Toy Story (1995)
The tale of the production of Toy Story is almost as legendary as the film’s unprecedented success – featuring, as it does, corporate kerfuffles, technological breakthroughs, and the birth of an entire genre. The film was the brainchild of former Disney animator, John Lasseter, who became fascinated with the idea of an entirely computer-animated feature film, and floated the idea to his Disney bosses. They were less enthusiastic and rejected the proposal – and Lasseter was soon seeking employment at Lucasfilm instead. From there, he went on to co-found Pixar, which was then acquired by Apple founder Steve Jobs in 1986. This professional situation allowed Lasseter to create the Academy Award winning computer animated short film, Tin Toy, which would form the basis for Toy Story.
The decision to make the film came from a long period of negotiation between Pixar – including Steve Jobs – and Disney, which was keen to win back Lasseter, his movie idea, and the technology he used to create his Oscar-winning short. Pixar began to experience serious financial difficulty, and eventually a deal was reached that would lead to the film that would launch a beloved franchise. The first draft of the Toy Story script was produced by Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter, but bore little resemblance to the Toy Story audiences know and love today. In it, Woody was the bad guy, and all the other toys had to stand up to him. Disliking this result of their original request, Disney asked for more of a mis-matched buddy story, and this script was completed in 1991 as a second draft.
The original lead character – the Tin Toy – became Buzz Lightyear, and Woody became his mis-matched buddy, and the revered leader of the toys. Several other writers were employed to enhance the script – including Joss Whedon – and script approval was granted by Disney in 1993. Throughout that year, Pixar worked on creating the film, and half of it was ready to screen for Disney executives by the fall. The result of the screening, however, was the shutting down of the production, because the movie did not work.
Steve Jobs provided funding during the shutdown to facilitate the continuation of work on the script. A new script was complete within three months, and the cast were re-recording their lines by the spring of 1994. When it was finally released in 1995, Toy Story was met with rapturous praise, as well as 17 award nominations and 22 award wins – including one Oscar. Worldwide, the film grossed $362 million against a $30 million budget, and kickstarted a franchise that will see its fourth instalment head into cinemas on June 16th, 2017.
