Toy Story Trivia

Cameos, in-jokes, re-used animation, deleted scenes and other trivia for Toy Story.

Cameos

 * Several books on Andy's shelf feature previous Pixar shorts titles (The Adventures of André and Wally B., Red's Dream, Tin Toy, Knick Knack). One of the books (Tin Toy) also reads LASSETER. This is a reference to John Lasseter, the director of Toy Story and the chief creative officer of Pixar.
 * On the side of someone's backpack, there is a picture of a three-eyed mutant ant. This is a reference to the next Pixar film A Bug's Life, which would feature an ant protagonist often viewed as different from his colony.
 * John Lasseter: Director and co-story writer John Lasseter cameos as the voice of one of the Aliens
 * Hamm, the piggy bank who contributes to the community of Andy's room. His rivalry with Mr. Potato Head somewhat mirrors the rivalry between Woody and Buzz.
 * The Pizza Planet truck takes Woody and Buzz from the Dinoco gas station to Pizza Planet.
 * The license plate of Andy's van, where Woody and Buzz have their fight which gets them separated from Andy.
 * Executive Producer, Dr. Edwin "Ed" Catmull's makes an appearance as "Dr. Catmull's Old Fashion Root Beer". Cans of which appear throughout Sid's room and the room where, fleeing from Scud, Buzz encounters the Buzz Lightyear toy commercial.
 * Art Director Ralph Eggleston makes an appearance by naming the moving company, that helps the Davis family move, Eggman Movers.
 * Editorial and Camera Manager Julie M. McDonald lobbied, with success, to have an animated gaff of her name placed on the film. As a result "Julie McBarfald has Cooties" appeared on Sid's backpack.
 * The book on Andy's shelf titled Smyrl Smyrl Twist and Twirl by L. Money is in reference to one of the modeling and animation system developers Eliot Smyrl.
 * In Sid's house, when Woody is trapped under the plastic crate, the toolbox is a Binford toolbox - a reference to Tim Allen's TV show Home Improvement (Tim Allen voices Buzz Lightyear).
 * The desk lamp and ball are from the short film, created by Pixar, Luxo, Jr.
 * "The Big One", the rocket Sid strapped to Buzz, appears in Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast as a rocket on Zurg's ship, as well as a power-up in Toy Story Racer.
 * Pterodactyl also appears in Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast flying in a dinosaur-themed area.
 * On Andy's wall is a giant watch with Mickey Mouse on it.
 * "Hakuna Matata" from The Lion King is heard in Andy's Mom's car near the end of the movie.
 * When Woody deduces the bank robber as "One-Eyed Bart," Bart yells "D'oh!", the catchphrase of Homer Simpson from The Simpsons. Also, One-Eyed Bart's name is similar to Bart Simpson.
 * A113 is the number on the license plate of Andy's Mom's car.
 * Dinoco is the name of the gas station Andy's Mom pulls into before going to Pizza Planet.
 * When Buzz falls out the window, the scream is the Wilhelm scream, a scream used in many movies.
 * When Woody attempts to push Buzz behind Andy's desk using RC, the sounds of the push pins dropping down from the cork-board and the globe rolling toward Buzz were the exact sounds used in Raiders of the Last Ark, the shooting arrows and the rolling boulder respectively.
 * The scene in which the toys come to life in order to frighten Sid, complete with Woody's head turning around completely, is an allusion to the horror film Poltergeist.
 * At Pizza Planet, the game "Whack *A* Alien," is a whack-a-mole homage to the Chestbuster Scene in Alien. The game appears twice being played by two different kids, Sid being the last before heading to the Rocket Crane game.
 * At Sid's house, the carpet on the hallway in the second floor is patterned after the Overlook Hotel's Carpet in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Most notably, the carpet where Danny Torrance plays with his toys outside the infamous Room 237. Incidentally, The Shining is Lee Unkrich, Film Editor of Toy Story and subsequent co-director of Toy Story 2 and director of Toy Story 3, favorite all time film.
 * During the argument scene between Woody and Buzz at Dinoco, Buzz states: "Right now, poised at the edge of the galaxy, Emperor Zurg has been secretly building a weapon with the destructive capacity to annihilate an entire planet! I alone have information that reveals this weapon's only weakness." This parallels Star Wars IV's R2D2 containing information about the Death Star's only weakness. Also, the breathing sound used while viewing Andy's room through Buzz's perspective is the same sound used for Darth Vader's breathing.
 * At the end of the argument scene between Woody and Buzz at Dinoco, Buzz makes a Vulcan Salute as he bids Woody "Farewell." This capped a dual homage to both Star Wars and Star Trek fans.
 * Sergeant is voiced by R. Lee Ermey who voiced Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, a very similar roll.
 * As the highest score in the Pizza Planet Arcades, string 5102153494 with the initials AAA comes out as a phone number from Richmond, CA. This was the then location of the Pixar company, as it was known.
 * The second highest score in the Pizza Planet Arcades string 4078244321 is initialed WDW which gives you the phone number to their ticket center.
 * The transcendental constant makes it's debut as the 3rd highest score in the Pizza Planet Arcades. The string is 3141592653 and initialed as MPI; however, Mega-Pi moves the decimal place only 6 places to the right (not 9), a human error perhaps.
 * As the forth highest score in Pizza Planet Arcades, the string 12071993 appears next to the initials KIM. All that is known, with respect to Pixar, is that two and a half weeks earlier on Friday, November 19th, known as Black Friday (reel), the Toy Story production was shut down. John Lasseter and team were given 2 weeks to turn the story around to what eventually became Toy Story.
 * As the fifth highest score in Pizza Planet Arcades, the string 3 next to the initials MTV are mysterious in its reference.

Re-Used Animation

 * The Hockey Puck is actually made from Mr. Potato Head's hands and Rocky Gibraltar's boots.
 * The Turbo switch on RC's controller is the same as the yellow switch on the See 'n Say. The controller's gas button is also the same as the button on Mr. Mike's microphone.
 * The yellow cord on the Claw in Pizza Planet is the same cord on Mr. Mike.

Toy Story in popular culture

 * This movie was referenced five times on Tim Allen's sitcom Home Improvement. The first time, two trick-or-treaters come to the door of Tim's house, one dressed as Simba from The Lion King, and the other dressed as Buzz Lightyear. Randy answers the door, and gives the Simba more candy than the Buzz. Note that Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who plays Randy, voiced young Simba in The Lion King. The second time, Tim and his niece Gracie play with a Buzz Lightyear doll. Another reference occurs in one of the outtakes during the credits, where Tim repeats Buzz's built-in phrases. Another reference is in one episode when Tim says to his brother Marty, "I'll love you for infinity and beyond". The last reference is in an argument between Tim and his brother Marty when Tim says I'm not talking to you "infinity and beyond".
 * Conversely, Toy Story makes at least one reference to Tim Allen's sitcom. Sid's toolbox, which Buzz and Woody struggle to remove from the milk crate which imprisoned Woody, was adorned with the Binford Tools logo on its side, alluding to the fictional tool manufacturer that sponsored the Tool Time program on Home Improvement.
 * There are several Toy Story references in the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars.
 * Lightning McQueen's number, 95, is a reference to the year of Toy Story's release, 1995.
 * In the film, Lightning McQueen seeks the sponsorship of Dinoco, which is the name of the gas station at which Woody and Buzz get lost.
 * Lightning uses "Lightyear Buzzard" tires, a reference to Buzz Lightyear and a parody of Goodyear Eagle tires.
 * During the end credits, scenes from Toy Story are reenacted by toy car versions of Buzz, Woody and Hamm.
 * The Pizza Planet truck makes an appearance in every other Pixar film other than The Incredibles.
 * Buzz Lightyear signs something similar to Star Trek's "Vulcan salute" when saying goodbye to Woody at the gas station.
 * In The Shaggy Dog, the dog says, "To infinity and beyond" as he's voiced by Tim Allen.
 * The mutant toys have been parodied in The Fairly OddParents special Christmas Every Day as Santa Claus's worst ideas.
 * The head of Babyface can be seen in an episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends as a motorcycle hood ornament.
 * In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer has a nightmare and says "Andy, no!" as Woody did during his nightmare in Toy Story 2.
 * In a comedy parody movie Meet The Spartians, after Dilio said "Never give up, never surrender!", he yelled out "to infinity and beyond!", a parody of Buzz Lightyear.
 * In The Santa Clause 2, a Tim Allen film, when the real Santa is trying to take back his sleigh, the fake Santa says "You are a strange, strange, little man," a quote from the film (with "sad" replaced by "strange").
 * Toy Story is number 22 on Entertainment weekly's top 100 movies list.
 * On Finding Nemo, in the scene where Nemo first arrives in the dentist office. He looks around. If you look closely by the toy chest, you'll see Buzz Lightyear on the ground.

Buzz Lightyear TV Show
This scene was intended to be the opening sequence of the movie and was planned to be made in traditional cel animation, but only exists as a storyboard sequence with voices. A rocket is seen being launched into space. Buzz Lightyear has been tied up by Zurg on his ship with a timer, and describes his plan. Zurg plans to blow up a planet of orphans with the missile, and then afterwards, once the timer runs out of time, it will self destruct and blow up the ship Buzz is in. Buzz bursts free using his pop-out wings to cut through the cables, but he is then attacked by Zurg's robot, Bongo, while Zurg escapes in another ship. Buzz defeats Bongo, and escapes before the ship can explode. He uses a piece of the ship to deflect the missile back at Zurg's. He then flies into space shouting "To infinity, and beyond!" At this point, it's revealed to be a TV show, which impresses Andy, who's watching it. The scene is referenced at the end of the movie, with Buzz shouting "Not today!" as he burst free of Sid's rocket with his wings. This time around, once they're flying, it's Woody who says "To infinity, and beyond!". Though many enjoyed the scene, the tough decision to remove it was finalized because if Andy was such a fan of Buzz Lightyear, people wouldn't believe he liked Woody. It was later the basis of the opening video game scene in Toy Story 2, reusing some of the dialogue as well. It's also likely that the Disney series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command got Pixar's approval because of them originally wanting to have a cartoon that showed where the Buzz Lightyear toyline came from.

Alternate Opening Sequence
An early opening for Toy Story that was only in storyboards, showed Andy's playtime differently. It starts with Andy pretending to have a shootout with Woody, with his weapons being a mop and a hairdryer. Andy pretends that Woody shoots him, and when he falls, he knocks down a vase. When Andy isn't looking, Woody catches it and stops it from breaking. From that point on, Andy pulls Woody's pull-string, and 'You've Got a Friend in Me' begins to play. Also the 2nd Walt Disney logo is seen before the scene starts. Elements of this are seen in Toy Story 3. The sequence went through a couple more changes, including one which had Molly taking Mr. Potato Head, and Andy struggling to get him back in one piece.

Woody's Nightmare
Woody dreams Andy has replaced him with Buzz and throws him out (storyboard only). Judging from where the scene fits in, it was replaced with the 'Strange Things' sequence. It went unused because they thought it would make Woody look too paranoid about Buzz, however, it was still a tough decision, because they also thought it summed up Woody's fears about being replaced. The concept of this was used for a level of the Toy Story video game for the SNES/Genesis, as well as one of the Toy Story Treats. Another nightmare sequence was finally used in Toy Story 2 that was similar to this, only now Woody's fear of being thrown out is from being broken rather than being replaced.

Woody Gets Rid of Buzz
A storyboard sequence shows Woody's first, unsuccessful plan for getting rid of Buzz (elements are later used during the equivalent seen in the movie). Woody wakes up during the night, and tries to grab Buzz, but Buzz quickly springs into action to subdue him. Woody then tells Buzz that there's trouble; Buzz, seeing night for the first time, thinks it's the ansence of the sun (Buzz and Woody's conversation in front of the night sky mirrors their confrontation at Dinoco gas station). He then informs Woody of how Andy put his name on his boot (later used in a different scene). Woody then tells him that Andy is in danger, and it's their mission to protect him. Woody leads him over to Molly's crib, and tells him that it's his station in because it's the weak point in their defensive networks. While Woody's explaining his mission, Buzz remembers Andy, and runs back to guard him. Molly then notices Woody, and takes him into her crib, drooling on him (a similar scene is in Toy Story 3). Once it's morning, Andy's mom takes Molly. Woody still has drool running down his face. He then find out the blanket's stuck to his face, and pulls it off angerly.

Shakes the Rattle
This is an extended storyboard sequence of the final scene in the movie. The toys watch Sid blow up a Combat Carl through Lenny. After, they watch Sid take one of Hannah's dolls, and give it to Scud to demolish. Once Buzz talks about teaching him a lesson, a rattle on night stand speaks about his experiences with Sid. He talks about an old Rattle named Shakes who ended up in Sid's room. He's heard the screams, and has multiple theories about his death. Though, he says Shakes was lucky, because he tells of things in Sid's room that are worse than death.

Black Friday Reel

 * An infamous storyboard sequence shown on "Black Friday", when it was suggested by Jeffrey Katzenberg that Toy Story needed more of an edge. The scene takes place when Andy's mom announces that they're going to Pizza Planet. However, Andy can only bring one toy with him. The toys in Andy's room are currently taking bets on which toy it's going to be. Buzz offers Woody the best of luck with a handshack, Toy Story - The Black Friday Incident (Footage) Woody catches him off-guard, throwing him out the window and closing the blinds. He then turns around and sees the rest of the toys looking at him agape, and then tried to falsely claim half-heartedly that Buzz slipped, he tried to save him but couldn't before making his way to the bed. Andy's toys rush up to the window to look for Buzz, while Woody smugly lays on the bed. The toys are outraged, and don't think Woody deserves his spot on the bed. Woody then calls for Slinky to ward them off, but Slinky agrees that Woody's actions were unjust. Outraged, Woody insults all of the toys, and they begin to throw Woody off the bed. Woody is relieved to hear Slinky telling them not to throw him off the bed, but to his dismay, Slinky suggests they throw him out the window, like Buzz, instead. Before they can do anything, Andy arrives, and forces them to retreat. This scene in question almost caused the production of Toy Story to be shut down and resulted in the story being reworked, with Roy Disney himself calling the scene "one of the worst things I have ever seen."
 * Although only the above scene was actually included in full as a deleted scene in the Special Edition, there were other scenes depicting Woody in a similar manner in the documentary "Black Friday: The Toy Story you Never Saw", also included on the DVD. This included a scene where Slinky Dog tried to get Woody's attention, with Woody reacting with a bored and irritated "Now, what?" and Slinky commenting that something was being difficult with Woody snapping at him about how hard it could be, as well as a scene where Rex was crying about possibly being replaced with Woody then telling them to "save [the toys'] batteries people" in a significantly more snide tone than in the film.

Sid at Pizza Planet
In the original storyboards for when Woody spots Sid at Pizza Planet, Sid is seen laughing at a guy in a large Squeeze Toy Alien costume being carried away by little kids, while in the film it was changed to him violently playing the Whack-a-Alien game. However, most of the dialogue was still used in the final cut (including Sid's line "Hey Bozo, you got a brain in there?", which in the storyboards included the sound of him knocking on the head of the costume saying "Hello?").

Torture
In the morning at Sid's house, a deleted sequence shows Sid first torturing Buzz by spinning him on a drillbit until he breaks off and flies out of sight. Sid also notices Woody under a milk crate, and starts to interrogate him, using his pull-string. Afterwards, it goes back to the finished portion of the film where Sid tortures Woody with a magnifying glass. The scene is in early animation. It was deleted because the editors thought that the audience would like Buzz and Woody, and this torture scene would only disturb the audience. Some of the power drill sound effects can still be heard in the final film. Woody's pullstring line "I'd like to join your posse﻿ boys, but first I'm gonna sing a little song" ended up not being used in the film, but was eventually used in Toy Story 3.

Rain
This scene appears in the final film, but shortened quite a bit. The scene starts with a pan across Sid's room to where Buzz and Woody are on his workbench (which was cut). Woody tries to get Buzz to help him remove the toolbox that's trapping him, but all Buzz can do at this point is blankly stare back. Woody then gets angry with Buzz at this point, putting the blame on him for getting strapped to the rocket for not hiding. Afterwards, Buzz continues to ignore him. Woody tries to move the milkcrate himself, but only ends up making the lid of the toolbox snap shut, which almost wakes Sid up (the sequence was later used when Buzz pushed the toolbox onto the ground). Hopeless, Woody attempts to give Buzz an apology. Slowly, his tone changes, and the final movie continues from this point. Although it was all finished animation, it was cut because the editors thought the film would drag on too much, and that it would lose its energy, however, they now think the film could've stood up as-is.

Alternate Rocket Story
Early stetches and storyboards show that Sid originally straps a rocket to Woody instead of Buzz, intending to blow him up. Not much else is known about this sequence; however, another unknown boy is present with Sid when he's about to light the rocket.

Sid's Reckoning
An alternate sequence of what was already shown in the film, this scene shows another way of which Sid's toys get even with him. In a storyboard sequence, Woody and Sid's toys wait for him outside as Sid is about to light the rocket when the match is blown out. It's then that Woody reveals himself to Sid and chastiates the boy as he picks up a match and puts it in his holster (which provides an scrapped explanation for how he got the match). While most of Woody's dialogue in his confrontation is different it's basically same message to "play nice" which scares the juvenile back into his house. He tells Hannah what has happened but she just sighs as she sees the toys inanimate. Buzz questions Woody about the plan but the cowboy plainly states: "What harm could it have done? It just screwed him up for the rest of his life that's all!" as they see Sid's toy further confronting their owner in his room as they closed the blinds as Sid continues raving.

Alternate Chase Scene
In an earlier version of the climatic chase Woody drops the remote for RC (in this version a joystick remote) as he's thrown out of the van into the street as Scud is catching up to Buzz and RC. Woody (after avoiding oncoming cars) grabs the remote and starts RC up just as Scud was about to pounce on Buzz (which ends up with Woody being ramed by RC which causes the remote to land in Buzz's hands and Woody hanging onto the back of RC for dear life). The toys see Buzz on RC and realize the truth. Slinky lower the ramp and our duo get closer just as Scud bites on Woody's boot to which he replies, "Don't they feed this animal?!" as they both are launched into a bush. Buzz stops RC and wonders what to do as the truck gets farther when Woody comes out riding Scud like a cowboy and ropes the dog to a bus with the sign: "See you at the Alaskan Dog Sled Races!" and rejoins Buzz on RC. As they get to the truck and grab to Slinky the batteries die out and leaves them in the middle of the road. Woody starts losing hope but Buzz has the idea of using the rocket.

Miscellaneous

 * The part near the end where Buzz ejects the rocket from his back is similar to the 1966 Thunderbirds episode "Alias Mr Hackenbacker". In the episode, Skythrust, a supersonic airliner makes an emergency landing and ejects its 'Hackenbacker' fuel pod to avoid an explosion which would cause many casualties, similar to how Buzz ejected the rocket from his back to avoid the deaths of him and Woody. Also, in the episode, the fuel pod is taken up to a safe altitude ("40,000 feet on 3-2-0") and then detonated, which is the same in the Toy Story scene where the rocket flys up in the air and then explodes.
 * This was the first full-length feature film to use entirely computer-generated imagery.
 * This film was re-released for a limited time only in 3D in 2009.
 * This is to date the only Pixar film to feature opening credits.
 * This is the only Pixar film in which the customized Walt Disney Pictures logo (which is used until 2007's Ratatouille) actually segues into the film rather than fade away to reveal the Pixar logo. It is also the only Pixar film in which the Pixar logo does not appear at the beginning of the film at all, but rather at the end of the film (the next film, A Bug's Life, is both the first Pixar film to use the "normal" customized Disney logo and to have the Pixar logo appear at the very beginning).
 * In the 3D re-release, the Pixar logo does it instead
 * This is the only Pixar film whose VHS release shows it in its original widescreen release, even in the US. Starting with A Bug's Life, all Pixar US VHS releases show it in its fullscreen release.
 * In January 2013, a fan-made live-action version of the film was posted on YouTube.
 * This is the only Pixar film to be released onto Laserdisc.
 * The reason why Andy doesn't have a dad is because human characters are expensive to animate and Pixar had didn't have the budget to animate a lot of humans.
 * Tinny from Tin Toy was originally going in the place of Buzz Lightyear as the new toy for Andy's birthday. But it was later decided that an old fashioned tin toy like Tinny is would not be the type of toy a boy would love.
 * The goal for Buzz Lightyear was to make him into the toy that any boy would die to have.
 * Don Rickles also starred in Martin Scorsese's film Casino which was released on November 22, 1995, the same day Toy Story was released.