Toy Story (film)

The first movie of Pixar's Toy Story franchise.

A plot summary, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Set in a world where toys are shown to be living things who pretend to be lifeless when in the presence of their owners, the film focuses on the toys of a six-year old boy, Andy Davis. His favorite toy is an old-fashioned cowboy doll named Sheriff Woody Pride. Woody is the head of the other toys, including Rex the Dinosaur, Mr. Potato Head, Bo Peep the shepdress, Slinky Dog, and Hamm the Piggy Bank. Andy, his single mother, and infant sister Molly, are planning to relocate the following week and have Andy's birthday early, much to the shock of the toys when Woody finds out, but Woody tries to be the optimist. He sends little green army men, led by Sarge, to survey the presents and tell the toys about it via a radio. Pretty soon, Andy gains a surprise present, which is revealed to be an electronic toy space ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyear, who actually believes that he is a space ranger.

Everybody is amazed at Buzz, and Andy begins to favor him, making Woody feel left out. When Andy and his mother decide to go to Pizza Planet for supper, Woody tries to get Buzz discarded behind the shelf, but his plan backfires and Buzz is thrown out the window by mistake. Some of the other toys, mainly Potato Head and Hamm, begin to accuse Woody of murdering Buzz out of envy, but Woody is saved when Andy decides to take him to Pizza Planet after failing to find Buzz. Buzz, thinking too that Woody tried to murder him, confronts Woody and they soon fight, which leaves them out on the street, until they find a car heading to Pizza Planet and stow away in it. However, at Pizza Planet, Buzz's delusion and still believing that he is a real space ranger leads them to eventually be captured by Andy's destructive toy-killing neighbor Sid Phillips...

Tropes common to the franchise are listed on the Toy Story franchise page. Tropes specific to this movie include:
  • Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Woody to scare away Sid.
  • All There in the Manual: The names of most of Sid's toys were only in shown in the script and the roll call at the end of the video game.
  • Always Someone Better: Buzz definitely presents this for Woody. Buzz is a modern, battery-powered, talking toy with pop-out wings, a "lightbulb that blinks", and a retractable helmet. Woody... has a drawstring-powered vocalizer. You can see why he'd feel a bit threatened by Buzz's presence at first.
  • Banister Slide: Woody is sent on one by Andy near the beginning.
  • Bond One-Liner: By Woody, as he uses Buzz's karate action to drive away Sid's toys (who they thought were cannibals at the time).

"Sorry guys, but dinner's cancelled!"

  • Break the Haughty: Whilst Woody tends to not rub it in anyone's faces, he's top of the heap and knows it until Buzz shows up and threatens his position as Andy's favourite toy. Then he becomes increasingly jealous and insecure. See Always Someone Better.
  • Brick Joke: What Mr. Potato Head hopes Andy would get at his birthday.

Mr. Potato Head: [Praying] Mrs. Potato Head. Mrs. Potato Head. Mrs. Potato Head...! [Gets stared at] Hey, I can dream, can't I?

Woody: Uh, Buzz? We missed the truck!
Buzz: We're not aiming for the truck!

This is ludicrous...

Buzz: I just wanted to let you know that even though you tried to terminate me, revenge is not an idea we promote on our planet.
Woody: Oh, that's good.
Buzz: But we're not on my planet, are we?

  • Fire-Forged Friends: Woody and Buzz [1]
  • Funny Background Event: When Woody announces that Andy's birthday party was taking place on that day and the other toys panic, "WHAT????" scrolls across Mr. Spell's screen.
    • Mr. Spell is good at this; His screen reads "HUBBA HUBBA" when the arrival of a Mrs. Potato Head is announced.
    • When Mr. Potato Head and Hamm are drawn away from their Battleship game, we see that Potato Head's board is nearly completely covered in white pegs. Clearly someone isn't very good at Battleship...
  • Genre Killer: Much of the creators chagrin, Toy Story was one of the movies that contributed to the idea that hand-drawn animation is dead -- not helped by subsequent box office dropoffs of many hand-drawn features near the end of The Renaissance Age of Animation.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Woody to Buzz -- with Buzz's own dismembered arm. It's hilarious.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: While Slink is trying to back up Woody at the staff meeting, Mr. Potato Head takes off his mouth and taps it against his backside. Mr. Spell even types out "ha ha ha" during this. It's unlikely that children would know the expression "kissing ass", but still.
    • This troper remembers being four and getting the gneral idea.
    • When Hamm and Mr. Pototo Head are playing Poker Battleship. Potato Head has to pay up with body parts, since he doesn't carry change like Hamm.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Woody wanted to knock Buzz off the desk so Andy would have to take him to Pizza Planet...and boy did he ever knock Buzz off the desk.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: Again, the dismembered arm beatdown.
  • Ha Ha Ha No: Woody to a toy shark when he does a lame impression of him after finding his hat.

Woody: *gasping for breath*...finally...hey, who's got my hat?
Shark (with Woody's hat): Look! I'm Woody. Howdy howdy howdy!
Woody (sarcastically): Aah-hah! Aah-haaa...GIMME THAT! (*snatches hat back*)

    • Again with Woody after he tells Buzz to give him a hand, Buzz throws his dismembered arm to him.

Woody:Hahaha, that's very funny Buzz...(with annoyance)THIS IS SERIOUS!!

  • Hand Signals: During the recon operation and when the mutilated toys try to save Buzz.
  • He's a Friend: Woody to Buzz when several other toys appear.
  • Here We Go Again: During the last scene at Christmas, Andy's final present is revealed to be a puppy. Buzz and Woody exchange nervous smiles out of fear that they may have to evade it, like they survived Scud. Luckily in the second movie, the dog, named Buster is much friendlier than Scud.
  • Heroic BSOD: Buzz goes through a very, very humiliating one after he realizes he is a toy.
  • Holding Both Sides of the Conversation: After Buzz's Heroic BSOD, Woody attempts to convince the other toys that Buzz is fine by holding Buzz's severed arm from behind a wall and imitating his voice.
  • Hollywood Giftwrap: Buzz Lightyear arrives in this.
  • "I Am Becoming" Song: He is becoming, "Strange Things (Are Happening to Me)".
  • I Will Only Slow You Down: The wounded soldier to his Sergeant.
  • Ironic Echo: "This isn't flying! This is falling, with style!"
  • Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Parodied as Sid attempts to make Woody reveal the location of the rebel base. Buzz congratulates him for not talking.
  • Jerkass: Sid Phillips, Mr. Potato Head and initially Woody with Buzz.
  • Kids Are Cruel: Sid, of course -- he tortures toys in the most vicious way, he replaces the head of his sister's doll with a pterodactyl one and burns Woody's head with a magnifying glass.
    • Of course, it should be acknowledged that Sid has no way of knowing (untill the toys come to life and scare him at the end, of course) that the toys are actually sentient and that he thus really is inflicting pain on them, but the fact that he likes to pretend to torture people is still pretty creepy.
      • Even disregarding the possibility that toys can come to life, and acknowledging that it's every kid's prerogative to torture and mutilate their own toys, Sid is still a jerk for stealing and mutilating his sister's toys.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: Buzz Lightyear sports one quite intentionally.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Mr. Potato Head, being, debatably, the film's other antagonist, gets his when RC flies into the moving van and crashes into him, sending his pieces flying.
  • Leap of Faith: When Buzz jumps off the banister in Sid's house, believing that he can fly.
  • Lost in Transmission: "IT'S A WHAT?!? WHAT IS IT?!?"
  • Magic A Is Magic A: Averted. "Buzz, you're flying!" "NOT A FLYING TOY". The closest we get to even a handwave as to how Buzz can suddenly glide with flawless dexterity and accuracy at the end is "falling with style". It's still an awesome ending, but they probably wouldn't have contradicted themselves so boldly if they'd known there'd be a trilogy.
  • Matryoshka Object: One of the toys is a nesting egg, called a Troika doll. Its layers are (from biggest to smallest) bulldog, cat, duck, goldfish, and ladybug.
  • Necktie Leash: A variant with Bo Peep using her shepherd's crook to draw Woody closer to her.
  • No One Gets Left Behind: Done by the plastic toy soldiers near the start of the film.
    • Actually turns out to be epic foreshadowing for the second half of the film. After Woody and Buzz put their differences behind them and become Fire-Forged Friends the rest of the film is devoted to them getting back to Andy. Both have the opportunity to leave the other behind at various points, but they don't.
  • One-Scene Wonder: The first film, among other popular toys promoted, dramatically boosted interest in generic old sets of plastic army men, a group of characters who only have one really notable scene early on (but it's a damn cool one).
    • Plus the shark who briefly steals Woody's hat. "Howdy, howdy, howdy!"
    • And the Little Green Men.
  • Plot-Driven Breakdown: "The batteries! They're running out!" Besides, it's more satisfying to see Andy finding Buzz and Woody in his car while leaving his old neighborhood for good rather than in a box he unpacks when he reaches his new home.
  • Plot Hole: Why does Buzz act like a toy (that is, go inert in the presence of humans) at Andy's before he knows he is a toy?
    • At first, he probably only did it because everyone else did. He thought he was on a strange world, so doing something everyone else did was the smart thing to do. After that, he knew why he had to, and did so like everyone else.
  • Protagonist-Centered Morality: Sid is seen by many viewers, including Will Wright, Mike Mozart, and even the creators, as a kid with a great imagination. (In fact, many of the things Sid does to his toys were inspired by things the creators used to do to theirs.) Some would argue that the only reason he is given the antagonist treatment is because the movie is from a toy's point of view, however, it should also be noted that he apparently wrecks all his sister's toys (the fact that the only dolls Hannah has left to play with are dismembered and/or decapitated, and that several of mutant toys have doll legs and heads shows that the pterodactyl thing was not an isolated incident) and a little boy playing with explosives unsupervised is pretty questionable, considering the rockets he was using are not even legal in some states.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "YOU! ARE! A! TOYYYYYY!!!"
    • Parodied in the YouTube Poop "Toys Gone Wild" -- the line in question is replaced with the Trope Namer.
    • Also, "I AM MRS. NESBITT!"
  • Red Alert: Called by the Sergeant during the birthday party.
  • The Renaissance Age of Animation
  • Scare'Em Straight: Woody and Sid's toys come alive to provide Nightmare Fuel for Sid before the climax, leading straight to his breakdown. This gives Sid the distinction of being the only human in the entire series to have witnessed the toys' anthropomorphic capacity. Although the outcome implies that he'll just write it all off as temporary insanity.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: It seems to be an unwritten rule that the toys will not walk and talk (other than that their normal toy operation allows) when there are any humans present. Even Buzz Lightyear unconsciously adheres to the rule, even throughout the time that he believes that he's the real Buzz Lightyear. To save Buzz from Sid, however, Woody decides that it's time to break a few rules.
  • Security Cling: Woody to Buzz when facing the mutilated toys.
  • Serious Business: The filmmakers intended the scene with the toy soldiers making their way to the lookout point to be funny, but when it was shown to test audiences they took it just as seriously as any real war movie.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Bo Peep is the only female toy. (Andy's mom and his sister Molly are also characters, but they're minor.) Justified by the fact that Andy is boy and boys tend to have male toys. She isn't even Andy's. Both her and Mrs. Potato Head were Molly's toys.
  • Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass: Sid uses a magnifying glass to burn Woody's forehead while interrogating him.
  • Stock Scream: When Buzz is knocked out of the window it's definitely the Wilhelm Scream that he makes.
  • Suck E. Cheese's: Pizza Planet (though much cooler than most examples of the Trope).
  • Survival Mantra: Woody.

"There's no place like home!Theresnoplacelikehome!"

Buzz: I don't believe that man's ever been to medical school.

"Great! Now I have guilt!"

Sid: Where are your rebel friends now? Ha Ha Ha!
Sid's Mom: (from off-screen) Sid! Your Pop-Tarts are ready!
Sid: All right!

  • Villainy-Free Villain: Sid mangles his sister's dolls but otherwise doesn't really do anything bad. How was he to know that his toys are alive and can feel pain?
    • Though taking his sister's toys and mutilating them without her permission isn't particularly nice. Hanna doesn't want a tea party with headless ladies...
    • His imagination seems to lean in a destructive and sadistic direction, such as torture and experimentation on live test subjects. In moderation this could be healthy imagination, but the degree we see from him is a bit disturbing.
  • Visual Pun: As follows:

Woody: Buzz, can you give me a hand?
*Buzz, without a word, tosses his arm up to Woody and goes back to angsting.*
Woody:... Ha ha... That's pretty funny... but -- but this is serious!

  • Vomit Discretion Shot: In the first movie, Rex gets this after he sees Woody waving Buzz's dismembered arm.
    • REX! IS! A TOY!
      • He wasn't really vomiting, merely going through the motions as if he could, because the toys act like humans, even if they can't do everything humans can do.
        • It's Pixar, so who knows? Maybe he really WAS barfing!
  • What Does This Button Do?: Rex asks this about one of the buttons on Buzz Lightyear's suit.
  • What Have We Done?: When the other toys realize Woody wasn't trying to kill Buzz or anyone else (after throwing him out of a moving truck). Slinky Dog even says this word for word.
    • Woody also goes through this a bit, when his plan to knock Buzz between the desk and the wall results in him knocking Buzz out of the window.
  1. ↑ This trope's title just caused a major Funny Aneurysm Moment in light of the third movie...
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