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To infinity and beyond the camera! Join us as we dig into surprising behind-the-scenes tales from the first four Toy Story films, celebrating 30 years of Pixar’s classic. Our stories include “The Brave Little Toaster,” Pixar’s “A Tin Toy Christmas,” the infamous “Black Friday” reels, Circle Seven’s unmade sequel, the near-erasure of “Toy Story 2,” a scrapped straight-to-video plan, casting Woody & Buzz, Don Rickles’ archival voice, and a near-tragedy averted.
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00:00We're all very impressed with Andy's new toy.
00:03Toy?
00:03T-O-Y. Toy.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at behind-the-scenes stories about the first
00:10four theatrical Toy Story films, celebrating the franchise's 30th anniversary.
00:15You can't teach this old toy new tricks.
00:17Hmm, you'd be surprised.
00:20The Brave Little Toaster could have been the first CG feature, Toy Story.
00:25Eight years before Toy Story, Jerry Reese directed another film about sentient objects
00:29searching for their master, the Brave Little Toaster, which Disney helped finance.
00:34You guys really have an attachment for that kid, don't you?
00:38Yes, he was a master.
00:40The parallels likely aren't coincidental.
00:43While the film would ultimately be 2D, John Lasseter originally pitched Toaster as a CG feature
00:49to Ed Hanson and then-Disney president Ron W. Miller.
00:52Although Disney had experimented with CG in films like Tron, the higher-ups didn't take
00:57to his pitch.
00:57Almost immediately after, Hanson called Lasseter to his office, letting him go.
01:02And he said, well, John, your project is now complete, so your employment with the Disney
01:08Studios is now terminated.
01:12This worked out for the best as Toaster became a cult classic under Reese's direction, while
01:17Lasseter subsequently found work at a division of Lucasfilm that came to be known as Pixar,
01:21paving the way for him to direct Toy Story.
01:24To infinity and beyond!
01:28Pixar originally wanted to do a Christmas special, Toy Story.
01:32Merry Christmas, Sheriff.
01:35Say, isn't that mistletoe?
01:37Mm-hmm.
01:37Oop!
01:38Lasseter and producer William Reeves won the Best Animated Short Oscar for Tin Toy, a first
01:43for CG animation.
01:44While Disney was eager to hire back Lasseter, he hesitated to leave Pixar, despite its financial
01:50struggles.
01:51John is being asked for his third time to come down and be a director at Disney, or he can
01:56stay up in Northern California with this company that's bordering on a collapse because they're
02:01losing money.
02:03He stays up here with us.
02:04Disney nonetheless invited Pixar to pitch possible projects.
02:08Pixar's ideas included an adaptation of James and the Giant Peach and Bob the Dinosaur.
02:12Since Pixar had only done shorts, commercials, and effect shots, they felt the next logical
02:17step would be a Christmas special based on Tin Toy.
02:20Disney favored a Tin Toy Christmas, but then-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg thought they were thinking
02:25too small.
02:26He wanted Pixar to produce a full-length film.
02:28Since a CG feature was always Pixar's end goal, they didn't turn down the opportunity.
02:34We are interested in you guys possibly doing an animated feature film for us.
02:39So I thought about it for one nanosecond and said, okay, it's our one shot.
02:44We almost got a straight-to-video sequel, Toy Story 2.
02:47You're right, Prospector, I can't stop Andy from growing up.
02:51But I wouldn't miss it for the world.
02:53As Pixar's main crew worked on their second feature, a smaller division oversaw a straight-to-video
02:57sequel to Toy Story.
02:59Ash Brannan, who'd go on to make Surf's Up, would direct the follow-up, which Disney eventually
03:04saw as a potential big-screen release.
03:06While it was good enough for Disney, the sequel wasn't up to Pixar standards.
03:10We knew Toy Story 2 was having troubles.
03:12I don't think we realized how bad it was really going, and then we found out.
03:18After promoting A Bug's Life, Lasseter agreed to come back as the sequel's director, although
03:22Brannan still served as co-director with Lee Ungrich.
03:25John came back and pitched that story to the animation department.
03:28Just in that pitch, he totally fired everyone up and inspired everyone to really do the impossible.
03:34Key figures from the first film, like Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter, also signed on, although
03:38Disney refused to push back the film's November 1999 release.
03:42The team reworked the story over a weekend, only giving them nine months to get Toy Story
03:472 ready for theaters.
03:48Nobody once risked his life to save me.
03:51I couldn't call myself his friend if I weren't willing to do the same.
03:54Don Rickles died before recording any lines.
03:57Toy Story 4.
03:58Hey Ham, look, I'm Picasso.
04:01I don't get it.
04:03You uncultured swine?
04:05In 2017, Don Rickles, who had voiced Mr. Potato Head since the original film, passed
04:10away.
04:11Although he signed on for Toy Story 4, Rickles had yet to record any dialogue, with the
04:15script still being developed.
04:17It wasn't the first time Pixar had to address the death of an actor.
04:20Slinky Dog actor Jim Varney died after Toy Story 2, but the character lived on through
04:25his good friend Blake Clark.
04:26Well, how you doing?
04:27I just wanted to do right by the role and do right by Jim.
04:32We were friends.
04:33I met him in 1980.
04:35Director Josh Cooley felt nobody could replace Rickles, however.
04:38Rickles' family reached out, asking if there was still a way to include him.
04:42Pixar searched through the first three films, theme parks, ice shows, and video games to
04:47find usable recordings for Rickles.
04:49The film was dedicated to him and animator Adam Burke.
04:52A carousel?
04:53Yeah, it's the spinny ride with lights and horses.
04:56What he said to meet him there.
04:58You gotta be kidding!
04:59A near tragedy was averted.
05:01Toy Story 2
05:02Despite the nine-month deadline, management didn't force employees to work overtime on
05:06Toy Story 2.
05:07My feeling was I could not ask anybody at Pixar to do something I was not willing to do myself.
05:14Nevertheless, some crew members pushed themselves too hard.
05:17One exhausted animator was supposed to drop off his young child at daycare on the way to
05:21work.
05:22Talking to his wife later that day, the employee realized the baby was still in the car.
05:26Fortunately, it wasn't too late and rescue workers soon arrived.
05:30While a tragedy was prevented, everyone knew this was a sign that they were overworked.
05:34We also have a family here, and you're gonna have to make changes in your day-to-day routine.
05:44You're gonna have to work normal hours.
05:45In the book, Bright and Shiny, A History of Animation at Award Shows Vol. 2, Pixar employee
05:51Craig Good said of Toy Story 2, quote,
05:53We were mostly glad just to survive the experience.
05:56That was a brutal production.
05:58Almost killed people.
05:59Literally.
05:59You know, it took some people a year to recover.
06:02It was tough.
06:03It was too tough.
06:05Casting Woody and Buzz, Toy Story.
06:08Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Robin Williams were suggested to voice Woody.
06:12But Lasseter thought Tom Hanks was the ideal candidate.
06:15Pixar won Hanks over with test footage using recordings from Turner and Hooch.
06:19Oh, no, no, no, you're eating the car!
06:23Don't eat the car!
06:24Is that the car?
06:25No, you stupid car!
06:28They took a similar approach in trying to get Billy Crystal to voice Buzz Lightyear,
06:32mixing a recording from When Harry Met Sally with animation.
06:35An ill-advised Crystal turned the project down.
06:38They want you to write, and you're not getting paid, really, and so on.
06:42So let's pass.
06:43I went, oh, really?
06:45And I listened, okay?
06:46And then it comes out, and it's genius.
06:48Crystal eventually realized his mistake, leaping at the chance to voice Mike Wazowski.
06:52Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and several others were considered for Buzz.
06:56Pixar turned their attention to Tim Allen, who was not only tailor-made for the role,
07:01but his delivery made the filmmakers realize that Buzz should be a toy who doesn't know he's a toy.
07:06Tim Allen, as an actor, brought a lot to that character and forced us to look at the character in a much more unique and specific way.
07:17A tin toy was almost the protagonist.
07:19Toy Story.
07:20With the first film spawning from A Tin Toy Christmas, Pixar envisioned Tinny from the 1988 short as the main character.
07:26We had two characters.
07:28One was a ventriloquist's dummy, the child's favorite toy.
07:32And on the kid's birthday, he gets a new toy.
07:35This tin toy that becomes his new favorite toy.
07:38Similar to the finished film, Tinny would get left at a gas station.
07:42But in this version, he meets a ventriloquist's dummy resembling a cowboy.
07:47Instead of returning to his owner, Tinny and the dummy wind up in a kindergarten classroom.
07:51You know, Andy loves toys that can fly.
07:53Really?
07:54Well then, to infinity and beyond!
07:59The treatment was reworked, with Tinny jeopardizing the dummy's status as the favorite toy.
08:04Since Tinny wasn't modern enough to be the cool new toy,
08:07he became a space-themed action figure named Lunar Larry, later Buzz Lightyear.
08:12The dummy was also dropped for a cowboy doll.
08:14While Tinny was denied top billing, he still found his way into the Toy Story franchise.
08:19I'll do the talking.
08:21Hi, Tinny!
08:23Aw, nice to see you too.
08:26Yeah, he's with me.
08:28Circle 7 almost continued the trilogy.
08:30Toy Story 3.
08:32With negotiations between Michael Eisner and Steve Jobs falling through,
08:36it appeared Disney and Pixar might part ways following their initial deal.
08:39Since we created the characters, the original creators are the ones who should
08:43carry on with it and give them life.
08:46And to turn it over to somebody else for short-term economic gain just didn't make any sense.
08:50Disney would still own the films Pixar had made up to that point.
08:54Circle 7 Animation was created with the intention of producing sequels to Pixar projects.
08:59As Pixar and Disney faced the end of their contract,
09:02the two studios clashed over terms of a more equitable deal.
09:06All the while, Disney prepared to develop direct-to-video sequels of the Pixar films.
09:11In addition to Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo sequels,
09:14Toy Story 3 entered development with Bradley Raymond of The Lion King 1 1⁄2 as director.
09:19They settled on a story where the toys shipped themselves to Taiwan to save a recalled buzz.
09:24Of course, Pixar ultimately reached an agreement with Eisner's successor, Bob Iger.
09:28I felt that I had to address Disney Animation, that it needed huge improvement.
09:35And I thought the fastest way to accomplish that, albeit the riskiest and the most expensive,
09:40was to buy Pixar.
09:41With Disney officially buying Pixar, Circle 7 was shut down.
09:45Pixar moved forward with Toy Story 3, but they started from scratch.
09:50The Black Friday incident, Toy Story.
09:53While Jeffrey Katzenberg deserves credit for suggesting that Pixar make a buddy picture,
09:57he also told the crew to take the script in an edgy direction.
10:00We were young, we were inexperienced,
10:04so when we were being told, like, oh, what you're making is too juvenile,
10:07it's not edgy enough, it's not adult enough, we believed them.
10:11The edgier it became, Woody turned into an unlikable protagonist.
10:15Not only is he emotionally abusive towards Slinky, but he purposely throws buzz out the window.
10:20Hanks called Woody, quote, a real jerk.
10:22A sentiment echoed when Disney executives were shown story reels on November 19, 1993,
10:28a.k.a. Black Friday.
10:29It was smart-alecky, it was like a brand of insult, humor, it was kind of like negative.
10:36The footage proved so disheartening that Disney feature animation president,
10:40Peter Schneider, wasn't keen on moving forward.
10:42With encouragement from Thomas Schumacher, Pixar was given another chance.
10:46We got nothing to lose. Let's go back to the first instincts and tone of what we were originally pitching
10:52that got kind of shot down, because that just feels right to us.
10:55Writers like Andrew Stanton helped flesh out the story that the studio wanted to tell,
10:59earning a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination.
11:03Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
11:07Barbie was almost Woody's love interest.
11:09Toy Story.
11:10Mattel wouldn't license her for the first film, but at least we got Bo Peep.
11:14Love your leg warmers.
11:16Nice ass cut.
11:17Come on, Ken. Recess don't last forever.
11:20Right on, Lotso. This way, everybody.
11:23You got a lot to look forward to, folks. The little ones love new toys.
11:28Lee Unkrich personally called Andy's original voice actor, Toy Story 3.
11:33The director knew from a voicemail message that John Morris had to come back.
11:37We didn't know where he was, we didn't know if he was still acting,
11:39we didn't know if he'd even be interested or if he'd even sound right.
11:42But we got his phone number, and we called, and he didn't answer, but we got his answering machine.
11:47And the moment I heard his voice on the answering machine, I thought, hallelujah, he sounds great.
11:52The alternate ending, Toy Story 4.
11:55Pixar considered an ending where Woody parts with Bo Peep, who finds a new kid.
11:59She's the one.
12:01What?
12:02The girl from the store.
12:04She's the one.
12:05I feel a connection again, Woody.
12:13Pizza Planet was almost a miniature golf course.
12:16Toy Story.
12:17A space-themed restaurant was deemed more fitting for Buzz.
12:20Spaceship!
12:23All right, Buzz, get ready.
12:26And...
12:26Okay, Buzz, when I say go, we're gonna jump in the basket.
12:30Buzz!
12:31When She Loved Me made Sarah McLachlan cry.
12:33Toy Story 2.
12:34Her manager, meanwhile, called it, quote, kind of weird.
12:37It's just, it's gutting.
12:39Yeah.
12:40Wow, did that ever work.
12:41I mean, I was, I remember watching it in the theater, just, like, ugly crying.
12:45What?
12:46To cry?
12:46And my daughter looking at me like, what is wrong with you?
12:49You're embarrassing me, Mom.
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13:07The movie was almost lost.
13:09Toy Story 2.
13:10Years of academy training wasted.
13:14It's hard to imagine that a major motion picture could just be erased.
13:18That's almost what happened with Toy Story 2, however.
13:20In 1998, an animator accidentally entered a code that deleted about 90% of the work done.
13:27With the backups not working, it appeared that two years of work was gone.
13:31It feels like the movie was held together with spit and rubber bands.
13:36Thankfully, technical director Galen Sussman had been working from home after giving birth,
13:40having a copy with most of the lost material.
13:43Much would still be thrown out after Lasseter took over as director.
13:46And the elements of the story were retooled.
13:48Nine months before it was supposed to come out,
13:50John threw the vast majority of the movie out and started over.
13:54Still, it seems unlikely that Toy Story 2 could have moved forward without Sussman,
13:58who was inexplicably laid off with over 70 other Pixar employees in 2023.
14:04Do you have any behind-the-scenes stories about the Toy Story movies?
14:07Let us know in the comments.
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