Toy Story 3 (2010)

Taglines: No toy gets left behind.

Andy heads off to college. The toys land in a room full of untamed tots who can’t wait to get their sticky little fingers on these “new” toys. It’s pandemonium as they try to stay together, ensuring “no toy gets left behind.” Meanwhile, Barbie comes face to plastic face with Ken (yes, that Ken).

Toy Story 3 welcomes Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the whole gang back to the big screen as Andy prepares to depart for college and his loyal toys find themselves in… day care! These untamed tots with their sticky little fingers do not play nice, so it’s all for one and one for all as plans for the great escape get underway.

A few new faces-some plastic, some plush-join the adventure, including iconic swinging bachelor and Barbie’s counterpart Ken (voice of Michael Keaton), a thespian hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants (voice of Timothy Dalton) and a pink, strawberry-scented teddy bear called Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear (voice of Ned Beatty). Directed by Lee Unkrich, produced by Pixar veteran Darla K. Anderson, and written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Michael Arndt, Toy Story 3 is a comical new adventure in Disney Digital 3D and IMAX 3D.

“Toy Story” Grows Up

Backstory Drives the New Story

The original “Toy Story” made motion picture history in 1995 when it became the first full-length animated feature to be created entirely by artists using CG technology. It represented a major milestone—not just in animation, but in the art of filmmaking.

“‘Toy Story’ made an invaluable impression on the history of film,” says Rich Ross, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. “It was created with the same pioneering spirit that the studio was built upon, breaking new ground in the arenas of technology and—more importantly— storytelling. Buzz, Woody and the toys instantly won the hearts of people of all ages—evoking the kind of adoration and devotion typically reserved for Disney’s time-honored classic characters. The ‘Toy Story’ films broadened the audience for animated films and redefined the rules of moviemaking, proving it’s possible to make a movie with truly widespread appeal. In effect, ‘Toy Story’ set the bar for every film—both animated and live-action—that followed.”

“Toy Story’s” 77 minutes of breathtaking animation, 1,561 shots, and a cast of 76 characters that included humans, toys and a dog were meticulously hand-designed, built and animated in the computer. It became the highest-grossing film of 1995, with a domestic box office of nearly $192 million, and $362 million worldwide. “Toy Story” was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score and Best Original Song, and John Lasseter received a Special Achievement Oscar for his “inspired leadership of the Pixar ‘Toy Story’ team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.” It became the first animated feature in motion picture history to ever get an Oscar nomination for its screenplay. Additionally, the film was included on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Greatest American Movies.

“I remember when we released ‘Toy Story,’” says producer Darla K. Anderson. “Steve Jobs said it was our ‘Snow White,’ and we thought, ‘Boy, wouldn’t that be cool if “Toy Story” did make that kind of mark and was that kind of classic film that people felt like they owned, like it was part of their lives, their childhood, their family’s lives.’ That was our intention then and it still is the mission statement for each of our films now.”

In 1999, “Toy Story 2” (Pixar’s third feature) became the first film ever to be entirely created, mastered and exhibited digitally. The film surpassed the original at the box office, becoming the first animated sequel to gross more than its inspiration. It won praise from critics and moviegoers alike, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song and two Golden Globes, winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture—Comedy or Musical. “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” made their Disney Digital 3D™ debut on a special double bill in 2009.

To kick off the creation of “Toy Story 3,” Pixar gathered virtually the same team that had created the first two “Toy Story” films. Joining director Lee Unkrich in the session were John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton (who co-wrote the screenplay for “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2,” and who wrote/directed “Finding Nemo” and “WALL•E”), Pete Docter (director/ writer of “Monsters, Inc.” and “Up”), Darla K. Anderson, Bob Peterson and Jeff Pigeon.

Anderson recalls, “We went out to a place called The Poet’s Loft in Tomales Bay in Marin County, a small cabin where the idea for the first ‘Toy Story’ film was hatched. Andrew brought along a special bottle of wine with a ‘Toy Story’ label that John had given us when the first film came out. We did a toast to Joe Ranft, our dear departed friend and colleague who had been the head of story on the first ‘Toy Story.’ Joe was the master of creating true and quirky characters full of heart and character-based humor. His presence was missed.”

Who’s Who in “Toy Story 3”

Classic Characters Come Face-to-Face with New Toys on the Block

In addition to the returning cast of characters and the introduction of Ken, “Toy Story 3” boasts a wide range of colorful new toys and a few new humans as well. The toys from Andy’s room journey from the security of their longtime home to Sunnyside Daycare, where they envision getting played with five days a week. Another key player in this latest “Toy Story” adventure is a loving and imaginative child named Bonnie, the daughter of a woman who works at Sunnyside and owner of her own special troupe of toys.

Likewise, “Toy Story 3” reunites one of the most engaging and entertaining vocal ensembles in movie history, with Tom Hanks back in the saddle providing the voice of the popular pull-string cowboy sheriff Woody, and Tim Allen signing on for his third mission as the heroic, intrepid and occasionally deluded space ranger Buzz Lightyear. With a returning cast of favorites and the introduction of a whole new cast of characters, “Toy Story 3” is packed with star power.

Producer Darla K. Anderson tips her hat to the “Toy Story 3” cast. “It was wonderful to get the original actors back on board for ‘Toy Story 3.’ Having the gang together again helped to ground us at the beginning the filmmaking process. The whole cast—old and new—brings so much talent and priceless spontaneous improv; they breathe beautiful life into these characters and help inspire the performance of the animation.”

WOODY is a cowboy sheriff with a pull string that, when pulled, proclaims Woody’s signature catchphrases from the 1950s TV show “Woody’s Roundup.” He’s always been Andy’s favorite toy. Even though his owner is now grown, the loyal sheriff Woody maintains a steadfast belief that Andy still cares about his toys. As the toys venture into their unknown future, Woody remains the voice of reason. As their dependable leader, he ensures that no toy gets left behind.

Tom Hanks lends his voice once again. For Hanks, slipping back into the role of Woody after a long absence was an easy assignment. “Woody is a passionate guy who throws himself into every action,” says Hanks. “As soon as he has an instinctive thought, like ‘I have to help them’ or ‘I have to run away,’ he does it with 100-percent commitment. You gotta love that about anybody. I also love the way the relationship between Woody and Buzz has grown. They started off as pure adversaries and learned how to accept each other’s strengths, forgive each other’s failures, and respect each other as individuals. Opposites definitely attract in this case.

“The fact that Pixar can come up with a third ‘Toy Story’ movie and have it be completely fresh and real and unique shows just how brilliant they are,” continues Hanks. “There’s this great logic that John Lasseter and Lee [Unkrich] and Darla [K. Anderson] and all the writers adhere to that makes moviegoers just kind of relax and let themselves be transported to this magical place and time. When you can do that with a movie, it’s amazing. With ‘Toy Story 3,’ you come back to a lovely, familiar and happy place. What’s great is that I get credit for the way the character and the humor come off. I have kids that are now in college come up to me and say, ‘When you told that neighbor kid to play nice, that really meant a lot to me.’”

Hanks says that the franchise’s third installment is not light on emotion. “‘Toy Story 3’ is a big, massive adventure that has you constantly on the edge of your seat,” he says. “It’s part ‘Great Escape,’ with the same kind of excitement as Dorothy escaping from the Wicked Witch of the West. And yet they take those elements and turn them into something that is very emotional.

Animating The Characters

Pixar’s Animation Team Reunites with Some Old Friends and Makes Some New Acquaintances

In the world of computer animation and technology, tremendous progress has been made over the past 11 years since the release of “Toy Story 2,” and even more since the debut of “Toy Story” in 1995.

“We had to stay true to the world of ‘Toy Story,’ but keep it fresh, get it right, make it entertaining,” says producer Darla K. Anderson. “We had to keep ourselves grounded in the design language and the look and feel of the characters, but recreate them with our current technology. So between the story and the world and the characters and the technology, we had to find this place of telling a compelling new story, but staying in line with this classic feel and timeless space.”

The challenge for director Lee Unkrich, supervising animators Bobby Podesta and Michael Venturini, and the rest of the “Toy Story 3” animation team was to use the new tools and advances available to them but to make sure that Buzz, Woody and the other returning “Toy Story” favorites still felt like they belonged in the same universe as the two previous films.

“We needed all of the classic ‘Toy Story’ characters to move and behave the way they did in the earlier films,” explains Unkrich. “But the animators have gotten used to much more sophisticated models than we had back then. For example, with the human characters on ‘Ratatouille,’ the animators had exponentially more controls, and were able to create very subtle, nuanced animation. We had to be very careful with ‘Toy Story 3’ that we didn’t make the characters so fluid and sophisticated in terms of expression and movement that they no longer felt like Woody and Buzz. We wanted them to be what we remembered. It’s all about embracing the limitations that we used to have and working within those confines.”

Throughout the production, Unkrich had the good fortune of having veteran Pixar animators who worked on the previous “Toy Story” films mentoring the new animators. “In animation dailies, Angus MacLane, Bobby Podesta, and others would say things like ‘Don’t pull Buzz’s brow down quite that far because that pulls him off model’ or ‘Don’t raise Woody’s lower eyelids like that because that’s not something we do with Woody,’” says Unkrich. “We had this constant set of checks in place to make sure that the characters felt like we remembered them.”

Podesta recalls, “I was the first animator on this film, and I felt like an archeologist. It took a lot of digging to see how this civilization was built and why the original animators did the things they did. We looked under the hood to understand why the characters behaved in certain ways back then, and mashed that together with today’s ‘We can do anything’ technology. I feel that the choices our animation team made had to be really well informed by what the original intentions were. I interviewed John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Doug Sweetland, Dylan Brown and Angus MacLane, and had them tell me how they approached the original characters from an animation standpoint.

“We found that there was a certain level of simplicity with the characters that actually added a lot of the charm,” continues Podesta. “Part of it was how the models were built and articulated, and part of it concerned the style of animation. The animators on the first two films did some amazing work with very few controls, and their performances are gorgeous and stand up next to anything we’re doing today. As animators, we tried to execute our acting choices to match the finessed simplicity that characterizes the best animation from the first two films.”

The Cinematic Side

Director Lee Unkrich and the Pixar Team Push the Boundaries of the Medium with Cinematography, Editing and Lighting
With the arrival of “Toy Story” 15 years ago, Pixar Animation Studios broke new ground for animated features not only with its landmark use of computers, but also by bringing traditional filmmaking techniques to the medium. With John Lasseter at the helm and animation newcomer Lee Unkrich on the team in the editing room, the 1995 feature was hailed for its brilliant storytelling and cinematic sophistication. Over the course of the next nine features, Pixar continued to stretch the limits of the art form. With “Toy Story 3,” Unkrich takes the keys to the car and drives the film to some exciting new dimensions in his role as director.

“With ‘Toy Story,’ we pioneered the notion of using traditional cinematic grammar to make an animated film,” says Unkrich. “And that’s what everybody does now. I was very instrumental in designing the camera work and, of course, cutting the first and second film. So there’s a continuity heading into the third film. From a cinematography perspective, we had an interesting challenge on ‘Toy Story 3’ because the tools and the technology have advanced quite a bit since ‘Toy Story 2,’ and the artists at the studio have gotten so much better. When you look at the first ‘Toy Story’ now, it’s relatively crude. After all, it was the first CG film, and we’ve since made a lot of advances in terms of using depth of field and more sophisticated lighting to help tell our stories. For ‘Toy Story 3,’ I didn’t want the film to feel like it was from a completely different design universe. We wanted it to still feel like a ‘Toy Story’ film, but we also wanted to take advantage of the technology and the artistry that we’re capable of now. I believe we’ve created a film that sits nicely alongside those previous films, but it just looks exponentially better in so many ways.

“The lighting is gorgeous, and the shading and textures have gotten much more sophisticated,” continues Unkrich. “The editing, for me, is always about how to best tell the story. Stylistically, we wanted to keep this film very much in the same wheelhouse as ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Toy Story 2.’ At the end of the day, the important thing was to make the world feel believable, especially since we’re telling a story that’s set in the human world, but from the toys’ perspectives.”

As director of photography: camera, Jeremy Lasky worked closely with Unkrich on blocking and staging the shots. “We tried to keep our cameras grounded in what people are used to seeing historically in cinema,” Lasky says. “This isn’t a video game. This is a story, and things need to feel believable. You need to feel like you’re in this world, and it all makes sense. You want to focus on the story and not on what the camera’s doing. You want to get lost in the characters and their feelings.

“Our cameras have a lot more grace, and more realism in how they move, so we can add that into our bag of tricks when we’re thinking of certain scenes,” Lasky continues. “We’re much better at handheld shots than we ever were before, and depth of field has gotten a lot richer. Our use of it is broader than in the previous two films, but we still used a little restraint to keep it in the same realm as its predecessors.”

The Look of “Toy Story”

Production Design, Character Design and Art Direction

Part of production designer Bob Pauley’s duties over the past 15 years at Pixar has been to play with toys and figure out what makes them tick, beep or talk. Pauley, the original character designer of Buzz Lightyear for “Toy Story,” led the “Toy Story 3” team that designed the film’s toy and human characters, and he created the style and look for the sets and props.

“We did a ton of research for this film, including going to a lot of toy stores and several day-care centers,” recalls Pauley. “We also went to Alcatraz to get a sense of prison life. We even went to a huge landfill location with a giant incinerator to get some visual references for the film’s climactic ending. The filmmakers on ‘Ratatouille’ went to Paris and ate at some of the fanciest French restaurants, and the ‘Up’ team trekked to the tepui mountains in Venezuela. When we came back from our research trip, all we wanted to do was take a shower. “With the ‘Toy Story’ movies, we have always tried to create a world that is believable, but not real.

He continues. “We’re not trying to replicate the world we live in. Our world has a kind of cartoon feel that is a bit chunkier and stubbier. We try to make shapes interesting. We get inspired by photographs but we don’t copy things. Even if you look at little things like light switches, there’s a bit of a bow to them, a little bit of chunkiness. We try to create shapes that are pleasing, with a little bit more of a hand-drawn cartoon feel to it. The textures aren’t real but they’re very true to the materials they’re made of. From the very beginning, John [Lasseter] has insisted on ‘truth in materials,’ in designing the toy characters and the sets.”

With regard to the human characters, Andy represented one of the film’s biggest challenges. Audiences have grown up with this character, and his appearance was particularly important to the filmmakers. “Development-wise, we had to understand who Andy is, how did he grow and what would he look like now as a teenager,” says Pauley. “We put up all the old images of the character and we studied the old Andy sculpt that we still had. We looked at drawings and photo references, but it was really some photographs that John provided of his family that helped us the most.”

Lasseter recalls, “We were trying to figure out what Andy would look like as a 17-year-old headed off to college. And my wife found these framed pictures of our kids—their 8” x 10” school pictures. Over the years, she had put their latest photo over the ones from preschool and kindergarten up through the high school senior pictures. And it’s just fascinating to watch how they grow and their evolution. They provided some great inspiration for taking a look at Andy and trying to predict what he would look like as a teenager.”

Also updated for “Toy Story 3” was Andy’s bedroom, where some of the most elaborate and imaginative playtime of all time took place. “Andy’s bedroom has changed a lot throughout the three films,” says Pauley. “In the first film, the room had clouds on the walls. In ‘Toy Story 2,’ the walls were covered with stars. But now he’s not a kid anymore, so posters and this other adult world are eclipsing and overlaying all those stars. There’s a bulletin board with coupons for Pizza Planet and information from his camp at the Western Cowboy Ranch. We tried to define his personality with the clutter.”

Randy Newman Revisits The Toy Box

Filmmakers Tap Oscar Winner Yet Again

One of the most distinctive elements of the “Toy Story” films has been its vibrant musical scores and innovative use of songs. Much of the credit for this belongs to Pixar’s longtime collaborator, Academy Award-winning composer/songwriter Randy Newman. Newman wrote and sang the defining song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” (an Oscar nominee along with the score) for the first film (along with several others), and provided the score and moving ballad “When She Loved Me” (an Oscar-nominated song performed in the film by Sarah McLachlan) for “Toy Story 2.” “Toy Story 3” also brings new musical talent into the fold with a stylish, new version of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” delivered with a Spanish flair by the internationally renowned recording artists the Gipsy Kings.

The big, raucous, flamenco-like version of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” was newly recorded by the Gipsy Kings in London at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. The Spanish version, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Para Buzz Español),” provides the ideal accompaniment to the excitement and action on screen—a special Latin dance number between Buzz and Jessie that was choreographed by Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani from the enormously popular ABC TV series “Dancing with the Stars.”

Producer Darla K. Anderson says, “Cheryl and Tony were both big Pixar fans, and they were thrilled to choreograph a dance that would be in one of our films. They spent a lot of time figuring out some moves that they’d never done before. They’re both world champions, and they came up with some amazing stuff that they had never ever tried before.”

Beyond the cover of his celebrated song, Newman serves up new delights in “Toy Story 3” with his evocative score and delivers another defining musical moment with the new song “We Belong Together.”

“When I was working on the first ‘Toy Story,’ I knew it was the best picture I’d ever done,” Newman says. “And that’s been true of all the pictures I’ve done with Pixar. They make really good movies and I can’t think of another studio that’s ever had ten hits in a row. It’s unprecedented. Pixar deserves all the success they’ve had because they make better pictures than anyone else on the average.”

As with every film he takes on, Newman’s job is to help filmmakers tell their story. “When I originally wrote ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me,’” says Newman, “I basically reinforced what they told me was the central idea of the movie: it’s about the value of friendship and the particular special nature of Andy and Woody’s relationship. And in ‘Toy Story 3,’ they’re examining what happens when that relationship comes to an end. This idea was introduced with Jessie in ‘Toy Story 2.’ The nature of lyric writing is that it has to be concentrated. You’ve got to say what you have to say in a very short amount of time.

“Writing a score for an animated film like this requires more stamina than writing for live action,” adds Newman. “There’s more music, and more music with lots of notes. When the characters run, you have to run with them. The filmmakers at Pixar are real good people and I consider myself fortunate to have been along for the ride.”

Unkrich notes, “We have so much history with Randy and it was great to hear new music from the ‘Toy Story’ universe. It was very exciting to be out on the floor with the orchestra, hearing the first strains of new ‘Toy Story’ music in 11 years. For ‘Toy Story 3,’ Randy revisited some familiar themes, but he also wrote a lot of incredible new music. We play the new character of Lotso as a Southern gentleman with a New Orleans drawl. Randy wrote themes for him that make heavy use of the accordion and harmonica and perfectly support his oversized personality.”

Toy Story 3 (2010)

Directed by: Lee Unkrich
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Jodi Benson, Michael Keaton, Laurie Metcalf, Emily Hahn, Teddy Newton, Blake Clark
Screenplay by: Michael Arndt
Production Design by: Bob Pauley
Film Editing by: Ken Schretzmann
Music by: Randy Newman
MPAA Rating: G for general audience.
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: June 18, 2010