As a continuation of my previous blog, I wanted to dive deeper on the questions that I had about my favorite children’s movies growing up. This installment is about the infamous Toy Story saga. There are 4 movies (and counting) in the Toy Story franchise and there are so many unanswered questions.
If you are unfamiliar with the Toy Story movies, allow me to summarize them: Andy, a boy who grows up over the course of the movies, has toys that speak and come to life behind his back. These toys go on adventures, go through real life situations and collect more friends along the way. They even switch owners and become separated at parts. It’s all an exhilarating rollercoaster of events for children watching the movies.
The toys begin to move and talk on their own. This is when the viewers are able to realize something is up. How are these toys talking and moving? Do they have brains that allow them to come to consciousness? The main plot of this first movie is that there is a new toy in the bedroom, a spaceman. His name is Buzz Lightyear, and Andy got him for his birthday. This toy quickly replaces Woody as the favorite toy. This sparks jealousy among the toys. How do toys have feelings such as jealousy? Aren’t they piles of plastic and fluff molded into dolls for children to play with? How do they have the ability to know that they are not the favorite anymore? This is continuously shown throughout the other 3 movies. Woody and Buzz soon become friends once they are launched on a firework at the end of the movie. How do they form friendships? They are toys?
The second movie is based around Woody getting stolen by a vintage toy collector. This sends Woody into panic. How does a toy feel panic? He meets 3 other toys in his kidnapper’s apartment: Bullseye (a horse), Jessie, and The Prospector. Apparently, they were all a part of a show called Woody’s Round-Up where Woody was the main character. The other toys from Andy’s room save Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye. It is revealed that The Prospector was an evil toy, so he is left behind. How can toys save other toys? How can toys be evil? How did they find Woody? There are so many questions.
For the last two movies, the toys are off to find a new home. Andy is growing up and is going off to college. Andy mistakenly puts the wrong bag into his mother’s donation pile which contains the toys. The toys are panicking. Once again, how do toys panic? How in the world do toys feel emotions or even know what is going on around them? The toys soon end up going off to a preschool where they are mistreated. They are played with in a rough manner which they don’t enjoy. Back to the questions about emotions… They soon find themselves in a landfill at the end of the movie. They are scared(how??) but manage to get out before being incinerated and then find their way back to Andy. When back to Andy, he hands the toys off to a young girl named Bonnie who takes them to a carnival in the fourth and final movie. They are all loved and cared for. At the carnival, Woody is reunited with his love interest from the first two movies. How do toys have love interests? No clue. The movie is centered around this love interest and their reunification. It’s all super confusing with the toys having human qualities but my questions never get answered throughout the movies. How do they become conscious and unconscious depending on when their owner is around? There is even a game based on the events of this called “Andy is coming” that I’m sure most of us played when we were in around 3rd-5th grade.
There was one toy story short where Jessie has a panic attack, and it really just makes you think about how that happens. They must be able to breathe, which means they have lungs..
do the people that make them know they are alive?
your blogs make me question more about my childhood interests than i ever wanted to. anyways, you should look in the mickey mouse franchise. like what is goofy a dog that walks on two legs and speaks english while pluto is on a leash/all fours?? also, what’s with the male characters not wearing certain clothing items? i’d love to hear your takes on that.
I think you just gave me my next blog idea!
Do they feel pain? How do they see? The light has to pass through the eye and be processed through the brain or something so how does plastic do that. How do they move if some are just cotton? If they get recycled, do they keep their memory when they become something else? If they got recycled into a cup, would they be alive?