Studio: Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Pictures
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Short Synopsis
Toys come alive when people aren't looking. Woody, a pull-string cowboy doll, is the favourite toy of a boy named Andy and the leader of the toys in his bedroom. At Andy's birthday party a new toy arrives: Buzz Lightyear, a high-tech space ranger action figure, who believes he really is a space ranger, and who quickly replaces Woody as Andy's favourite. Jealous, Woody tries to push Buzz behind the desk; Buzz falls out of the window, and the other toys accuse Woody of murder. Woody and Buzz end up lost together at a petrol station and then in a Pizza Planet restaurant, where they are captured by Sid, the destructive boy next door, who tortures toys and blows them up. In Sid's house Buzz sees a television advertisement and realises he is just a toy; he tries to fly and breaks his arm. Woody rallies Sid's mutilated toys to scare Sid into treating toys better, and he and Buzz race after the moving van as Andy's family moves house, using a rocket strapped to Buzz to fly the last stretch. At Christmas in the new house, the two are friends.
Why It Matters
- Every frame was a technical leap, yet what audiences remembered was character: Woody's jealousy, Buzz's delusion and heartbreak, and the comedy of grown-up actors playing toys who take themselves seriously. The scene in which Buzz watches his own commercial and realises what he is remains one of the most affecting moments in animation.
- It was the first feature-length film made entirely with computer animation, and its success turned Pixar into the most influential animation studio of the next decades and moved the whole industry away from hand-drawn features. John Lasseter received a Special Achievement Academy Award, and it was added to the National Film Registry in 2005.
Notes and Trivia
- It was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Original Screenplay, the first animated film nominated in that category.
- Randy Newman wrote the songs, including "You've Got a Friend in Me".
- See also: The Brave Little Toaster (1987), The Iron Giant (1999).