Toy Story (1995)

From one pioneering film series with dinosaurs to another, today we look at Pixar's signature trilogy, beginning with Toy Story.

The Movie:

Toy Story is the 1st film from Pixar and the first feature length animated film ever.  It was immediately heralded as a milestone in animation and movie history for its technological achievement, but it also received positive reviews for its story, and was even nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

Toy Story tells the tale of Woody, a cowboy toy who is the favorite of his owner Andy.  When Andy gets a new Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday, Woody's position as favorite is placed in jeopardy.  A series of events lands Woody and Buzz both stranded out in the world, and they have to work together to make it home to Andy before his family's impending move.

Toy Story really is a great movie and well-deserving of its accolades.  While the animation quality does now come across as dated, the movie still holds up due to the strength of its story and strong characters.  Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz shine, and the supporting characters all bring something important to their screen time.  While the later movies, both in this series and for Pixar as a whole, would get grander in scale, much of the charm of this movie comes from the intimacy of its setting.

This is the movie that introduced a generation to Randy Newman.  The already well-established singer-songwriter and film composer became the voice of the early Pixar movies with his scores and songs, and this movie features three titles - "Strange Things," "I Will Go Sailing No More," and the series' signature tune, "You've Got a Friend in Me."  The latter song and the score both received Oscar nominations but lost to Pocahontas.  Usually for Disney at the time, the songs are not sung by the characters, but instead by Newman over the action of the scene.  (Toy Story came out in the middle of the Disney Renaissance, which had been built on musicals.)

Presence in the Parks:

There are a variety of themed lands found in Disney parks around the world, and some of them are found in multiple parks, but for most of its history, the lands had been themed to larger concepts and not individual movies or franchises.  But that was before Universal opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, immersing visitors in a the detailed world of a single movie or franchise.  Since then, Disney has built or is building several of these lands.  The first of these single movie lands came to Florida with Animal Kingdom's Pandora - The World of Avatar.  Soon, Hollywood Studios will join the club, as in just a week, Toy Story Land opens there, with a Star Wars land to follow next year.

(It should be noted that the first Disney land themed around a single movie was A Bug's Land at DCA, which was carved out of the Golden State area in 2002 after more kid-friendly attractions were added due to complaints.  The first Toy Story Land didn't open until 2010.)

Toy Story Land is currently found in Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai.  Interestingly enough, the Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios will not have any attractions found in these other versions.  It will feature two new rides, Slinky Dog Dash (a roller coaster) and Alien Swirling Saucers (a spin ride).

The area will also incorporate the existing Toy Story Midway Mania!  This ride opened in 2008 in some of the former soundstages in the studio backlot.  The street leading to this ride off of the Animation Courtyard was renamed Pixar Place.  Midway Mania is currently the only attraction in the land, though it used to feature a six-foot tall animatronic of Luxo, Jr. (Pixar's lamp mascot).  It is also the current meet location of Woody and Buzz.  The entrance to Midway Mania is being relocated to the other side of the building, which is located in Toy Story Land.

Entrance to Pixar Place, Hollywood Studios, May 2015

Facade in Pixar Place, Hollywood Studios, May 2015

Ride queue for Toy Story Midway Mania! Hollywood Studios, May 2015

For reference, the land being used for Toy Story Land was originally part of the studio backlot, which was used for the Backlot Tour, the park's signature attraction on opening day.

Midway Mania is also found in DCA and at Tokyo DisneySea.  The DCA version also opened in 2008 in the Paradise Pier section.  Now that Paradise Pier is being re-themed as Pixar Pier, this attraction will be a centerpiece of that land.

Back at WDW, Woody and Jessie also pop up in Frontierland at the Magic Kingdom, while Buzz can be found around his ride in Tomorrowland.  We'll discuss that ride in the next entry.