Toy Story (1995)
- To accurately portray their role in Toy Story, Tom Hanks spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director John Lasseter.
- Toy Story utilized mostly practical sets and locations to ground the story, a specific choice insisted upon by John Lasseter.
Toy Story is a 1995 American animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by John Lasseter, the film follows Woody, a pull-string cowboy doll voiced by Tom Hanks, who has been the favorite toy of a boy named Andy for years. When Andy receives a new Buzz Lightyear action figure, voiced by Tim Allen, for his birthday, Woody's position as the top toy is threatened, and his jealousy leads to a series of misadventures that force the two rivals to work together to find their way home.
Toy Story holds the distinction of being the first entirely computer-animated feature film ever made, a technological achievement that launched a revolution in filmmaking. Pixar's founding team, led by Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, had spent years developing the technology to produce a full-length CG film, and the resulting movie proved that computer animation could deliver not just visual novelty but genuine emotional storytelling. The film's development was famously troubled, with an early version β known internally as the "Black Friday" cut β presenting Woody as a sarcastic, unlikable character.
Disney rejected this version, and the Pixar team rewrote the story to make Woody sympathetic, a decision that saved the project. Randy Newman's score, including the song "You've Got a Friend in Me," became one of the most recognizable in animation. Toy Story earned $394 million worldwide and received three Academy Award nominations, including a Special Achievement Award to Lasseter.
The film fundamentally changed the animation industry, eventually leading to the near-complete displacement of traditional hand-drawn animation by computer animation in mainstream American filmmaking.
