From Tin Toy to Toy Story

Toy Story was inspired by Pixar's 1988 Oscar-winning short film Tin Toy. Tin Toy was Pixar’s third short film. This project allowed Disney to profit from Pixar's lead in computer-generated imagery, and Pixar to benefit from Disney's experience in film production. At Pixar, the project is led by Edwin Catmull as president, John Lasseter as director, Ralph Guggenheim as producer, and Bill Reeves as technical director (Lasseter et al., 2010).

The Tin Toys characters were going to be the focus of the film. However, the script went through many changes before the final version. Tinny was meant to be the movie's protagonist. A story about Tinny, who got left behind at a rest stop and paired up with a ventriloquist dummy to look for a new home. At least this was in the original draft of the script. Later, it was decided that both toys were outdated and were replaced with Buzz Lightyear and Woody (Lasseter et al., 2010).

The intention was to make a buddy movie, which is a film about two individuals who have to get along despite their differences in order to be respected by one another. Since the genre had not been explored in animation, Lasseter saw the potential to make a movie with two strong characters (Lasseter et al., 2010).

Buzz Lightyear

Tinny’s name changed to Lunar Larry, then Tempus from Morph, and eventually Buzz Lightyear after astronaut Buzz Aldrin (Lasseter et al., 2010). The director (Lasseter) changed Tinny’s character to a military action figure and opted for the space theme. The inspiration for the character design of Buzz was suits worn by Apollo astronauts and G.I. Joe action figures. The material that makes him up, rigid plastic, is what gives him his inflexibility and inflexible mentality as well as his strength of character (Lasseter et al., 2010).

Woody

Woody was originally a ventriloquist’s dummy but then turned into the stuffed cowboy doll with a pull-string named Woody. The cowboy space concept comes from the two characters' need to confront one another while sharing characteristics (Lasseter et al., 2010). Woody has a charming appearance, a laid-back demeanour, and morals that make us want to trust him. Since Woody is a fabric doll, his body falters along with his thoughts when he loses confidence, unlike Buzz, who has a morale of steel (Lasseter et al., 2010). The name choice of Woody was done as a tribute to Woody Strode, an African-American Western actor (Lasseter et al., 2010).

Woody grew progressively rougher throughout the production phase. Apparently, Tom Hanks, who voices Woody, yelled, "This guy is a jerk!" when he performed his lines (Pixar Wiki, n.d.). Accordingly, Woody was rewritten to be more likeable later on.

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