Inside Out hits theaters in just a few days, which got us all nostalgic for
old school Pixar, like the oldest of schools.
That's right, we're talking about Toy Story,
Pixar's feature film debut from 20 years ago along with its two beloved sequels.
So prepare to have Randy Newman songs stuck in your head for the next two days.
Here are seven things you didn't know about Toy Story, probably.
(Laugh) >> To infinity and beyond.
>> It's hard to imagine Woody looking any different from how he does here.
But back during the development stages of Toy Story,
Pixar actually had a completely different direction in mind.
For one, Woody wasn't even the original lead of Toy Story.
He was supposed to be a sidekick to Tinny,
the star of Pixar's Oscar winning short called Tin Toy.
Further, Woody was envisioned as a wooden ventriloquist dummy, hence the name Woody.
Once they moved on to the idea of introducing a Buzz the spaceman character
in early development,
they decided that Woody needed to be the complete opposite of a space toy.
Woody needed to be a cowboy.
Over time, Woody was reworked from being a dummy into being the pull string rag doll
that we know and even buy today.
>> Ha ha, boy, am I glad to see you!
>> Besides, if Andy spent all his time playing with a ventriloquist dummy,
that probably would have made for a much different, much creepier movie.
(Music)
>> You are a toy.
>> You are a sad, strange, little man.
>> In addition to the character's looks evolving, their vocal prototypes changed
significantly from inception to completion.
Paul Newman was the top pick for Woody's voice, once upon a time, and
Jim Carrey was the pick for Buzz.
But since Toy Story was the first ever computer animated feature film,
the budget just wouldn't allow it.
They also went after Billy Crystal for Buzz Lightyear, and he turned it down.
Then after seeing what Toy Story went on to become,
he realized that he had blown a massive opportunity.
Lucky for Billy, he got a second chance with Pixar on Monsters, Inc.,
which is a way better casting for him anyway, if you ask me.
>> Roz, my tender, oozing blossom, you're looking fabulous today.
Is that a new haircut?
(Music)
>> Billy Crystal wasn't the only one who didn't have faith in Pixar way back when.
Pixar had wanted a Barbie doll to be Woody's love interest in the first film,
but they couldn't secure the rights from Mattel.
Mattel and
a lot of other people were worried that Toy Story was going to be a huge flop.
Just a weird, embarrassing moment in Disney's history when they tried to do
that weirdo animated movie with the newfangled computers.
>> Greetings.
>> It's easy to forget what a surprise and triumph Toy Story actually was,
since everyone loves it today.
Because of Toy Story's success, pretty much all animated films are CG now, and
we don't think anything of it.
But it's all because of Pixar's achievement.
Anyway, because Mattel didn't want anything to do with it,
Pixar swapped out Barbie for the royalty free Little Bo Peep.
>> What do you say I get someone else to watch the sheep tonight?
(Laugh) Yeah.
>> Of course, after Pixar and Disney proved themselves with Toy Story,
all the Barbie come latelys were more than happy to hop on the bandwagon for
the sequels, and Pixar was happy to have them join.
I guess Pixar isn't super spiteful, unlike me.
(Music)
>> As long as we're on Barbie, you probably didn't know that Barbie shares
something with another famous Disney character, and that thing is her voice.
>> I'm Tour Guide Barbie.
>> Toy Story Barbie is voiced by Jodi Benson, the same woman who voiced Ariel,
the Little Mermaid, arguably, the most iconic voice in Disney history.
I mean, it was part of the plot in a movie for
God's sakes, which leads us to only one logical conclusion, Pixar.
I think it's clear,
you guys need to find a way to get Barbie to sing Part of Your World in Toy Story 4.
Figure out how to make it happen, and thank you in advance.
(Music)
>> Each Toy Story theatrical release seems to be even more successful than
the last one.
Well, I guess it doesn't seem that way.
That literally is the case.
That's why you may be surprised to find out that Toy Story 2 wasn't intended to be
released in theaters.
Before Toy Story 2, animated film sequels were always direct to video releases.
And Toy Story 2 was supposed to have the same fate.
But fairly late in production, Pixar and Disney realized that they had something
special, something big enough for the big screen and worthy of a theatrical release.
Factor in $246 million gross, plus another $415 million for
Toy Story 3, and I think it's clear that they made the right call.
>> Uh-oh, hey, heads up down there.
>> Whoa, pork bellies are falling.
>> Unfortunately, it also meant opening the door for
theatrical releases like Shrek the Third.
But I suppose not going to see that movie in the theaters is a small price for
me to pay.
(Laugh) >> Better out than in, I always say.
>> Whoa!
(Music)
>> Let's talk about this fantasy sequence with Buzz.
Did you know that Pixar recycled some of their old animation for this?
The alien planet surface is actually from A Bug's Life.
They reused the model from Ant Island in the riverbed, and
the floating rocks were actually a mistake.
When tweaking The Bug's Life riverbed for Toy Story 2,
they scaled it down to make the cliffs taller.
But the animators didn't realize that the transformation hadn't been applied to
the rocks so the rocks ended up floating.
When the directors saw the mistake, they loved how it looked and
decided to keep it.
Then the animators added some rotation to the floating rocks just to take the visual
even farther, which is a way better ending than everyone getting fired for
(Bleep) up.
(Music)
>> Well, hello there.
I thought I heard new voices.
>> We never met Lots-o until Toy Story 3.
But you probably didn't know that he was created several years before,
during the original Toy Story.
They'd wanted a Teddy Ruxpin type of character, a mechanical bear that didn't
quite work right and wound up in a bargain bin with other unloved toys.
But the character never came to fruition for Toy Story 1.
Part of the problem was technological limitations.
Getting the texture of fur to look and
animate the way they wanted it to was causing Pixar Lots-o problems.
>> (Laugh) Sorry, anyway, they held onto the idea and
evolved it into the Lots-O'-Huggin' character in Toy Story 3.
Lots-o'-Huggin' is even the same name they'd created for him originally.
I guess they resisted the urge to name him Teenage Mutant Ninja Lots-o'-Huggin',
even though it was the early 90s, which is a real shame.
All right, hopefully you learned somewhere between one and
seven new things about Toy Story today.
Toy Story 4 is still a good two years away, but if you think of part 2 with more
things will help tide you over, hit the thumbs up and let us know.
Thanks for watching, and be sure to check out Cinefix.com and subscribe for
more trueish things about movies, and sometimes Teenage Mutant Ninja toy bears
that never actually existed, right here on Things You Didn't Know.
(Sound)