to pull it off.
[2:19:43] And Pixar kind of done it time and time again, like we've said.
[2:19:47] And most importantly, I think Toy Story shows still that
[2:19:50] technological innovation shouldn't come at the expense of
[2:19:53] the storytelling or the yacht. If John Lasseter said that
[2:19:56] balance of the yacht technology, it remains Pixels greatest
[2:19:59] legacy. I think whenever I hear the name
[2:20:01] Pixar, I think quality, yeah, brilliance at what they do,
[2:20:05] That's their reputation. And I think it has been since
[2:20:08] Toy Story. Yeah, when I think of Pixar, I
[2:20:10] just think of the word Thora. I think everything is just so
[2:20:13] thoroughly thought through, thoroughly executed from start
[2:20:17] to finish. They don't just half ass do
[2:20:19] something and say, oh, that'll do.
[2:20:21] I think if you say that'll do when you were for Pixar, you're
[2:20:23] going to be fired. Oh, you get.
[2:20:25] Fired. That would just be swear.
[2:20:26] And I think for them, every single film that's come after
[2:20:30] this film from this genre has been influenced by it.
[2:20:34] Without a shadow of doubt. No matter what studio has
[2:20:36] produced it, it's been influenced by it.
[2:20:38] But the genius of Toy Story is that it went right back to the
[2:20:42] traditional filmmaking with the cutting edge animation.
[2:20:46] And it just goes to show the tradition is always going to
[2:20:50] win. And I think a lot of people went
[2:20:52] back to basics after this and just went, hold on a second.
[2:20:55] We're writing stories that don't make sense.
[2:20:56] With everything that come after 95, we're starting to get more
[2:21:00] intelligence. We're starting to get a real
[2:21:02] sense of cinema moving in a different direction and I'm not
[2:21:06] saying that's 100% down at Toy Story, but I think it's got a
[2:21:09] lot to do with it. One of the big titles that did
[2:21:11] that, I think. Yeah, yeah.
[2:21:13] In one of the tools Pixar created that put them ahead of
[2:21:15] the competition was Renderman, and that's animation software
[2:21:19] they created in 1988, and it was used to create Toy Story and
[2:21:23] that allowed animators to render realistic textures, lighting in
[2:21:26] fluid motion, which was unheard of on a computer at the time.
[2:21:30] After Toy Story, Renderman became the industry standard for
[2:21:32] CGI animation. It was adopted by the studios as
[2:21:35] well. Yeah, transformed the industry
[2:21:37] by sounds of it. And back in those days,
[2:21:39] apparently it took 7 hours to render 1 frame of CGI to film,
[2:21:43] right? Hence the 800,000 hours to
[2:21:45] render Toy Story. Many sequel to Toy Story then,
[2:21:49] all keeping a high standard for us.
[2:21:51] And in terms of the film's wider impact from technical to
[2:21:54] storytelling techniques and commercial impact, it's fair to
[2:21:57] say that modern cinema might look different without Toy Story
[2:22:00] being part of it. Very different.
[2:22:02] Yeah, no, definitely. Everything was kind of brought
[2:22:04] background full circle. All the right movies ranking.
[2:22:12] And we're there, Toy Story completed.
[2:22:14] Now it's time for our ratings, where we each score the film out
[2:22:17] of 10. OK, so Rusty stars off please
[2:22:20] your summary and score for Toy Story.
[2:22:22] This is going to be my shortest summary that I've ever done on
[2:22:25] All the right movies. You say that every time and then
[2:22:27] it goes on for 5 minutes. That's totally fair enough.
[2:22:32] Yeah. I've said what I've wanted to
[2:22:36] say and if you want to go back late, especially with the end
[2:22:38] and how it all comes together right, So that's that.
[2:22:40] I started work a little bit later a day at a shoot at 2:00.
[2:22:44] I went into the shoot and they said, what have you been doing
[2:22:46] this morning? I said, I'm doing a podcast
[2:22:48] tonight. Oh, what you doing the podcast
[2:22:50] And I was I'm doing on Toy Story and they said, oh, this shoots
[2:22:54] just going to be an absolute joy.
[2:22:56] You must be in such a good place.
[2:22:59] Nice. It's a tent.
[2:23:02] Everyone knows what you get from this film.
[2:23:04] The know how you're going to feel after it.
[2:23:06] It's going to make you feel incredible as a human being and
[2:23:09] it's worth watching. If you've never ever seen it, I
[2:23:11] am so jealous of you. If you have seen it, just watch
[2:23:13] it again. It's just incredible and
[2:23:15] everybody knows it and that's the genius of it.
[2:23:17] It's an easy 10. And was a shooter joy.
[2:23:20] We all had a great time. So I mean, if we should all just
[2:23:23] have, they'd start work late and just watch Toy Story every
[2:23:25] morning. Joy Story.
[2:23:27] Joy Story. It'll be a much better place.
[2:23:29] So yeah, Lords and Lords to get into with this one.
[2:23:32] You come to Toy Story from just about any aspect, and it's still
[2:23:35] kind of worth discussing. Innovation, influence,
[2:23:37] entertainment, success. It ticks all the kind of boxes
[2:23:40] we like. Yeah.
[2:23:41] And beneath all that, on a personal level, I just think
[2:23:44] it's brilliant, starting with the writing, the concepts, toys
[2:23:47] that come to life when humans aren't looking, simple but
[2:23:50] executed as well as a concept could be executed.
[2:23:52] I think the themes it explores, identity, jealousy, abandonment
[2:23:57] that have depth. The narratives, the classic body
[2:23:59] story and one of the best examples of 1 and the two bodies
[2:24:02] in question. What are you in Buzz Lightyear
[2:24:05] are two of modern cinemas. Great characters, I think
[2:24:07] Indeed. And as I've been talking about,
[2:24:10] it was a technical marvel at the time, the first feature length
[2:24:13] CGI animation first out the gate and is still the name that all
[2:24:16] of its peers are judged against first and still the benchmark.
[2:24:20] I mean, that is true greatness. It's also an easy 10 for me.
[2:24:25] Yeah. And Matt, to finish yourself
[2:24:27] your summary and score for Toy Story, please. 11 I think first
[2:24:32] ever 11. All the way.
[2:24:34] He's got 11. It is so clearly a masterpiece.
[2:24:37] It's so clearly a definitive film in the genre of animation,
[2:24:41] and it has not dated one bit. And it is kind of amazing that
[2:24:44] so much of what we consider to be iconic about Pixar was right
[2:24:48] there in that first film. Yeah.
[2:24:50] And it just runs all the way through the middle of it.
[2:24:52] You don't have to, like, dig around to find it.
[2:24:54] It's stamped all the way through it.
[2:24:56] It's not broke. Don't fix it, right?
[2:24:57] Yeah. Exactly.
[2:24:58] Yeah. And it is pretty much a flawless
[2:25:00] film. And even if I think about the
[2:25:02] rest of Pixar's filmography, and I do think the two sequels are a
[2:25:07] bit better than this, and I think some of the other films
[2:25:09] push the boundaries of animation more and maybe do tell more
[2:25:12] complicated stories about like grief and loneliness and loss.
[2:25:17] But those films wouldn't exist without this one, without this
[2:25:20] one getting there first at that level of quality.
[2:25:22] So for that reason alone, it's a 10. 100%.
[2:25:26] Well, we also put this out to our ATRM patrons to get their
[2:25:29] thoughts, and the response was maybe predictably,
[2:25:31] overwhelmingly positive. Yeah, yeah.
[2:25:34] Jorgen Finn and Beer Keynes. Hopefully I pronounced that
[2:25:36] correctly, if not, apologies, please correct me.
[2:25:39] Yogan. He said a sea change when it
[2:25:42] comes to animated movies and would have noted a high mark
[2:25:45] regardless of the story. But it also has a wonderful
[2:25:48] story about friendship, feeling left out and finding new meaning
[2:25:51] in life. A clear 10.
[2:25:54] Beautiful. And then Yogin says look forward
[2:25:56] to the ATRM treatment. Thanks for a wonderful podcast.
[2:25:59] Greetings from Norway. Oh, wonderful.
[2:26:02] Thanks mate. Greetings from the UK yogin.
[2:26:04] International listeners love it. James Robert Keithley had this
[2:26:07] to say. How many times has a movie
[2:26:09] became an all time classic while also innovating a brand new
[2:26:13] form? Yeah, the fact that this was the
[2:26:14] first of an entirely new chapter in movies makes it one of the
[2:26:17] most significant films in history.
[2:26:19] Love this movie, will forever be one of my all time favourites.
[2:26:23] Lovely. Changing the form while also
[2:26:25] being the best to do it. It's like The Beatles.
[2:26:28] So achievement isn't it? And finally, Dominic Bramley
[2:26:31] said incredible film and right at home on most lists of movies
[2:26:36] that change cinema. Technically groundbreaking with
[2:26:38] an amazing cast in the script with humor and heart.
[2:26:41] Giving it a nine as that is probably the maximum I'd go for
[2:26:44] for this type of film. Then get this, reserving 10s for
[2:26:49] genuine acting classics like The Godfather 1 and 2.
[2:26:52] Fair enough. And The Wrath of Khan.
[2:26:56] This. Is your older ego.
[2:26:57] Surely Dominic has just said that he thought I might read it
[2:27:00] out if he did that. Yeah, there's no reason for
[2:27:03] that. No, there's no reason for that
[2:27:05] to be it, No. So many of our patrons are big
[2:27:08] fans of Toy Story and The Wrath of Khan, apparently.
[2:27:11] Apparently. What do you think they gave it
[2:27:12] out of 10? Toy Story, I mean.
[2:27:14] I'm not going to settle for anything less than a 10 to be
[2:27:16] honest. I think it it'll go at 10, yeah.
[2:27:19] It was 10 out of 10. Wonderful.
[2:27:21] Good. Adding our scores together, that
[2:27:23] gives Toy Story a grand total of 40 out of 40.
[2:27:26] Perfect score. Boom, as it should be the
[2:27:28] perfect score. Yeah, big, big film.
[2:27:30] And that's what's done on Toy Story.
[2:27:33] Hopefully hasn't made you want to RIP the heads off your toys
[2:27:35] and stick them on mechanical spider legs.
[2:27:37] Not anymore, no. Well, next time out, Luke,
[2:27:42] Wesley and Matt are talking Star Trek 2, The Wrath of Khan.
[2:27:45] No, you're not. Couldn't do that without you.
[2:27:47] Imagine that. Imagine you'll be fucking.
[2:27:50] Furious you're actually heading to the UX Mexico border to talk
[2:27:55] Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro and Denis Villeneuve crime
[2:27:58] thriller Sicario. Yeah, I'll try and get Wrath of
[2:28:01] Khan in there. Somehow.
[2:28:02] Will fail. Please do, I'll try.
[2:28:05] Well, in the meantime, to find out more about becoming a
[2:28:07] patron, supporting what we do, and accessing our archive and
[2:28:10] bonus episodes, please visit patreon.com/all the Right Movies
[2:28:15] or subscribe directly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.
[2:28:19] Also, please leave us five star reviews on Apple Podcasts or
[2:28:23] either streaming platforms of your choice.
[2:28:25] That really helps us out. Does and or?
[2:28:27] And or. We can't have too many.
[2:28:29] Exactly and or very nice socially, you can keep up with
[2:28:32] all the right movies on X where we are at the AT right movies
[2:28:35] where we post threads that are tell the story, buying classic
[2:28:37] films. Everything's based on three
[2:28:38] separate sources like our podcasts are.
[2:28:41] You can also find us on YouTube, Instagram threads, blue sky, all
[2:28:45] the places. And if you'd like to get a taste
[2:28:48] for the ATRM community, you can join our movie group on Facebook
[2:28:51] or jump straight into ATRM Patreon to see what the fuss is
[2:28:55] about. Exactly.
[2:28:56] Go to lovely people. And our website, full of great
[2:28:59] features, is all the right movies.com.
[2:29:01] It is boom. We're all off now to see what
[2:29:04] Matt does get up to on his Black Fridays.
[2:29:08] Come back for Sicario. And as always, thanks for
[2:29:11] listening. Thanks for listening guys.
[2:29:13] It's dark, then Sicario, I'll say that.

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