The REAL Toy Story Mania (and how Disney milked it for every penny)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: It's virtually impossible right now. You can't find them anywhere. They've sold out everywhere. [00:00:17] Speaker 2: We've called several department stores in this area. They say customers are buying Toy Story action figures as quick as they can put them on the shelf. [00:00:24] Speaker 3: Thousands of grown men and women who'd spent hours queuing up to buy him. [00:00:28] Speaker 4: We were looking three weeks for Buzz and we got here and they haven't got any. [00:00:32] Speaker 5: Catastrophe of intergalactic proportions, to be perfectly honest, and in the words of Buzz Lightyear, we just cannot get any more. [00:00:42] Speaker 6: On November 22, 1995, Disney and Pixar's Toy Story, the first ever computer animated feature film, was released in the theaters. The movie was a huge hit with critics and audiences alike and set the bar astronomically high for this new medium of storytelling. When it came to the movie's marketing and promotion, to say it spanned virtually all forms of entertainment is an understatement. Seriously, Toy Story was just about everywhere you looked, both inside and outside of the Disney theme parks, which also included the spectacularly odd and slightly nightmare inducing Disney on Ice stage show. [00:01:17] Speaker 7: Let's go home and play! [00:01:20] Speaker 6: This Toy Story hoopla even led to an actual toy shortage, which drew comparisons to the infamous Tickle Me Elmo fiasco. Although there were a lot less in-store fights. So I thought it would be fun to do a deep dive into this Toy Story mania when the movie came out, both how it came to be and how far it went. If you lived through the phenomenon yourself, you can enjoy all these tasty nostalgia berries to your heart's content. And if you did not, learn just how monumental it truly was. [00:01:47] Speaker 8: Woo hoo hoo! Money, money, money! [00:02:12] Speaker 6: The story begins in May of 1995, with Disney's home video release of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Let me explain. You see, on each Laserdisc or VHS copy of the movie, was a special preview for the first ever computer animated feature film in history. Toy Story. This was such an early preview that for the Toy Story logo, Disney simply used a generic placeholder text. Now it might surprise you to learn that when this extremely rough behind-the-scenes promo came out, the movie was only six months away from its release. But despite being so close to hitting theaters, very little was publicly known about this upcoming animated feature film. The most you might find was an obscure newspaper article or two, about an upcoming movie starring Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as a cowboy doll and Spaceman action figure. In fact, six months away from Toy Story's release, even the name Pixar meant little or absolutely nothing to the public or average moviegoer. However, behind the scenes, Disney was scrambling to put together what would wind up being one of the most incredible marketing campaigns of its time. One that would prove so successful that within six months, it would turn the name Pixar and Toy Story into household names. But for those of you watching who do not know the origins of Disney and Pixar's partnership or even how Toy Story came to be, let's do a long story short version of how it all got started. It began with a group of computer scientists at Lucasfilm, which consisted of Ed Catmule, Alvy Ray Smith, and Lauren Carpenter. This team was hired by filmmaker George Lucas to develop a number of digital production tools, such as the first all-digital editing system called EditDroid. But this group also had a dream and ultimate goal: to produce the first-ever computer-animated feature film. They first experimented with CGI in live-action films, such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982. It was the first-ever sequence made entirely by computers used in a movie, which at the time was a groundbreaking achievement. However, eventually the team realized that to push the medium even further, they had to find someone with experience animating characters. This is what led them to bring John Lasseter into the group, who was a recently dismissed but incredibly talented Disney animator. With John Lasseter's character animation skills, before long they produced their very first short film, The Adventures of Andre and Wally B. This was able to showcase a handful of traditional animation techniques in 3D, such as flexible characters and motion blur, which hadn't really been done before. Around the same time as the short film, they also produced the Pixar Image Computer, a name so catchy it would stick around for a while. [00:04:56] Speaker 9: Pixar is a leader in the creation of tools that allow people to understand data through the technology of visualization. Pixar's image computers are being used in medical imaging, remote sensing, graphic arts including 3D design and animation, and scientific visualization. An emerging field that requires the display of data from computational and experimental scientific disciplines. [00:05:22] Speaker 6: The Pixar Image Computer was the most powerful graphics computer of its time, but with the eye-watering price tag of $135,000, or $400,000 today, it never really took off. But the machine was integral to producing the first fully CGI character in a live-action film, when the team was hired to do the effects for young Sherlock Holmes. At the time, there was simply no other computer capable of rendering such a complex figure, and the end result was revolutionary to say the least. However, just as they were actually advancing towards the dream of a feature-length CGI movie, the computer division's owner George Lucas decided to sell them off. You see, the legendary filmmakers' interest had always been in creating digital tools for filmmaking, not producing computer hardware and software or animated shorts. So, with George Lucas' blessing, in 1986, the division rebranded themselves officially as Pixar, and they also began to look for an outside investor. About one year later, they found such an investor in none other than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He ultimately decided to purchase the division from Lucasfilm, and also invested $10 million of his own money to give them the independence they needed. A short time after the acquisition, Pixar produced the animated short film Luxo Jr., which became the first computer animated short film nominated for an Academy Award. After that was Red's Dream, then Tintoy, which became the first Oscar-winning CGI short film in history, which was followed by Knickknack. But despite these early successes, Pixar was struggling to keep themselves financially afloat, losing upwards of $1 million a year. So, to help pay the bills, they began making commercials for brands such as Tropicana, Trident Sugarless Gum, and Lifesavers. Now, about that time is when Pixar was thrown a lifeline from Disney, even if it was a bit unintentional. You see, ever since Tintoy had won the Academy Award, Disney consistently tried to convince the former animator John Lasseter to come back and direct a feature. The irony, of course, is that John Lasseter had originally been let go from Disney, which happened after finishing a short test for a possible feature film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are. Specifically, it was to blend traditional animation against a CGI background, but Disney executives at the time felt that if it didn't save the studio any money, why even do it? But now, even after trying their hardest to convince John Lasseter to come back to Disney, he insisted on sticking with the struggling Pixar. So Disney ultimately made Pixar an offer as a way to get John Lasseter, in that they would agree to finance the computer graphic division's original dream of a CGI feature-length film. The deal was announced in 1991, with Disney set to produce not one, but three movies from a studio The Average Joe had more than likely never even heard of. The first of these was initially pitched as a half-hour Christmas TV special based on Tintoy. But once Disney agreed to finance a feature film, it evolved into a movie with the working title of Toy Story. Even back then, the basic premise was almost identical, where "Everyone has had the traumatic childhood experience of losing a toy. Our story takes the toy's point of view as he loses and tries to retain the single most important thing to him: to be played with by children." Of course, the behind-the-scenes drama that ensued is legendary, beginning with the incredibly one-sided deal from Disney. In essence, Disney had final say over the entire film, could abandon the movie for any time at any reason, would receive virtually all profits from ticket sales, and was able to produce sequels without any input from Pixar. There's also the now-infamous Black Friday debacle, when Toy Story's production was actually shut down after a disastrous story reel presentation. The long story short version is that after countless notes from Disney to make Toy Story more "edgy," they did, and it became almost unwatchable. In particular was the character of Woody, who was made into one of the most "repellent things you'd ever seen on screen." [00:09:19] Speaker 10: Hey, spuds for brains! What do you think you're doing? Off the bed. Hey! Off the bed! Slanky! Get up here and do your job! [00:09:33] Speaker 11: Are you deaf? I said take care of them! Uh, I'm sorry, Woody, but I have to agree with them. I don't think what you did was right. You don't think I was right? Who said your job was to think, spring wiener? If it wasn't for me, Andy wouldn't pay any attention to you at all! In fact, my stretchy friend, you would have been hauled away to Goodwill a long time ago, so shut your mouth and get them off the bed! [00:09:58] Speaker 6: Reactions to this presentation were so negative that Disney made the decision to shut down the entire production of Toy Story and initially wanted to move on completely. But the writing team at Pixar asked for two weeks to turn the script around, going back to, and tweaking what they originally wanted for the story and its characters. Lo and behold, Disney was very pleased with the changes, and production was officially given the green light once again. Over the next year and a half, Pixar's immensely talented production team worked vigorously to bring Toy Story to life. However, inside of Disney, there was quite a bit of skepticism regarding the film's potential, especially early on. You see, the common belief among Disney executives was that Toy Story was either going to be A, a semi-popular niche film at best, or B, a box office disaster. This belief was pretty well founded and had to do with two main factors: the 1982 movie Tron, and who early CGI primarily appealed to. You see, Tron was the first and last film by Disney to utilize computer graphics on a monumental scale. Although praised for its stunning visuals and originality, the movie was heavily criticized for being style over substance, with a lackluster story and boring characters. Its initial bad reviews from industry analysts even led to Disney's stock in Wall Street to drop. Tron's box office was also seen as a huge financial disappointment by Disney, as they were hoping for a home run, but the movie made significantly less than its rivals, and even worse, cost even more to make. So some within Disney saw Toy Story as just a 90s version of Tron, a movie trying to capitalize on CGI that would fail to capture audiences. To give credibility to this was who CGI primarily appealed to, which at the time were tech enthusiasts at graphics industry conferences, not mainstream audiences. Sure, Pixar short films like Luxo Jr. and Tin Toy were raising eyebrows at the Oscars, and the medium was increasingly finding its way into big mainstream blockbusters. There was even the new TV show Reboot, which was the first completely computer animated television series. But the idea of using computer graphics for a feature length film was a huge gamble, and some believed audiences wouldn't be interested. Ironically, Walt Disney had a very similar situation with Snow White, as some within the industry sincerely doubted audiences would sit through an hour plus long cartoon. Steve Jobs himself, who remember owned Pixar at the time, was even considering selling the company to Microsoft, as he had major doubts Toy Story could be a hit. This went so far as inviting Microsoft's vice president for advanced technology to Pixar headquarters, and the deal almost went through. However, sometime around December of 1994, which was less than one year before its planned release, both Disney executives and Steve Jobs finally began to realize Toy Story's true potential. This change in attitude happened when completed, high-quality sequences began to finally materialize, and those who saw them were stunned at what they were witnessing. It's why Steve Jobs actually cancelled his plans to sell Pixar, and instead decided he would take the company public when Toy Story released the following year, now believing the movie's success was inevitable. As far as Disney, this is when they decided to throw virtually all of their marketing weight behind Toy Story to an unprecedented degree. However, now with less than a year until its release, Disney had to quickly shift things into gear. But it's important to mention that when it came to movie marketing and merchandising in general, in the 1990s the film industry, and especially Disney, was on quite the spending spree. For context, in the 1970s to early 80s, the average amount film studios spent on marketing was $4 to $5 million, and this rose to about $7 to $10 million by the late 80s. But then came a little movie called Batman, in which Warner Bros. spent six times the average amount on marketing, a then unheard of $62 million. This incredible investment paid off to say the least, as within no time the movie earned its place as the fifth highest grossing film of all time domestically. But Warner Bros. also made an estimated half a billion dollars in merchandising, by contracting over 300 licensees to produce over 100 different products. [00:14:15] Speaker 12: And the movie makers aren't the only ones who hope to cash in on the popularity of this caped wonder. [00:14:20] Speaker 13: I'm in business to make money, and we expect to make a lot of money selling Batman merchandise and making a lot of people happy. Right now we have about 26 different kinds of t-shirts. The buttons have started hitting, they're very popular now. We're expecting in Batman boxer shorts next week. [00:14:37] Speaker 6: Batman's merchandise bonanza led to a growing practice in the industry to spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing, and whenever possible, license the absolute sh*t out of their movies. At the forefront of this was Disney, with the most famous example being The Lion King, as the company secured $100 million in merchandise licensing. This resulted in over $1 billion in merchandise revenue within its first year alone, and that's not even including its $500 million in home video sales. But the fascinating aspect of this is that for such a huge financial gain, Disney barely spent any of their own money. How? Well, ever since the beginning of the so-called Disney Renaissance era, advertising partners and retailers basically lined up at Disney's door just to be a part of the phenomenon. So for Toy Story, Disney decided to use the same strategy, spending an estimated $20 million of their own money on marketing. The rest of the movie's promotional funds came from a wide range of sponsors, which amounted to about $85 million, or $125 million total, which was about $5 million more than The Lion King. Burger King was especially enthusiastic about coming aboard, as their Lion King promotion had tripled their kids' meal sales, from an average of 70 meals a day to over 300 meals per day. For Toy Story, they had planned to invest an estimated $45 million, which was the most Burger King had ever invested into any movie ever. Disney also planned to open a massive indoor theme park in Hollywood's historic El Capitan Theater, but more on that later. Oddly enough, one aspect of all this Disney kind of dropped the ball on were the actual toys of Toy Story, which was ironic to say the least. Evidently, midway through the film's production, Toy Story's producer Ralph Guggenheim presented a showcase of completed scenes to Disney consumer products. To his surprise, one of the division's senior executives told him, quote, "She saw no licensing potential for the film." He then replied, "What do you mean? It's Toy Story. You know, Toy Story." But her opinion was that the film featured too many toys that already existed, and that Disney could not make money off them. Unfortunately, by the time Disney consumer products did realize Toy Story's potential, it was a bit too late, as Disney's go-to toy suppliers Mattel and Hasbro both said no. A common misconception is that these toy manufacturers thought the movie was going to be a flop, but according to the book The Pixar Touch, the true reason was a lack of lead time. You see, most toy companies were given 18 to 24 months to design and manufacture products for a major motion picture. But in the case of Toy Story, they were given just nine months. So with both Mattel and Hasbro declining to produce toys for Toy Story, Disney executives began to panic. This is why the company sent a handful of representatives to the 1995 New York Toy Fair. Their hope was to find a toy vendor who could possibly take on the movie, which is where they discovered Thinkway Toys. This was a relatively small Canadian toy manufacturer founded by Albert Chan, who at the time was known for making toy banks for Star Wars and Star Trek. Disney was ultimately impressed enough with his products that they offered him Toy Story, which given that the movie was to be released in less than a year, was a pretty daunting task. Unfortunately, he drastically underestimated just how popular his toys would be. But more on that later. [00:18:05] Speaker 10: Sergeant! Yes, sir! Establish a recon post downstairs. Move, move, move, move, move! It's a... [00:18:12] Speaker 8: It's a big one. [00:18:13] Speaker 14: Walt Disney Pictures presents a totally new animated motion picture event. When toys come to life. To infinity and beyond! Toy Story. [00:18:25] Speaker 15: Look out! [00:18:28] Speaker 16: Can! [00:18:33] Speaker 6: Flash forward to October, just a little over one month before Toy Story's release, when Disney finally began to instigate the movie's extensive marketing campaign. First up was a new promotional trailer, which was placed onto 7 million copies of Cinderella on VHS. They also produced a television special called To Infinity and Beyond: The Making of Toy Story, which aired on the Disney Channel. The upcoming movie was also teased in their Disney Adventure Magazine series, with a full cover issue soon after. At the time, the publication had a subscriber base of somewhere in the vicinity of 1 million readers, which ensured that kids all over the country were well aware of the upcoming animated film. The rest of Disney's $125 million worth of sponsorships would follow, trickling out in the weeks prior to the film's release. But, just how much of an impact would all of this have? Well, some within the industry thought it was possible this would all be for nothing. Or as one analyst said, "I have mixed emotions about it. Disney's done well on the marketing. It's going to have an initial impact. But I don't know how big." [00:19:38] Speaker 17: So I can position his arm wherever I want. [00:19:41] Speaker 12: All the animation in Toy Story came from computers, technology developed and perfected by an East Bay company called Pixar. Pixar was born in 1986, when dozens of people working for George Lucas left to start their own company. At first, there were commercials, then short films, but the goal was always a major motion picture. "You're hooked immediately watching Toy Story the first 10 minutes alone. Shows the animation like you've never seen it before." [00:20:08] Speaker 6: Toy Story had its official wide release on November 22, 1995, and to say the movie was a big deal is an understatement. It was hailed by critics as one of the best animated films ever made, a groundbreaking achievement in animation with a story for all ages. Within the blink of an eye, Toy Story was everywhere, especially within the realm of theme park entertainment. So let's start there. When the movie made its debut into theaters, one very special and unique aspect was the Toy Story Funhouse, at the newly renovated El Capitan Theater. Now for some context, the El Capitan originally opened in 1926, and at the time was exclusively used for live stage shows. However, at the peak of the Great Depression, the theater's attendance began to falter, and it came dangerously close to shuttering its doors forever. But then through a change in ownership, it eventually reopened as the Paramount Theater, and was considered one of the most prestigious movie theaters in Hollywood. Over the following decades, the theater went through quite a few additional changes in ownership, and although it did continue to show movies, it slowly fell into a state of neglect. Then in 1989, Disney partnered with Pacific Theaters to renovate the theater to its former glory, at the cost of an estimated $14 million. [00:21:24] Speaker 18: It was one of Hollywood's most renowned theaters, a glorious landmark in the golden age of motion pictures. But the era faded away, and the stars no longer came out to shine, until now. The Walt Disney Company and Pacific Theaters are proud to unveil an American treasure that's come back to life. The historic renovation and rechristening back to its original name of the El Capitan Theater. [00:21:47] Speaker 6: Disney's plan was to use the El Capitan as a flagship Disney movie theater to host their world premieres, the first of which was The Rocketeer in 1991. This was followed by Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Hocus Pocus, and The Lion King. So it was only fitting for Toy Story to also have its world premiere at the El Capitan Theater. But unlike all the previous events, this one was especially unique. You see, next door to the El Capitan was the historic Hollywood Masonic Temple, which Disney rented from its then owners to build Totally Toy Story, otherwise known as the Toy Story Funhouse. Now, like most fun things in life, this indoor theme park was not free, as it cost $20 for adults and $15 for kids, or $42 and $32 when adjusted for inflation. Although this did include a ticket to see the movie beforehand. Now, photos and videos of this amusement park are incredibly difficult to come by, so for some of this, we'll have to rely on the brochure. The entrance to the Toy Story Funhouse put visitors on the main level, with Woody's Roundup to the left, and the Green Army Men Room to the right. Woody's Roundup showcased a live Western band with a Woody meet and greet, where you could also learn how to line dance, and quote, lasso a steer at the Western Arcade. The Green Army Men Room was basically an obstacle course, where kids could wear special Green Army Man boots to make things a bit more challenging. A bit further on was Mr. Potato Head's playroom, and smack dab in the center was a life-size Play-Doh sculpture of several Toy Story characters. So I guess you could say the statue was clay-mazing. This room was also a sort of light-bright activity center, which for some reason was a huge thing for us 90s kids. Nearby was an area to do arts and crafts, and you could also draw Toy Story characters to your heart's content. [00:23:38] Speaker 19: I am Mrs. Lesbeth! [00:23:41] Speaker 6: At the far end of the main level was Buzz's Galaxy, which featured a quote, "interactive flight simulator." A newspaper article I found even mentions that the attraction was based off the Star Tours ride at Disneyland. That said, I have some serious doubts it was of this scale, so if anybody watching this has further information, leave a comment down below. There was also a laser shooting gallery and a host of other arcade games, as well as what I can only imagine was a meet and greet slash Buzz Lightyear stage show. Going to the upper level was Ham's Theater, which was a quote, "musical extravaganza starring everyone's favorite toys in a show you won't want to miss." Next Door was totally interactive, which was basically a massive advertisement for the Toy Story video games on Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, and other systems. Dropping down to the amusement park's lower level was the first incarnation of Pizza Planet in the form of a cafe, offering an assortment of food and drinks. And evidently, alien slime. Now, the Toy Story Fun House was pretty short-lived, as the venue was closed less than two months after it first opened to the public. But the temporary attraction proved so popular that Disney made the decision to move a smaller scale version to Disneyland. [00:25:04] Speaker 20: Nothing makes me feel more like a kid than Tomorrowland's newest attraction, the Toy Story Fun House. I thought it'd be fun to get a group of kids together and just go nuts. Ready, kids? Yeah! All right, where are those permission slips from your children? Let's go. Well then, let's go. Let's get out of here. Come on. [00:25:21] Speaker 6: To house this version of the Toy Story Fun House, Disney chose the, at the time, abandoned Mission to Mars attraction in Tomorrowland. Or at least, that's the common misconception. You see, practically every article and online post I've seen over the years cites the closed Mission to Mars show building as the location of the Toy Story Fun House. However, in carefully going through video footage and photos, and also sifting through my own personal memories of the experience, this isn't accurate. In reality, the Fun House was located in the former Tomorrowland Space Place, which was right next door. For those unaware, the Space Place was a quick service restaurant that originally opened in 1977, offering the usual assortment of burgers, chicken sandwiches, fish and chips, pizza, etc. The restaurant itself was housed in the, at the time, New Space Mountain Complex, with an absurd amount of seating on both the first and second floor, which was accessible via a ramp. Of course, you could have also taken the escalator up to the second floor, which also held the queue for Space Mountain itself. But evidently, in 1996, Disney decided to close down the Space Place restaurant to make way for the Toy Story Fun House. Now, when the attraction first opened, it was broken up as two separate offerings for entertainment. On the left side of the entrance was Ham's Theater showcasing Ham's all-doll review, and on the right, a pathway to the actual Fun House of the Toy Story Fun House. But first, if the Toy Story figures placed above the attraction look familiar, it's because they're the exact same ones from the El Capitan Theater. And spoiler alert, they'd also find their way over to Walt Disney World, but we'll get to that soon. Anyway, on the first floor of the Toy Story Fun House was a massive light-bright wall, which again, was one of those activities that was unusually popular in the 1990s. In the front of what used to be the Space Place order window was a photo op of Andy's bed, which used forced perspective to appear as if you were laying in it. [00:27:15] Speaker 20: Okay, everybody, let's get together for a group photo. Everybody say, "Hi, Fiver!" "Hi, Fiver!" "Hi, Fiver!" "Aw, that was some work going. I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready for a nap. Come on!" [00:27:26] Speaker 6: Right next door at the restaurant's old pickup window was a meet-and-greet with Woody, where parents were encouraged to dance with the character and embarrass themselves in front of their kids. Nearby was the Video Game Arcade, which was once again just a massive promotion for the Toy Story video games. Finally, there was the Green Army Men obstacle course, but this one you could find on the complex's second floor, accessible via the ramp you now use for Space Mountain's queue. The course itself was contained within a massive white tent, which was tucked into the corner above the entrance to the funhouse. There's other evidence to prove this was in fact on the second floor, and not, as many believe, in the old Mission to Mars building. Anyway, this was basically identical to the one at the El Capitan Theater, and also served as a surprisingly hard workout for those going in unaware. Although in this version, there was a massive crate, and when you got close, you could hear growling coming from the inside. And if you opened a little window, you saw, and I'll have to say this really slow, Sid's dog Scud trying to break out. I should also mention the gift shop, which had all kinds of Toy Story Funhouse merchandise, and of course from Toy Story the movie. Also, fun story, see these Buzz Lightyear action figures? Well, they were actually animatronic piggy banks that did this. [00:28:46] Speaker 16: I am Buzz Lightyear. I protect the galaxy from the threat of invasion. I come in peace. [00:28:59] Speaker 6: When I went to the Toy Story Funhouse in 1996, my parents actually got me one of these as a reward for being brave enough to go on the recently opened Indiana Jones Adventure, which immediately became my favorite Disney attraction of all time, and still is to this day. Moving on, the other offering of the Toy Story Funhouse was Ham's All Doll Review, which was a carbon copy of Ham's theater show at the El Capitan. Also, if you notice, the stage was right in front of the abandoned Mission to Mars building, which is probably where all the confusion came from. Now, since we do actually have footage of this presentation, I can summarize the show as follows. Incoherent, to say the least. There's no real story, just a handful of the Toy Story characters singing toy-centric lyrics to what I can only imagine were public domain songs Disney could get for free. Interestingly, possibly due to one too many pig puns, Ham's All Doll Review was the first to go, with the rest of the Toy Story Funhouse officially closing on May 27th, 1996. But Disneyland wasn't the only theme park to integrate Toy Story, as Disney also squeezed it into virtually every place it could possibly fit, especially Disney MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida. [00:30:20] Speaker 1: How do you turn a film like Toy Story into a parade? I mean, it's got to be a momentous task. [00:30:26] Speaker 21: We started out with many different approaches, but we ended up realizing that there was really no better way to realize this than in a parade here at Disney MGM Studios. [00:30:34] Speaker 6: When Toy Story was released to critical acclaim and box office riches, it soon found its way into the end of the studio tour with a behind-the-scenes art gallery display. The movie also found its way into the Walt Disney Theater, just before the end of the studio tour. And of course, there was also a special meet-and-greet with Woody the Talking Cowboy Doll and Buzz Lightyear himself. And I will say, for Disney's first attempt, the costumes were definitely on point, unlike some other examples of the past. But one other far more elaborate aspect was the Toy Story parade. The Toy Story parade was a sort of mishmash of the most popular characters from the movie, such as the Green Army Men, the Barrel of Monkeys, Mr. Potato Head, Ham, and of course Slinky Dog. The most impressive float was a massive Starship toy box featuring Buzz Lightyear, which also included the green aliens and plenty of smoke effects. The finale featured Woody and a handful of other toys from Toy Story, although notably absent was Bo Peep. But there was yet another Toy Story integration at Disney MGM Studios, with a recreation of Pizza Planet, which was unfortunately far less impressive than the one in the actual film. #WhenWillDisneyEverMakeAMovieAccurateVersionOfPizzaPlanet Once again, Toy Story's tradition of taking over abandoned restaurants was continued, as the building Pizza Planet was housed in was originally supposed to be part of Muppet Studios. Long story short, in 1989, a partnership was announced between Jim Henson and Disney, which among other things was to introduce the Muppets into the Disney theme parks. The most elaborate part of this was to be Muppet Studios, which was planned as a massive complex featuring all things Muppets. The attractions would have included the Great Muppet Movie Ride, Muppet Vision 3D, and most important to this story, the Swedish Chef's Video Cooking School restaurant. This incredible Muppet Complex was even promoted on the Backlot Studio Tour, and construction began in 1990. Unfortunately, then came the passing of Jim Henson later that year, which threw a massive monkey wrench into the whole Disney Muppets deal in general. So ultimately, while the exterior buildings were constructed for the Muppet Complex, only Muppet Vision 3D would actually materialize. The building that was supposed to be the Swedish Chef's Video Cooking School restaurant was turned into a sort of movie prop showcase/gallery. Initially, this was used for the 1991 Disney film The Rocketeer, featuring costumes, set decorations, and everything in between. It then became a showcase for a wide variety of movies, such as Honey I Blew Up The Kid, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Indiana Jones, and the list goes on. But then in 1996, as a way to further capitalize on Toy Story's massive popularity, Disney made the decision to transform the studio showcase into Pizza Planet. Pizza Planet? Oh cool! But it wasn't. Again, ultimately this bore little to no resemblance to the Pizza Planet in the actual movie, with only a handful of random arcade games and just enough theming to tie into the source material. And of course, it was also a place to purchase even more Toy Story merchandise. Woo hoo hoo! Money, money, money! Also, fun fact, as some of you may have already noticed, initially the restaurant opened with only simple signage and a Pizza Planet truck out front. But when the Toy Story Fun House closed at Disneyland, a short time later the gigantic figures found their way to the MGM Studios restaurant. With that, let's hop on over to Tokyo Disneyland, as Toy Story's reach could even be felt there, specifically its version of the Tomorrowland Terrace for the stage show, Toy Story Fun Party. [00:34:09] Speaker 15: "Disneyland! Hello! Where is everybody? Please, everybody, where are ya?" [00:34:16] Speaker 6: Now, oddly enough, just before Toy Story's debut at Tokyo Disneyland, the stage played host to Roger Rabbit's Dance in Time Warp. This was basically a playlist of renditions and homages to pop culture hits from various decades in time. For instance, there was a cover of the Blues Brothers featuring Chip and Dale. Night Fever by the Bee Gees featuring a very groovy Mickey Mouse. What a Feeling from Flashdance featuring Minnie Mouse in a Jazzercise outfit. Thriller by Michael Jackson featuring Chip and Dale as Mummies. Vogue by Madonna with Minnie Mouse wearing some very '90s attire. And finally, here comes MC Hammer by MC Hammer. With Mickey Mouse in some very awesome Hammer Pants, who's eventually joined by Donald Duck wearing a Rasta cap and dreadlocks. None of which has anything to do with Roger Rabbit whatsoever. [00:35:05] Speaker ?: "Bye-bye!" [00:35:07] Speaker 6: But Roger Rabbit's dancing Time Warp was taken over in 1996 by Toy Story Fun Party, which had much more semblance of a story and some fairly rudimentary puppetry. But because the show is in Japanese, it's tough to tell just what the heck is going on, so I had the whole thing professionally translated. [00:35:27] Speaker 22: "Two first present, Nakani is a bed seat." "You're probably going to be able to run away. How do we do it?" [00:35:36] Speaker 15: "The last present is a very big one. Nakani is a board game. It's a big game. It's a big game. It's a big game." "Hahahahaha!" [00:35:48] Speaker 4: "What did you say? I don't want to worry about anything." "Uti got the right thing to understand." [00:35:54] Speaker 6: Okay, so basically the show is a reproduction of the birthday party sequence from Toy Story, in which the characters are in a panic over Andy possibly getting new toys to replace them. This is also interspersed with various renditions of the Toys Are Back in Town and You've Got a Friend in Me, which are in English. [00:36:13] Speaker ?: "You just remember what your office said for you without a friend in me." [00:36:17] Speaker 6: Eventually Buzz Lightyear shows up, which leads to Woody and Buzz fighting over whether he's a toy or a space ranger, and therefore, who's really in charge. "You're doing what you're doing." [00:36:27] Speaker 23: "You're doing what you're doing." "Oh, you're right, Lightbeer." [00:36:33] Speaker 5: "You're right, you're wrong." [00:36:35] Speaker 2: "You're not a space ranger!" "It's a toy! It's a toy!" [00:36:42] Speaker 6: The Sarge then states that they, the Toys, should decide who's now in charge, not them. So he invites audience members to volunteer for what he calls, a mission. First, the adult audience members participate as Team Buzz. Basically playing Simon Says with the Sarge. And they eventually wind up doing the tequila dance. Up next is Team Woody with the young audience members. And they, essentially do exactly the same thing. Surprise, surprise, both teams perform just as well. So the Sarge asks if Woody and Buzz can somehow get along together. And the show ends with another rendition of You've Got a Friend in Me. So yeah, overall this production had very little depth. [00:37:32] Speaker 22: Moving over to Disneyland Paris, they also got a Toy Story parade, [00:37:42] Speaker 6: which made its debut just a few months after the movie's release. However, unlike the iteration over at Disney MGM, this one was comprised of just a bunch of Toy Story characters walking around and through the streets. That said, it did switch things up a bit with a mixture of puppetry, costume characters, and vehicles. Even if it was a bit less elaborate than its counterpart. With that, we're done with Toy Story's impact on the Disney theme parks. So let's dive into another aspect of the movie's takeover of 1996 Entertainment. Now, since this chapter is all about video games, I thought it might be fun for a certain familiar voice of the past to commandeer the narration for a bit. Who, by the way, has his own awesome gaming channel you should definitely check out. Take it away, Quinn. [00:38:40] Speaker 17: Hey, it's good to be back, although you'd have to be a very long-time Yesterworld watcher to even remember when I used to make videos here. Anyway though, for some quick context, officially licensed video game adaptations of mainstream movies first began to hit the market in 1982, with games such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Alien, and even Halloween. Their popularity led to a trend where all through the 80s and 90s, virtually every major motion picture was adapted into a video game. Although, the quality of those games was often extremely hit or miss. Disney though, was an exception as they did not hop on the video game trend, at least not immediately. For many years, video game adaptations of Disney movies were quite rare, they were few and far between. Tron though, was an exception, because despite the movie itself being a bit of a box office disappointment, it did spawn several tie-in video games that were wildly successful. Sorcerer's Apprentice was another Disney game from the early 80s, a very simple arcade-style game that was loosely based on the character from Fantasia. There was also Black Cauldron, which was a little action-adventure game themed to the 1985 movie that, uh, underperformed, let's say. That was about it though, at least until 1989, when Walt Disney Computer Software Incorporated, or Disney Software for short, was created. This, of course, was Disney's very own video game publishing company, which gave Disney the freedom to publish their own games. Now, a few notable early examples from Disney Software were games like The Chase on Tom Sawyer's Island, which was based on the Disneyland and Disney World location, Tom Sawyer Island. There was also Matterhorn Screamer, which was based on, you guessed it, the Disneyland Matterhorn ride, in which you play as Goofy, and you try to get to the top of the Matterhorn, and, well, as you can see, so far these games are very simple and very literal. That said, Disney Software's first game based on one of their movies was Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Which, of course, was based on the box office blockbuster of the same name. And after Roger Rabbit came out, the video game dam blew wide open for Disney, and they finally began to fully capitalize on their animated movies with games like Ariel, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Be Our Guest, and, most importantly, in 1993, Aladdin. And I say most importantly, by the way, because Aladdin was Disney's first major video game success in the 90s. The Sega Genesis version was critically acclaimed, it sold over 4 million copies worldwide, and, in fact, was so successful that it ended up becoming the third best-selling Sega Genesis game ever, only behind Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2. Now, as you'd expect, Disney were hungry for more of that type of success. So shortly after Aladdin came The Jungle Book, which was also quite successful, and 1994 saw the release of The Lion King, an infamously difficult platformer that, allegedly, caused Mark to throw his copy out of the window when he was a kid. [00:41:46] Speaker 6: Hey, don't judge me, the struggle was real with this game. Especially those f*cking monkeys tossing you all over the place. [00:41:52] Speaker 17: Anyway, shortly after The Lion King, Disney Software became Disney Interactive, and their first game under this new branding was Toy Story. [00:42:00] Speaker 8: To infinity and beyond! [00:42:04] Speaker 17: Toy Story the video game was released the same day as the film on November 22, 1995, on four separate systems: Sega Genesis, or Mega Drive, Super NES, Game Boy, and, of course, PC. Now, minus some graphical and audio differences, the four versions are more or less the same, so we're gonna go through the Sega Genesis version in this video, because that's the one Mark grew up with, and, quite frankly, he's forcing me to. So, the first level takes you, as Woody, through Andy's room, where you see plenty of characters and set pieces from the movie. The primary goal in this level is to set free the green army men, as they eventually make their way to a walkie-talkie to spy on Andy's birthday party. The second level is also in Andy's room, only this time you're up against the clock, with just two and a half minutes to put all of Andy's toys back in his toy chest. The third level is, once again, brace for impact here, in Andy's room, but this time you're going head to head with Buzz Lightyear in a race, trying to prove that Woody is just as good of a toy as he is. As you make your way across this level, Buzz performs a bunch of comedic mid-air poses, he really flexes all over. [00:43:07] Speaker 6: Yeah, it really does go against Buzz's character at this point in the movie, so the developers definitely took some creative liberties with the story. [00:43:15] Speaker 17: Level four is called Nightmare Buzz, which sounds like something else entirely to me, but is actually a nightmare Woody is having about Buzz. Fun fact, by the way, this level was loosely inspired by a deleted sequence from the film, where Woody has a horrible dream about being thrown away, which, double fun fact, would eventually find its way into the movie's sequel, Toy Story 2. Level five has you playing as RC, as you try over and over again to knock Buzz behind a desk. Although, in reality, most kids probably found themselves constantly running into walls and spinning out, which unfortunately was the likely introduction to road rage for many young minds. Level six has you trying to help Rex get across Andy's room, as Rex hates confrontation and is trying to get away from all the drama. Also in this level, Andy's toys are out for Woody's blood, by this point in the game they know that Woody knocked Buzz out of the window, so they can actually cause damage to Woody, and if you play poorly, they can end Woody's life. That is, if you don't end theirs first. Level seven has you riding Rex through Andy's room to escape the toys, as you attempt to dodge a very aggressive RC and some hostile green army men. Level eight is a battle against Buzz Lightyear at a gas station, where he constantly attacks Woody, with your only defense being to ensnare Buzz with a tire. As you can probably tell, this game is a little more intense than the movie it's based on. Level nine is in Pizza Planet, where Woody hides in a soda cup as you dodge burgers, fries, hot dogs, soda cans, and children as you race across the restaurant. Also, once again, throughout this level, Buzz is constantly trying to send Woody to the great toy box in the sky. Level ten is a pretty tedious stage inside the claw machine, where constantly exploding batteries and massive fan blades can end Woody's game faster than you can say, [00:45:09] Speaker 19: "I am Mrs. Lesbeth!" [00:45:12] Speaker 17: Level eleven is called Really Inside the Claw Machine, and this one has you rescuing aliens who are trapped, I guess, you don't get a lot of context, and overall it's a pretty drastic departure from the rest of the game's level design. Level twelve has you battling against Cid, who is controlling the claw in the machine, and in this one you have to use your pull string to fling the toy aliens into the air, and to knock Buzz out of the claw's clutches five times. It's definitely one of the more nerve-wracking parts of the game, as much like a real claw machine, you'll often be sure that you succeeded, and it won't even count. Level thirteen has you trying to escape Cid's room, which is full of darts and mechanical spiders and fireworks. Eventually you have to stop moving when Cid enters the room, and just like in the movie, he burns Woody with a magnifying glass. [00:45:56] Speaker 8: "Hot, hot, hot!" [00:45:58] Speaker 17: The end of this level sees Woody eventually finding relief by dumping his head into a bowl of cornflakes. Level fourteen is still in Cid's room, it's one of the more intense platforming sections of the game, and it ultimately concludes with a Woody and Buzz battle against Cid's mutant, or misunderstood, toys. Level fifteen has you riding Roller Bob, the skateboard pilot guy, as you try to escape Cid's house to rescue Buzz, who, in a little slideshow between levels, had been taken outside by Cid. Level sixteen then has Woody riding Arcee back to Cid's house, because in another one of those between-level slideshows, it's shown that after Woody and Cid's toys rescue Buzz, Woody spots Andy's moving truck passing by. Woody manages to jump on the truck, but Buzz isn't able to in time, so Woody has to grab Arcee out of the moving truck and go back for Buzz. Level seventeen has both Woody and Buzz riding Arcee as they chase down the moving van, but much like in the film, Arcee isn't able to catch up. And much like the previous Arcee level back in Andy's room, you'll probably spend most of your time bumping into, well, everything. [00:46:59] Speaker 8: "To infinity, and beyond! Here it comes!" [00:47:03] Speaker 17: Finally, level eighteen has you and Buzz flying, or falling with style, while you dodge cars, trucks, and traffic lights, and towards the end of the level, even the moving van itself. The game ultimately concludes just like the film, with Woody and Buzz dropping through the sunroof into Andy's mom's minivan. Now that is it for the official Toy Story game, the main Toy Story game anyway, but it is probably worth mentioning the kind of hilarious pirated knockoff version that also exists. It's pretty much a straight ripoff that visually recreates the first several levels of the game, just with awful controls, and much less detail than the original, and typos all over the place. For example, Baby Monitor is written as "Baby Monster", and in the gas station level where Woody fights Buzz, Toy Story is spelt "Toy Sotry", and it's also written on the gas pump for some reason that I can't begin to explain. This pirated version also ends at about the halfway point of the original, during that same gas station level, and it concludes with Woody defeating Buzz. They never become friends, which is very sad. And as a reward for game completion, you're greeted with a screen where Woody says, "Congratulations, you are complete Woody's mission." Classic. Anyway, as far as other official Toy Story games released for the first movie go, there are two. The first is called Toy Story Activity Center, which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a very simple and short game with a handful of Toy Story themed activities to do, like playing cards with ham, or even using Cid's workshop to create mutant toys of your own. The other game was the Toy Story animated storybook, which was part of a series of animated storybooks that Disney released throughout the mid to late 90s. And I don't know if many watching this video ever played it, but I am telling you, this game was awesome. It featured almost the entire original cast, other than Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, back in their roles from the movie. It looked amazing for the time, and I would argue still looks really nice today. And for whatever reason, even though it was a point-and-click adventure and I had much newer, more action-packed games to play, I always went back to this one. It was a lot of fun, and just had a really unique charm to it. But anyway, it has been fun to be back, but it's time to hand this video back off to Mark for more on the wider, non-video game-related marketing for Toy Story. Thanks, Quinn. [00:49:26] Speaker 6: Yeah, what I love about this game is that it's almost like seeing alternate scenes or takes from the actual movie, or like witnessing the characters goofing off once the camera stopped rolling. If it were a live-action film that is. But with that, let's get to Toy Story's merchandising. Hey! [00:49:42] Speaker 15: Nestle's celebrating Disney's Toy Story! Now in theaters with Toy Story milk chocolate bars! Now the woo-woo-woooowl wacky way out fun happens to you! We've seen, ah-ha, right from the movie! [00:49:55] Speaker 6: Okay, so in the beginning of this episode I said that in 1996, Toy Story was everywhere. And I meant it. There were promotions with brands like Nestle, Lucky Charms, Trix, Energizer Battery, SpaghettiOs, Tiger Electronics, Minute Maid, Fritos, Doritos, and the entire Itos family. Of course, by far the most elaborate of these campaigns was with Burger King. And if you're a 90s kid like me, you probably have quite a few memories of it yourself. [00:50:25] Speaker 24: I've never seen anything like it. [00:50:28] Speaker 1: To infinity and beyond! [00:50:31] Speaker 24: Some of them have been here for hours. [00:50:32] Speaker 1: They can't put their puppets down. [00:50:34] Speaker 24: New at Burger King, Toy Story puppets from the Magical Disney movie. I'm Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger. Get all four high-quality puppets for your kids. $1.99 each with any great-tasting value meal. [00:50:44] Speaker 6: As mentioned earlier, for Toy Story, the fast-food chain spent an estimated $45 million to launch this massive campaign. It was their largest movie tie-in ever, and even surpassed what they spent on The Lion King the previous year. In addition to the branding on items such as cups, crowns, bags, wrappers, and posters, there was also a collectible set of four-hand puppets and six different toys. The tie-in was such a huge success that just two weeks into its nearly six-week campaign, most of the restaurants had sold over half of their supply and were quickly running out. One location even said that while they usually sold an average of 125 kids' meals a day, with the Toy Story promotion, they began to sell over 600 meals per day. Unsurprisingly, the most popular of these toys and puppets were the ones based on Woody and Buzz Lightyear, which meant that they were always the first ones to sell out. Some restaurants even began putting the toys into a sort of emergency reserve, which were given to the kids who cried or threw a tantrum when they were told that none were left. But as it turns out, this was actually the foreshadowing of an even bigger fiasco, with the infamous Thinkway toy shortage. [00:51:52] Speaker 25: Toy Story, the new animated movie, hit the box office less than ten days ago, and their toy figures barely last ten minutes on shelves at stores nationwide. It seems just about every child old enough to make out a Christmas list wants to see Buzz or Woody under their tree on Christmas Day. [00:52:09] Speaker 6: As we discussed earlier, most of the major toy manufacturers declined to produce toys for Toy Story, as they were not given enough lead time. So Albert Chan of Thinkway Toys took on the task, with just six months to get them onto toy shelves. Now, the initial plan was to only produce much smaller six-inch figures of all the characters in the film. However, Toy Story director John Lasseter insisted they make them life-size, at least life-size to how they appear in the movie. Ultimately, the company manufactured just over 300,000 Buzz Lightyear toys, and just under 300,000 Woody dolls, as they assumed he would be slightly less popular. This production number was supposed to satisfy both advanced orders before the film's release, and any additional restock orders for the months after the film's release. But as it turned out, just one week after Toy Story debuted in theaters, the initial stock of toys completely sold out. This led to 1.6 million additional restock orders for Buzz Lightyear alone, which was over four times the amount already produced. So for most of 1996, the demand for Toy Story toys far outweighed the supply, and there were massive shortages reported all over the country. But that was nothing compared to the demand when the film made its debut on home video. [00:53:23] Speaker 10: You can bring home the adventure of Disney's Toy Story now on video, with the talking and posable figures of Woody and Buzz Lightyear. [00:53:30] Speaker 23: My name's Woody. Buzz Lightyear, I come in peace. Cool, he goes in the dark. [00:53:35] Speaker 6: When Toy Story released on home video in October of 1996, it sold 21 million copies. The movie soon became the second best-selling VHS of the year, the fifth best-selling Disney VHS, and the seventh best-selling VHS release of all time. This drastically increased all demand for Toy Story toys, especially Buzz Lightyear, and leading up to the Christmas of 1996, it turned into an absolute frenzy. Though not nearly the fiasco of Tickle Me Elmo, which was also in 1996, the shortage of Buzz Lightyear dolls was enough to be a news story of its own. [00:54:10] Speaker 4: We were looking three weeks for Buzz, and we got here and they haven't got any. [00:54:14] Speaker 3: The release of the Toy Story video has caused a stampede for merchandise, and Buzz Lightyear in particular. With just three weeks to Christmas, Hamley's store in Regent Street is completely sold out of the large Buzz Lightyear doll. [00:54:27] Speaker 5: Catastrophe of intergalactic proportions, to be perfectly honest. We just cannot get any more. [00:54:34] Speaker 6: Thinkway Toys was able to produce another 20,000 figures by the holiday season, but it's estimated that there was $300 million lost in unrealized sales. Because of this, Disney ultimately signed an exclusive three-year deal with Mattel to ensure this would never happen again. Although Thinkway Toys did retain its licensing rights for the Toy Story figures, and the company continued to produce them until its closure in 2021. But even after everything we've explored so far, there is one final aspect of the Toy Story bonanza we have not. Walt Disney's World on Ice: Toy Story. [00:55:08] Speaker 22: Andy, dinner's ready! [00:55:10] Speaker 6: For some backstory, Disney's ice shows began all the way back in 1981, with simply, "Walt Disney's World on Ice." This was more or less just a series of homages to Disney's most beloved characters and early animated films, with no real story tying anything together. Walt Disney's World on Ice was followed up the next year with Walt Disney's Great Ice Odyssey, which did actually have some semblance of a story and very loosely connected show scenes. Overall, this was seen as a massive improvement and set the bar to a new level for Disney's more thematic ice shows going forward. After that came Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom on Ice, then Walt Disney's World on Ice: Happy Birthday Donald Duck, and then Magic Kingdom on Ice: Sport Goofy. A short time later came Disney's first film representations on ice, beginning with Walt Disney's World on Ice starring Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, then Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom on Ice starring Pinocchio, and Walt Disney's World on Ice starring Peter Pan. Yeah, these names were incredibly unimaginative. There was also Mickey's Diamond Jubilee on Ice, Altogether Live on Ice and Double Feature on Ice, which was basically a mashup of every Disney afternoon TV show at the time. [00:56:30] Speaker 26: It's Walt Disney's World on Ice all-new double feature, with America's newest hero, Darkwing Duck. See Mickey, Louie, Roger in two cool adventures for the price of one. [00:56:43] Speaker 6: 1992 saw Walt Disney's World on Ice presents Beauty and the Beast, and then Walt Disney's World on Ice presents Aladdin, followed by another rendition of Snow White and an adaptation of Pocahontas on Ice. Last but not least was Toy Story on Ice, which was expedited due to the movie's incredible box office performance. Unfortunately, there's not much to this in terms of history, although the original plan was to have both Woody and Buzz wear masks, as can be seen in early promotional stills. Mugh. [00:57:13] Speaker 27: "I love toys! I love to make them talk and make them walk around!" [00:57:20] Speaker 6: The show began with Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse in their own minor musical number, as they sing about their favorite toys and how much they love them. They're eventually joined by Donald, Daisy, and Goofy, who also sing to the audience about their favorite toys. [00:57:34] Speaker 28: "As our story begins, Andy is playing with his favorite toy, the one he keeps with him most of the time. His best pal, a pool string doll named Woody." [00:57:45] Speaker 6: Mickey Mouse then introduces Andy and his favorite toy, Sheriff Woody. And even though Andy has the voice of a child, the ice skater who plays him clearly is not. [00:57:56] Speaker 22: "The road looks rough ahead and you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed." [00:58:03] Speaker 6: The stage darkens and Woody comes to life, along with Andy's numerous other toys to varying degrees of horror, as some translate very well to live action, and others, not so much. [00:58:14] Speaker 23: "Hey Ham! Look! I'm Picasso!" "I don't get it." "You uncultured swine!" [00:58:19] Speaker 6: After this, the movie basically gets performed word for word, with the characters' lines from the film played over the skaters in their costumes. Although the Green Army men do get their own river dancing segment, which at the time was all the rage. The story continues to play out using dialogue from the film, and before too long Buzz Lightyear appears to switch things up a bit. [00:58:45] Speaker 29: "Did I frighten you? Didn't mean to. Sorry. Howdy. My name is Woody, and this is Andy's room. That's all I wanted to say." [00:58:53] Speaker 6: Of course, eventually Buzz Lightyear decides to show the toys that he can fly, and he kind of just runs all over the skating rink, so I don't think they quite knew how to translate this to an ice show. Although he does hang off of an airplane like in the movie. So there is that. The first major departure from the film is a rendition of Strange Things, which is awkwardly sung and performed by Woody in a solo act. [00:59:17] Speaker 30: "I had friends! I had lots of friends! Now all my friends are gone!" [00:59:24] Speaker 6: Another interesting divergence is a sort of dance-off between Woody and Buzz, alternating between cowboy-esque musical themes and futuristic space rangery type music. This is interrupted by the introduction of Cid, who as you can probably guess is also played by an adult, and wears a rather horrifying mask. [00:59:42] Speaker 16: "I'd better take a look at him." [00:59:44] Speaker 22: "Your leg is crappy, but you can't move!" [00:59:45] Speaker 16: "Why is that soldier strapped to an explosive device?" "That's why Cid!" [00:59:49] Speaker 22: "You'll pull up!" [00:59:51] Speaker 6: In one of the few interactive segments, Cid blows up one of his toys, and bonks some audience members on the head. As a quick add-on, I just realized Cid is played by the same ice skater as Andy, which if you ask me seems like a huge narrative conflict of interest. Anyway, much like in the film, Woody controls RC to chase Buzz out the window, although in this version it plays out more like a corny Benny Hill cartoon chase. In one of the more significant changes from its on-screen counterparts, Bo Peep is given a pretty lengthy solo dance, which is done because I guess she's sad all the toys now hate Woody. After this, Mickey again comes onto the stage, just as Andy, his mom, and his toy sheriff drive off to Pizza Planet. At the gas station on the way to Pizza Planet, Buzz and Woody get into a sort of fight/dance battle, and are left behind. What follows plays out almost identical to the movie, with Woody and Buzz using a cup and burger box to sneak through the restaurant. In another, more unique divergence from what happens in the film, the squeeze toy aliens and the claw machine perform a dance routine to: the Star Wars Cantina song. One particularly terrifying aspect of the show, with even more instances on the way mind you, was a colossal and very menacing Sid using the claw machine. [01:01:25] Speaker 7: "Let's go home and play!" [01:01:32] Speaker 6: This leads into a 15 minute intermission, and the show returns with a brief recap from Mickey and Minnie. Now in the movie, the introduction of Sid's toys is a fairly creepy scene, but somehow Toy Story on Ice makes the sequence even more disturbing. [01:01:46] Speaker 22: This nightmarish display is soon lightened up with a very awkward Buzz Karate Chop action sequence. [01:02:01] Speaker ?: "Get away!" "Hey, hey! How you doin' that?" [01:02:04] Speaker 6: "Not that!" "Back! Back you savages! Back!" "Sorry guys, but dinner's cancelled!" After this is perhaps the most bizarre cover of a Toy Story song in history. [01:02:11] Speaker 29: "Out among the stars I sit, Way beyond the moon, [01:02:14] Speaker ?: In my silver ship I sail, [01:02:14] Speaker 29: A dream it ended too soon." "You know, it can't be true! I can feel it!" "It can't be true!" "I can feel it!" [01:02:19] Speaker 6: "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" [01:02:24] Speaker 31: "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "You know, it can't be true!" "I can fly if I wanted to!" [01:02:45] Speaker 6: Okay, does this give anyone else serious William Shatner, Rocketman vibes? [01:02:49] Speaker 21: "I think it's gonna be a long, long time!" "Till Touchtown bring me round again!" "I'm not the man they think I am!" "Oh, no, no, no!" "I'm a rocket man!" [01:03:04] Speaker 6: At this point, it should be clear that the second half of the show takes way more creative liberties with the source material, such as an interpretive dance sequence between Buzz and Hannah's dolls. After a very strange recreation of Woody at Sid's window trying to convince the toys Buzz is with him, we get another lengthy Bo Peep ice skating solo. This has followed up with a surprisingly emotional reenactment of Buzz and Woody's conversation about being a toy. [01:03:46] Speaker 16: "You were right all along, I'm not a space ranger. I'm just a toy, a stupid little insignificant toy. [01:03:53] Speaker 11: Look, over in that house is a kid who thinks you are the greatest, and it's not because you're a space ranger, pal. It's because you're a toy! [01:04:01] Speaker 6: You are his toy!" But this is quickly interrupted by an out-of-place buddy-buddy act between the two. [01:04:08] Speaker 31: "If you're ever in a jam, here I am." [01:04:15] Speaker 6: A short time later, the terrifying Sid makes another appearance, both in the form of a humongous puppet who grabs Buzz Lightyear off the stage, and as the Halloween mask ice skater. This leads to one final major change when compared to the movie, as here, Sid gets his very own musical number, and sings "You've got a friend in me," which makes absolutely no sense given the context. [01:04:36] Speaker 7: "You've got a friend in me!" "You've got a friend in me!" [01:04:44] Speaker 6: Sid also gets a much more terrifying visit from his misunderstood toys, and eventually Buzz and Woody find, in this version, an accidentally left behind RC. Shenanigans ensue as they race toward the truck, and the show returns to playing out pretty much exactly how it does in the original film. [01:05:00] Speaker 30: "Woody! The rocket! The match! Yes! Thank you, Sid!" [01:05:07] Speaker 6: In the climax, Buzz and Woody are briefly shown flying around the skating rink, before the final appearance of Not-Child Andy, who has the privilege of ending the sequence with a rendition of The Boys Are Back in Town. [01:05:18] Speaker 22: "Found out I was moving downtown! Driving away like crazy!" [01:05:24] Speaker 6: The show ends pretty similar to the end of the film, with the exception of a very, very strange joke involving Rex and a female dinosaur arriving as a present. [01:05:33] Speaker 26: "Well, hi there!" [01:05:40] Speaker ?: "Hi!" "Hi!" [01:05:44] Speaker 6: Although, fun fact, Mrs. Potato Head makes her official debut here, three years before the character's appearance in Toy Story 2. Now, by and large, Toy Story on Ice received positive reviews, although there were a few complaints. Quite a few publications took umbrage with the over-reliance on soundbites to tell the story, which made it tough to follow if you had not seen the movie. The costumes received praise for their elaborate design and detail, but also drew criticism for inhibiting the performers, forcing them to use less-than-impressive dance maneuvers. Even so, Toy Story on Ice would go on to tour the country from October of 1996 all the way until its final performance in March of 2002. With that, we end our story about Toy Story's impact on the theme park, merchandise, video game, retail, and entertainment industry. But it really makes me wonder, will we ever see an animated film from Pixar or Disney reach similar heights? Is it even possible now? Don't get me wrong, they've both put out some fantastic original and adapted stories in the 30, yes, 30 years since. Some have obviously made much, much more money, and some have even received better audience and critical reviews. But that said, I would argue that none of them have even come close to reaching the same level of the original Toy Story, at least in terms of sheer impact. Although obviously Toy Story had the whole, you know, revolutionary form of animation on a scale never before seen, so that's quite the edge. In my opinion, Frozen has probably come the closest in terms of entertainment and pop-cultural impact, but that was also in 2013, over a decade ago. In fact, just as much time has passed between now and when Frozen came out, as when Frozen came out and Toy Story. Feel old yet? So here's to wondering whether one day, a Disney or Pixar animated film can take over the entertainment world just as much as the original Toy Story. And if so, what will it be? So here's to see. [01:07:43] Speaker ?: I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. 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I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. I'm going to go to the next video. [01:12:54] Speaker 22: I'm going to go to the next video. I'm Mrs. Lisbeth.