Tri-County International Airport
- Aliens: "The mystic portal. Oooh!"
Buzz: "Once we go through, we just need to find that case." - —Aliens and Buzz Lightyear, before they enter the maze of conveyor belts at the airport
The Tri-County International Airport is an airport in the film Toy Story 2.
Toy Story 2[]
As Al McWhiggin heads over to catch his flight to Tokyo, Japan, Buzz Lightyear and his rescue squad consisting of Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, and Slinky Dog also arrive at the airport using a Pizza Planet Delivery Truck that they hijacked, intent on rescuing Woody. Its name is written on the sign that the Pizza Planet truck drives by, just before the scene cuts to a plane landing at the airport.
The toys stop the truck in the white zone, even though parking there is not allowed. After spotting Al, the toys use a pet carrier to sneak in. At one point, a girl curiously approaches them, thinking that they're a puppy, but Slinky angrily barks like a real dog to scare her away and prevent their discovery. They pass through the check-in counter as Al is talking non-stop at the person behind the desk. As Al's suitcase and the toys are loaded onto the conveyor belt, they enter the baggage handling system (to which the Aliens mistaken the entrance for the "mystic portal"). Mr. Potato Head, shocked by how big the system is, pops his compartment open and his contents fall out. They are suddenly dropped down a ramp and upon reaching the bottom, they are all knocked out from the carrier after it hits the wall. Slinky and Hamm see two identical cases, forcing them to split up. Buzz and Slinky chase after the first case while the others go after the second one. Slinky gets separated from Buzz after his rear end gets caught on a luggage handle, which then goes down a different belt. The other toys reach their case, but find only flash equipment inside it. Buzz reaches the other case, but Stinky Pete stops him from rescuing Woody, leading him to attack Stinky Pete for harming his friend. The fight results in Woody getting his arm ripped by Stinky Pete, but the toys return and blind him with the flash equipment before he can finish off Woody, allowing them to defeat him and strap him to a girl's backpack, which is then sent to the baggage claim area and claimed by its owner: Amy, who puts a Barbie doll that she had and prepares to take him home, to the latter's horror. After Woody and Buzz mockingly bid Stinky Pete farewell, the other toys call them to help Bullseye and Jessie. They manage to free Bullseye, but Jessie is dropped down a ramp before she can be rescued. The man at the bottom of the ramp puts her back inside the case and loads it onto a baggage carrier. Woody and Buzz chase after it on Bullseye. After catching up to it, Woody climbs onto it as Buzz and Bullseye fall behind. Woody makes his way to the front car as the carrier reaches a plane. Woody hides in a golf bag and after it is loaded inside, he gets out, makes his way to Al's suitcase, and frees Jessie. As Woody prepares to take Jessie back to Andy, she worries that Andy may not like her, but excitedly reconsiders upon learning that he has a younger sister. Before they can get out of the plane, the door is closed and as the loading ramp and docking bridge retract from the plane, it prepares to take off. They realize that this is bad news for them, but Woody discovers a hatch that is above the front wheel. They open it and attempt to climb down. Woody slips and Jessie catches him. The tear in Woody's arm expands and at the same time, his hat falls off, but Buzz arrives in time and manages to catch it. The plane makes it to the runway and Woody instructs Buzz to go behind the wheels. He does so, and Woody uses his pull string to lasso a bolt. After convincing Jessie to let go, they swing down to Buzz and Bullseye as Woody's pull string comes loose. Bullseye stops as the group watch the plane takeoff. Buzz gives Woody his hat back and after they are startled by another plane landing, they reunite with the other toys and use a baggage carrier to return home.
Locations within[]
Passenger drop-off/pick-up zone[]
- "Guys, we can't park here. It's a white zone."
- —Rex
Upon arriving at the airport, Buzz and his rescue squad park the Pizza Planet truck on the white zone. There are pet carriers near the entrance/exit doors, one of which the toys use.
Check-in counters[]
This is where Al McWhiggin checks in his case containing Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete the Prospector. Using a pet carrier, Buzz Lightyear and his rescue squad climb onto a conveyor belt behind the counters, which leads into the next area.
Baggage handling area[]
Consisting of a maze of conveyor belts, this is where Buzz Lightyear and his rescue squad have to look around for the case containing Woody. It is where the toys have a final face-off with Stinky Pete, which results in the vile prospector being shoved into a Barbie backpack.
Baggage claim area[]
Stinky Pete ends up in this area after being shoved into the aforementioned backpack. Here, he is picked up by Amy, along with the backpack, and meets her Barbie doll.
Airfield[]
A wide space where aircraft flight operations take place, Woody, Buzz, and Bullseye gallop across the airfield to rescue Jessie, who ends up in a plane bound for Tokyo. As the plane heads down the runway, Woody finally manages to rescue Jessie, seconds before the plane takes off.
Trivia[]
- When the toys enter the airport, the announcement "Passenger Leon Krich" can be heard from the PA, a pun on co-director Lee Unkrich.
- The subtitles for the above announcement incorrectly reads "Passenger Twitch, passenger Leon Twitch."
- When a Barbie backpack with Stinky Pete emerges out into the baggage claim area, the announcement "LassetAir Flight A113 now arriving from Point Richmond at gate three" can be heard from the PA. LassetAir is a pun on director John Lasseter. Flight A113 is a reference to a classroom at CalArts along with A113. And Point Richmond refers to Point Richmond, CA, where the Pixar studio was located before moving to Emeryville.
- The subtitles for the above announcement reads "Atlantic Air flight eight..."
- The scene where Woody, Buzz and Bullseye are chasing the baggage tractor to save Jessie resembles a typical western film scene where the hero chases a train on horseback. In fact, the first trailer after the tractor is open-topped, to give it the appearance of the tender of a steam locomotive.
- Since Buzz and the rest of the toys parked the Pizza Planet truck in the white zone where vehicles are not legally allowed to park, it can be assumed that the truck was towed away by the time they came back to find it. This could be why the toys use the baggage carrier to make it back to Andy's house, but it is unknown how they got it out of the airport without anyone seeing them.
- It is also unknown what happened to the baggage carrier after used by the toys to get back to Andy's house, but it is heavily implied that the police recovered it and took it back to the airport.
- In the storybook version, Andy and his mother saw the baggage carrier when they came home and wondered what it was doing there.
- The appearance of the front of the airport (the drop-off/taxi zone) appears to be designed after the Oakland International Airport in California, Kansas City International Airport in Kansas City, MO, and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington.