Toying With Success: The first Toy Story
The world’s first entirely computer-generated feature film was created by Pixar: formerly a part of George Lucas’ movie empire and then purchased by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs.
“Toy Story,” starring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as the leaders of the contents of a boy’s toy box that come alive whenever he’s not around, was released Nov. 22, 1995 — 30 years ago Saturday.
The Making of Pixar's First Feature Film
Young Disney animator John Lasseter found himself wowed by early footage of the computer-generated motorcycle chase scene for the 1982 film “Tron.” He pitched the children’s book “The Brave Little Toaster” to Disney executives as a fully computer-animated film.
In doing so, though, Lasseter had bypassed the Disney animation studio’s chain of command. Disney rejected Lasseter’s pitch and fired him.
Lasseter caught on with Lucasfilm’s Computer Graphics Group, where, in 1985, he created the first fully computer-generated animated character — a knight made of stained glass — for the film “Young Sherlock Holmes.”
In 1986, George Lucas spun his Computer Graphics Group off into a new company, Pixar. Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs became chairman of Pixar.
In 1988, Lassiter made a short film, “Tin Toy,” to show off the possibilities of computer animation. “Tin Toy” then won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short.
This got Disney’s attention. Disney CEO Michael Eisner and chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg attempted to lure Lasseter back to their company, but Lasseter remained loyal to Pixar. So they went with Plan B: They made a deal with Pixar to produce a computer-generated film for them.
John Lasseter
Lasseter had wanted to expand his “Tin Toy” into a feature film. The title character would be joined by a ventriloquist's dummy. This changed as the deal with Disney was hammered out. Disney would own the characters in the new film and the rights to make sequels. Pixar would get 12.5% of the gross receipts.
This meant Lasseter needed new, original characters. As he and his team worked on the screenplay, they kept getting notes from Katzenberg, urging the to make the characters and the action in the story more edgy.
By November 1993, Pixar had created enough footage to show Disney executives. Disney hated it. Realizing he was partially at fault, Katzenberg allowed Lasseter to go back and make the film he wanted to make.
Buzz Lightyear — who had evolved from Tin Toy — was allowed to be genuinely unaware he’s a toy. The ventriloquist's dummy became a talking cowboy doll. Lasseter was able to soften the character to make him less of a tyrant to the other toys.
Jobs was delighted with the finished film. He immediately planned an IPO for Pixar to be held the week after the film opened.
“Toy Story” would be nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Musical or Comedy Score and Best Original Song.
Lasseter was given a Special Achievement Oscar. It was only the third time a Disney film had won an Academy Award. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” had won a special achievement Oscar in 1937 and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” had done the same in 1988.
'To Infinity ... And Beyond!'
For the role of Woody, Disney chairman Katzenberg suggested Paul Newman, Robin Williams and Clint Eastwood. But from the start, Lasseter wanted Tom Hanks. Pixar animators had even practiced for the film using Hanks’ dialogue from “Turner and Hootch.” Newman eventually voiced Doc Hudson in the 2006 Pixar film “Cars.”
Disney considered a number of actors to play Buzz Lightyear. Among them: Bill Murray, Jason Alexander, Matthew Broderick, Wayne Knight, Adam Sandler and John Travolta. Lasseter offered the role to Billy Crystal who later regretted turning it down. He was quick to accept the next Pixar offer he received: Mike in “Monsters, Inc.” Tim Allen voiced Buzz.
Twenty-seven animators worked with 400 computer models on the film. Woody alone had 723 motion controls — 212 of those in his face and 58 on just his mouth. It took 800,000 machine hours to render the 114,240 frames of animation for 77 minutes of film. Pixar’s computers could render just 3.5 minutes of film each week.
Originally, Woody’s girlfriend was supposed to be a Barbie doll, but Mattel declined to allow Pixar to use its trademark. Animators changed the character to Bo Peep. Mattel would change its mind for later movies. Both Hasbro and Mattel turned down a chance to make “Toy Story” toys. A small Canadian-based firm, Thinkaway Toys, made Woody and Buzz toys for Christmas 1995.
Pixar At The Box Office
Jobs and Lasseter hoped for “Toy Story” to gross at least $75 million to break even. Even $200 million would be “good money,” they said. “Toy Story” earned $158.6 million in its first five days.
In 2006, Disney bought Pixar for $7.4 billion. The deal made Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder.
Since then, Pixar has maintained its success rate. Pixar films have earned 23 Academy Awards, 10 Golden Globe Awards, and 11 Grammy Awards. Thirteen Pixar films are among the 50 highest-grossing animated films of all time.
Among Pixar’s films over the past three decades are three “Toy Story” sequels and a Buzz Lightyear spinoff film. Pixar plans a fourth “Toy Story” sequel release in June 2026.
