With the recently announced Toy Story 4 coming along in 2017 to (potentially) put a ding in the series’ flawless record (Pixar, don’t you dare!), nostalgia for the OG Pixar movie and its pair of sequels is high. So let’s jump in the toy box and take a look at some things you might not know about the Toy Story trilogy. To infinity… and beyond!
1) Billy Crystal was offered the role of Buzz Lightyear, but he turned it down.
Later, he said that he had made the biggest mistake of his career, which prompted Pixar’s John Lasseter to offer him the role of Mike Wazowski in Monsters, Inc..
2) Pixar originally wanted Barbie to be Woody’s love interest in the first Toy Story.
Mattel, not thinking the movie would be successful, withheld permission, and the Bo Peep character was used instead. After Toy Story came out, Mattel wised up–Tour Guide Barbie appeared briefly in Toy Story 2, and just plain Barbie was a major character in Toy Story 3.
3) So why wasn’t Bo Peep in Toy Story 3?
One of the technical reasons for Peep’s exclusion is that, being a porcelain figure, there’s no way she would have survived the incinerator scene at the end. Who’d have thought that scene could have been more emotionally gutting?
4) Lot of lawsuits.
In February 2014, Disney was sued by Diece-Lisa Industries, creator of the “Lots of Hugs” bear, for allegedly stealing their bear and using it as the basis of Toy Story 3‘s villainous “Lost-o’-Huggin” bear (aka Lotso). DLI changed their bear’s name to “Hugalots” to avoid confusion, and also probably because they didn’t want to be associated with a psycho murderer toy.
5) Let It Go.
Toy Story 3 was the highest-grossing animated film in history until it was trounced by Disney’s Frozen in 2014. (In before “But Frozen came out in 2013! It did, but it didn’t make it top of the top of the animation chart until 2014, when it had been out a few months. Nice try.) Toy Story 3 still gets the crown for being the first movie to hit a billion dollars at the box office, though.
6) Cats and dogs! Living together! Mass hysteria!
Bill Murray was considered for the role of Buzz Lightyear, as were Chevy Chase and Jim Carrey.
7) Sequel fever.
Toy Story 2 was the first sequel either Tom Hanks or Tim Allen had done, and Toy Story 3 was the only sequel to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar without any of its predecessors having been nominated as well.
8) Pixar loves Easter Eggs.
Sid, the toy-mutilating baddie from Toy Story, can be seen as the trash man in Toy Story 3. He’s voiced by the same actor (Erik von Detten) and wears the same black and white skull shirt.
9) Good call.
Toy Story 2 was originally going to be an hour-long direct-to-video sequel, but the script was so good that Disney gave Pixar the go-ahead to do it as a full-fledged sequel.
10) Pixar loves Easter Eggs, part 2.
The Lion King‘s “Hakuna Matata” can be heard playing briefly in Andy’s mom’s car near the end of Toy Story.