Al's Penthouse



Al's Penthouse is an apartment in Toy Story 2 where Al McWhiggin, the toy collector and owner of Al's Toy Barn, first takes Woody after stealing him from a yard sale at Andy's house.

The penthouse is on the topmost floor of the tall building (with 23 floors) located right across the street from Al's Toy Barn.

At the Penthouse, Woody meets his companions from Woody's Roundup, which consists of Jessie the yodeling cowgirl, Woody's horse Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector. While those three are excited about going to Japan where they will be sold at the toy museum, Woody intends to go back to his owner Andy, causing the rest of the Roundup gang, especially Jessie, to feel bitter and resentful toward Woody still having an owner. However, after learning from Jessie about how she was once loved, but later forgotten, and eventually abandoned by her former owner Emily, Woody gradually warms up to the idea of going to Japan with the rest of the Roundup Gang.

Later, when the toys, led by a new Buzz Lightyear action figure (who behaves like the original Buzz in the first film), reach the room by an air vent, they use Rex as a battering ram to break into the room. In a subsequent melee that ensues, the new Buzz grabs Woody as the toys head back for the vent, but they are stopped by Andy's Buzz who has just arrived. He proves to be the Buzz the other toys recognize by flashing Andy's name on the bottom of his boot. Andy's Buzz try to convince Woody into leaving Al's apartment and heading back to Andy's room, even going far as using the words Woody has once yelled to him in the first film: "You are a TOY!!" Woody turns his back on Buzz and the rest of the toys, but eventually, he comes to his senses and calls them back. Woody tries to get Jessie and Bullseye to join him on his journey home, but the Prospector locks them inside the apartment, determined to get them to Japan, as this is the only chance he will finally be appreciated. After Al returns to his apartment for one last time, he packs Woody and the Roundup gang into a case and leaves for the Tri-County International Airport, and the toys permanently leave the apartment to resume their epic quest to rescue Woody.

Trivia

 * At one point, when Woody goes out to retrieve his arm while Al is sleeping, he must be careful not to step on the cheese puffs, or else he will wake Al. This mirrors a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indiana Jones, while inside a temple in South America to retrieve a Golden Idol, must not step on the sinking stone, which will trigger a dart shot at him.
 * In Toy Story 2: The Video Game, there is a level based on Al's Penthouse. It's much larger than in the film, as it features a bathroom, kitchen, fireplace, and a bedroom with a model train going around a track over the bed. Also the TV, display cases, and the other Woody's Roundup memorabilia are in a separate room rather than being right in the room when Buzz enters through the air vent like in the film.
 * Al's TV is based on a real Philco Predicta television owned by John Lasseter.
 * When looking closely at the elevator floor indicator, one can see that numbers 2 and 3 are not shown, but most noticeably, number 13 is omitted (possibly due to triskaidekaphobia).
 * As the toys exit the apartment, Mr. Potato Head throws his hat like a frisbee to stop the closing doors, a reference to Oddjob's trademark hat-throwing technique in Goldfinger.
 * For some unknown reason Al's apartment doesn't allow children to live but only adults as a sign on the front door of the apartment reads "NO CHILDREN ALLOWED."