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Toy Story continues to fascinate more than 25 years on.
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00:00Cinema doesn't get much better than Toy Story, Pixar's groundbreaking computer-animated film
00:05which effectively reinvented the animated medium whilst creating a beloved franchise that endures
00:10to this very day. And though most of us have probably watched Pixar's inaugural movie dozens,
00:15if not hundreds of times over the years, there are still a few things that we may not have noticed.
00:20We all know that Pixar loves to pack in the details, so there is a lot to see.
00:25So, I'm Amy from WhatCulture, and here are 20 things you somehow missed in Toy Story.
00:30You know, they're wearing different clothes, and one of them has darker skin than the rest.
00:34But the face and body models are completely identical.
00:37Understandably, Pixar presumed nobody would ever notice, and didn't count on future audiences
00:41being able to freeze-frame high-resolution versions of the film.
00:4519. Buzz has Disney written on him
00:47In case you somehow forgot that Toy Story was a Disney movie,
00:51they placed a subtle reminder on Buzz Lightyear's posterior that's noticeable in a couple of shots.
00:57When Buzz and Woody squabble outside the gas station and Buzz walks away,
01:00the word Disney can be seen printed on his backside, albeit faintly.
01:04Then in Toy Story 2, the text was changed to include Pixar.
01:07Strangely though, this copyright stamp isn't actually included in legit retail versions of the Buzz Lightyear doll.
01:13Not sure why, seems like they missed a trick there.
01:1518. Mickey Mouse's Cameo
01:18A ton of Disney films, unsurprisingly, contain little references to their beloved mascot Mickey Mouse.
01:24But did you know that Toy Story is one of them?
01:26In Andy's bedroom, near the start of the movie, shortly after Buzz lands and we get a nice wide shot of the room,
01:31on the right-hand side of the screen, a large watch-shaped Disney clock is seen hanging on the wall.
01:36On closer inspection, the watch contains an image of Mickey Mouse, whose arms serve as the clock's hands.
01:42And better still, this design is actually used in real Mickey Mouse watches.
01:46And trust me, there's no better piece of decor than a novelty clock.
01:5017. Everyone Blinks One Eye at a Time
01:53So here's something that's actually really subtle, but you will start to notice if you've seen the movie enough times.
01:5818. You'll see that all the toy characters actually blink one eye at a time.
02:0218. Once you start noticing it, you won't be able to stop.
02:0618. You'll have all your attention drawn to the fact that one eyelid just moves slightly faster than the other one.
02:1118. In the animation world, this is called offset blinking, and it's typically a trick employed to depict a character who isn't so intelligent.
02:1819. But in the case of Toy Story, it's been suggested that this may have been a technique to subconsciously remind the audience that the characters are still toys.
02:2519. If you don't believe me, slow the film down, and it becomes unmissable.
02:2916. Virtual Realty Real Estate
02:32As we know, Andy and his mother are of course preparing to move throughout the course of the film.
02:36So when we go outside and we see a for sale sign, you may have noticed that it accredits the estate agent that they're using as Virtual Realty.
02:44You might think that's a rather odd name for a realty firm.
02:47But then again, your next thought probably on noticing that that's the name would be that it's clearly a reference to the fact that Toy Story is the first computer animated movie
02:55and the first major sustained digital representation of real life to be put on the big screen.
02:59This one is so easy to spot if you're paying attention, but so many of us kind of drift out and stop paying attention whilst watching movies,
03:06so this could have passed you by all these years.
03:0815. Sid's house has the carpet from The Shining
03:12Pixar have made it really clear over the years that their filmmakers have a love for Stanley Kubrick, in particular for his film The Shining.
03:19This is evidence no better than in Toy Story, where the carpet in Sid's house is very clearly styled on that of the Overlook Hotel's own iconic carpet design.
03:28We get a prolonged look at it when Woody attempts to rescue Buzz from Sid's house, effectively confirming just how completely deranged Sid is.
03:36Keeping on the theme of Kubrick in Toy Story, the number 237 also appears several times in Toy Story 3, in reference to the hotel's infamously cursed room, number 237.
03:4614. There's early Woody concept art on Andy's bedroom wall.
03:50The Mickey Mouse clock was not the only easter egg they put up on Andy's wall, though this one arguably is harder to notice.
03:57When Woody and Slinky Dog are on Andy's bed shortly after Buzz's arrival, you'll notice in the background that there's a framed sketched drawing on the wall,
04:05which actually happens to be genuine early Woody concept art.
04:09Woody and Buzz both went through prolonged redesigns during production, and it's just as well given that a number of the proposed designs
04:15were, well, a little too creepy for their own good.
04:18And if you can believe it, there was actually a ventriloquist-style version of Woody.
04:22That would have made for a very different movie.
04:2413. The dark Marie Antoinette joke.
04:28Here's a hilarious and slightly grim gag that you'll kick yourself for not getting over the years.
04:33When Buzz has his psychotic break and adopts his new tea-sipping moniker, Mrs. Nesbitt,
04:37he tells Woody, one minute you're defending the whole galaxy and suddenly you find yourself sucking down Darjeeling with Mary Antoinette and her little sister.
04:44Given that Buzz is having tea with one of Cid's sister's dolls, which has had its head removed by Cid,
04:49this is evidently a nod to the fact that the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, was executed by beheading.
04:54With dolls, though, it's a little less gruesome when you behead them. You can kinda get away with it for a children's film.
04:5912. All the animation shortcuts.
05:02In addition to Andy's copy-and-paste clone friends, there are also a number of other shortcuts employed to make the production the quickest and most efficient it could be.
05:10Most prominently, none of the movie's human characters have long, flowing hair.
05:15And this is because Pixar was still wrestling with the complex mechanics of hair physics at the time.
05:19This is the reason that Andy's mother has her hair tied up in a ponytail, and Cid's sister Hannah has a short, solid bob.
05:25All just to save the animators having to figure out a volumetric model for it.
05:29There are other time-savers, like we don't see Combat Car's explosive deaths because Pixar considered animating an explosion, and then decided it was too taxing.
05:37And another one is that there's no milk droplets when Woody dunks his burning head into Cid's bowl of cereal, and this is once again for the same reason.
05:44Projectiles, man, they're just difficult.
05:4611. Buzz's Wilhelm Scream.
05:49Once upon a time, the Wilhelm Scream was a sneaky little easter egg for sound engineers to include in their films, but the distinctive scream sound effect is so distinctive and ubiquitous these days that its inclusion often proves more distracting and groan-worthy than funny.
06:04You'd usually think of it as appearing in horror movies or action movies or something along those lines, but actually, there is one in Toy Story.
06:12The Toy Story Wilhelm Scream happens during one of the film's most pivotal moments, when Buzz is knocked out of Andy's window courtesy of Woody.
06:19The sound mix is busy enough that it's easily missed, especially if you're not watching the film on a quality sound setup.
06:25Though, once you do notice it, you'll likely never miss it again.
06:28For the real premium experience, make sure to listen in 3D surround sound, can you imagine?
06:3410. Penn Jillette narrates the Buzz Lightyear commercial.
06:37Who can forget the incredible moment when Buzz finally comes to terms with the fact that he's actually a toy?
06:43Buzz sees a TV commercial for himself, which makes it abundantly clear he's not a real boy.
06:48The hilariously over-the-top parody of toy commercials also includes a surprise celebrity cameo, with the wacky narration being provided by none other than the legendary magician Penn Jillette.
06:58In a recent interview, Jillette claims that he was one of the first, if not the first, people to be cast.
07:04He can't have been that invested and excited about the project, though, because at this point, he also thought the movie's name was Toy Store.
07:10Close enough.
07:129. That Home Improvement Easter Egg
07:15Sid's bedroom is full of tools that he uses to create his Frankenstein-esque toy combinations,
07:21and eagle-eyed viewers might notice that his toolbox is of the Binford brand.
07:25This might seem like a totally random, whatever, made-up name, but it's actually a reference to Tim Allen's hit sitcom Home Improvement,
07:32where Binford Tools was the sponsor for Tool Time, a TV show hosted by Allen's protagonist, Tim Taylor.
07:38To place a cherry on top of that subtle nod, the logo is even exactly the same as it is on the show.
07:43Nice.
07:448. The Three-Eyed Aliens are Pizza Planet branded
07:48Who could ever forget the movie's iconic three-eyed aliens?
07:52The high-pitched, adorable creatures are first encountered inside Pizza Planet's giant prize machine,
07:57though you might have missed an extremely obvious detail about their design.
08:01Though, at the cursory glance, their costume is nothing more than a generic space-faring suit.
08:06The emblem on the left side is actually the Pizza Planet logo itself,
08:09with a ring circling what looks like a planetary body but is actually a pizza, toppings and all.
08:14It's kind of meaningless in the scale of things, I mean, all it does is tell us that actually there was thought behind these toys.
08:19These are branded toys, not the generic type that just get thrown into the machine.
08:23It makes them extra special.
08:257. Sid is Probably a Military Brat
08:29We know that Sid is a deeply troubled boy, but there are several suggestions that he might also be a military brat,
08:35and has received some undue influence from his mother or father's time in the service.
08:39For starters, when Woody hides in the milk crate in Sid's room, inside it is a manual called TM31210 Improvised Interrogation Techniques,
08:48which we can safely assume Sid has studied extensively given that we see him both interrogating and torturing toys throughout the film.
08:55When I think about it now, maybe this movie was darker than I gave it credit for.
08:59The other big indication that Sid is being raised in a military household is the fact that his dog is named Scud,
09:04most likely a reference to the Scud missiles which were famously used by Iraq during the Gulf War.
09:10Given that Toy Story was released just a few years after the Gulf War ended,
09:13it's not completely crazy to assume that the characters of his parents may have served.
09:186. The origins of To Infinity and Beyond
09:22No single line of dialogue is more iconic in the Toy Story franchise than Buzz Lightyear's infamous quip To Infinity and Beyond.
09:29The quote actually originates from Pixar's favourite filmmaker, Stanley Kubrick, namely his sci-fi masterpiece 2001 as Space Odyssey.
09:37The film's delirious final sequence is introduced with the title Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite,
09:42which evidently served as the influence for what's become one of the most popular movie quotes of the last 25 years.
09:48Sidebar, do you think Kubrick ever actually got to see Toy Story before he died?
09:52And if so, what do you think he made of it?
09:545. How Woody Knows Morse Code
09:57In Sid's room, Woody and Buzz meet the various toys that Sid has tortured and mutilated,
10:01including Babyface, who's comprised of a doll's head, presumably belonging to Sid's sister at one point,
10:06that's been attached to a spider-like metal body.
10:09At one point, Babyface taps a message to the other toys, who then emerge and gather around Woody.
10:14But how would Woody, a cowboy toy, have any idea what was going on?
10:18Well, actually, there's a perfect bit of foreshadowing earlier in the film,
10:21where if you are eagle-eyed enough, you may have been able to put two and two together.
10:25In Andy's room, if you're paying attention, you may see a poster in the background.
10:29The poster in question is a Buzz Lightyear-branded Morse code alphabet.
10:33If you're spending all day every day inside that bedroom without anything to do,
10:37I guess it's fairly reasonable to assume you would teach yourself Morse code.
10:414. Julie McBarthell has cooties
10:44This is very difficult to spot on earlier home video releases,
10:47but it gets much easier to see on the Blu-ray and recently the 4K UHD edition.
10:52If you look closely, the bag which Sid uses to bring Woody, Buzz and the Aliens home from Pizza Planet
10:57has a scrawling on the side which reads,
10:59Julie McBarthell has cooties.
11:01This is a reference to Julie M. McDonald, who worked on the film as a camera and editorial manager,
11:06and who asked the animators to include a reference to her somewhere in the film.
11:10Maybe she was thinking of like a cute homage in some way, I don't know, like having an animated her in the background,
11:15maybe a bit of art on a wall, maybe this isn't exactly what she had in mind,
11:20but you know, we'll take what we can get.
11:233. One of Sid's creations is literally a hooker
11:27Once again, this is a kids' movie, so there's only so much you can do in the way of dirty or off-colour jokes,
11:33so this, this is really sneaky.
11:35Sid's collection of mutant toys sure are fascinating,
11:39but one of the designs also serves as by far the movie's dirtiest and maybe cleverest joke.
11:45One of the mutants is referred to as Legs by Woody, comprised of a pair of doll legs attached to a fishing rod.
11:51However, Sharp fans eventually realised that Legs was, in the most literal and figurative sense, a hooker.
11:57Between her suggestive, scantily clad lower body and her literal hook for an upper body,
12:02the components are all there, we just had to put the equation together.
12:06Say what you want about Sid, but clearly that kid had some kind of slightly smart, very twisted creativity.
12:122. Ham cheated at Battleship
12:15About midway through the film, we see Ham and Mr Potato Head playing Battleship,
12:19but if you pay attention, you'll notice that something is amiss.
12:23We can see that Mr Potato Head's side of the board is almost entirely filled with miss pins.
12:28And that's because Ham has been blatantly cheating by not declaring any of his ships as hit.
12:33Of course, it's ridiculous that Mr Potato Head wouldn't realise this,
12:36which is probably why Ham is even playing against him in the first place.
12:39Ever the villain he was, that Dr Porkchop.
12:421. Molly is listening to Hakuna Matata
12:45In the film's urgent final chase sequence, we catch a brief glimpse of Andy's mum and sister in the car.
12:51His sister appears to be happily singing along to a song as she watches Woody and Buzz trying to catch up.
12:57What song is that, you may ask?
12:58Well, it's Hakuna Matata from The Lion King.
13:01This one's harder to spot than you might think because the sound is rather low down in the mix,
13:05and it's only featured for just a few short seconds.
13:08It may be just as well, because anything more would distract the audience from Woody and Buzz's frantic race to reach the car.
13:14But by any measure, it's still a subtle and very nice little added detail.
13:18And with that, we've reached the end of this list of 20 things you somehow missed in Toy Story.
13:23If you've got any more other little easter eggs and details that you would have put on this list,
13:27then let us know in the comments down below.
13:29And remember to check out whatculture.com for more lists and articles like this every single day.
13:34As always, I've been Amy from WhatCulture and I'll catch you next time.
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