The Toy Story franchise tackled a lot of questions that the public never even knew they had about toys. Throughout the years, audiences have learned that these seemingly nonliving items are actually sentient, capable of rational thought, can fall in love and do plenty more than their immobility around humans would suggest. Nearly a decade ago on Twitter, longtime Pixar employee and the man who would go on to later direct Toy Story 3 Lee Unkrich answered yet another inquiry that most have probably never wondered about until now: does Woody have a last name?
It turns out that he does. The cowboy protagonist’s full name is actually Woody Pride. What’s even more surprising is the fact that this has apparently been well-known by those at Pixar since the earliest days of developing the original film. This surname has never been mentioned in any of the movies up until this point though, despite being common knowledge for those involved in the production of them.
It’s unknown why this interesting factoid was never included into the series at any point. It’s possible that those at the top felt that the name “Woody Pride” had the potential to be mocked due to its inappropriate connotations, but there’s also a chance that the screenwriters just never felt that it flowed naturally into a script.
It makes sense that Woody would have a last name though, considering that Buzz’s surname is Lightyear. It’s likely that plenty of the toys have longer labels that the fans just don’t know about yet. Now that we’ve learned this interesting tidbit about the cowboy though, folks will surely want to know if Jessie has a family name, too. She and Woody may even end up being related.
At this point, it remains to be seen if the series will continue on into the future or if Toy Story 4 was the last one for the gang. Either way, it’s definitely been a ride to remember.
