Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2 is a CGI animation film and the sequel to Toy Story, and the third Disney/Pixar feature film, which featured the adventures of a group of toys that come to life when humans are not around to see them. Like the first film, Toy Story 2 was produced by Pixar Animation Studios, directed by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, and Ash Brannon, and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 19 1999, and the United Kingdom on 11 February 2000.

The movie also keeps most of the original characters and voices from the first movie including the likes of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn and John Ratzenberger. They are joined by new members, voicing the new characters such as Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer and Estelle Harris.

Plot synopsis
Some time after the events of Toy Story, presumably the following summer, Andy is preparing to leave for Cowboy Camp with Woody. While playing with him and Buzz, Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm, leaving him unable to take his doll to the camp. Woody is placed on the shelf, where he finds another broken toy, the penguin Wheezy, and begins to fear he'll soon be thrown away. When Wheezy is set out for a yard sale, Woody tries to rescue him, but ends up in the yard sale himself, where he is seen by Al McWiggin, an obsessive toy collector and proprietor of "Al's Toy Barn". Al tries to buy Woody from Andy's mom, but she refuses to sell him. After Al tries to negotiate with her, she locks Woody in her cash box. However, Al kicks a skateboard into some items to distract Andy's mom. And while she picks up the fallen stuff, Al pries open the cash box with a screwdriver and takes Woody. Buzz and several other toys set out to rescue Woody.

Woody is taken to Al's apartment, where he is greeted by a sister/partner-like cowgirl named Jessie, his trusty steed Bullseye, and the Prospector (an unsold toy still in its original box). They reveal to him that he is part of a set and the star of a forgotten children's TV show, Woody's Roundup. Now that Al has a Woody doll, he has a complete collection and intends to sell the toys to a museum in Japan. Woody initially insists that he has to get back to Andy, but Jessie reveals how she was forgotten and eventually abandoned by her owner as she grew up, and the prospector warns Woody that he faces the same fate as Andy ages. Woody agrees to go with the "Roundup Gang" to the museum.

Buzz and his friends search for Al at Al's Toy Barn, where Buzz gets into a scuffle with another Buzz Lightyear doll (who, like Buzz in the first movie, doesn't realize he's a toy), and the new Buzz sets off with the other toys for Al's apartment, believing it to be a genuine rescue mission from his arch-enemy (and as we soon discover, Buzz's father, a lá Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader), Emperor Zurg. The original Buzz frees himself and follows them to the apartment.

When they get there, Woody tells them he doesn't want to be rescued and intends to go with his new friends to Japan, since he's now a "collector's item". Buzz reminds him "you are a child's plaything... you are a toy!" (ironically, Woody says exactly the same thing to Buzz in the first film) Woody figuratively, and literally, turns his back on Buzz and Buzz's group leaves without him. But Woody then has a change of heart and invites the "Roundup Gang" to come home to Andy with him. Jessie and Bullseye agree, but the Prospector locks them in the room, saying that the museum trip is his first chance (since he was never sold) and won't have Woody messing it up for him. The second Buzz Lightyear also decides to pass on the offer, saying, "No, I... I have a lot of catching up to do with my dad." As the group leaves, we see Buzz #2 and Zurg playing catch. Zurg tells Buzz, "Good throw, son. That's my boy! Go long, Buzzy!" and Buzz replies, "Oh, you're a great dad. Yippee!"

Al takes the toys to the airport, where Buzz and his group manage to free Woody and Bullseye from the suitcase. But, the Prospector has other plans, re-tearing Woody's arm. Buzz and his group, however, come to Woody's rescue, and stick the Prospector in a little girl's backpack so he can "learn the true meaning of play-time". But Jessie finds herself in trouble and remains trapped in the suitcase. Woody and Buzz ride Bullseye in order to rescue her from being taken to the museum on her own.

Woody manages to find Jessie inside the plane but just when they're about to escape, the door closes and the plane heads for the runway. Woody finds another way out of the plane, through a small hatch which leads down to the landing gear wheel, and as they are doing so, he slips but Jessie catches him. When the plane is at the main runway, Woody knows that time is running out and in true Woody's Roundup style, using his pull string. Woody and Jessie swing down to safety on Bullseye's back just seconds before the plane takes off.

Shortly afterwards, Jessie dubs Woody as a hero by saying "That was definitely Woody's Finest Hour". Even Buzz offers his congratulations to Woody for his achievement. Their celebrations are cut short, however, as they are forced to take cover when a second plane comes out of nowhere and flies down over them. Mission accomplished, the toys can now make their way home.

At home, Jessie and Bullseye are adopted into Andy's toy family. Woody's ripped arm is repaired by Andy himself. Though it is slightly larger than his other arm, and the stitching is a little sloppy, it is a touching deed for Andy to do for his toy "friend". Meanwhile, a fixed Wheezy sings "You've Got A Friend In Me", and Buzz asks Woody if he was still worried about Andy giving him up. Woody replies that he isn't worried anymore, and that when it is all over, he has Buzz to keep him company, for "infinity and beyond".

The events of the airplane's cargo hold have a terrible (and hilarious) consequence for Al. After Hamm fails at the Buzz Lightyear video game, he flips through the channels and sees Al in an Al's Toy Barn commercial, crying since he lost his precious luggage. While Al is crying, Hamm says a somewhat humorous remark about Al and his scheme ("Well, I guess crime doesn't pay.").

Songs
Randy Newman wrote two new songs for Toy Story 2:
 * "When She Loved Me" - performed by Sarah McLachlan - used for the flashback montage in which Jessie experiences being loved, forgotten, and ultimately abandoned by her owner, Emily. This beautifully poignant song was nominated at the Oscars in 2000 for Best Song, though the award went to Phil Collins for "You'll Be In My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan.
 * "Woody's Roundup" - performed by Riders in the Sky - theme song for the "Woody's Roundup" TV show. Also end-credit music.

The film also includes two new versions of "You've Got A Friend In Me", the theme from the first film. The first is performed by the puppet Woody (Hanks) "on guitar" as part of the "Woody's Roundup" show. The second is a Vegas-style finale production number sung by Wheezy (singing voice provided by Robert Goulet).

Soundtrack Listing

 * 1) Woody's Roundup - Riders In The Sky
 * 2) When She Loved Me - Sarah McLachlan
 * 3) You've Got A Friend In Me (Wheezy's Version) - Robert Goulet
 * 4) Zurg's Planet
 * 5) Wheezy And The Yard Sale
 * 6) Woody's Been Stolen
 * 7) Chicken Man
 * 8) Woody's Dream
 * 9) Jessie And The Roundup Gang
 * 10) Woody's A Star
 * 11) Let's Save Woody
 * 12) Off To The Museum
 * 13) Talk To Jessie
 * 14) The Cleaner
 * 15) Al's Toy Barn
 * 16) Emperor Zurg Vs
 * 17) Use Your Head
 * 18) Jessie's In Trouble
 * 19) Ride Like The Wind
 * 20) You've Got A Friend In Me (Instrumental Version)

Commentary and trivia

 * Critical response to Toy Story 2 was overwhelmingly positive. The Rotten Tomatoes entry lists 108 reviews for the film, all of them positive, making it the best-reviewed movie on the website. Many even claim the film is superior to the original, a rare feat for a sequel.
 * Hanks and Allen each earned a salary of $50,000 for their voice work in the original Toy Story . Their fee for Toy Story 2 was $5,000,000 each.
 * In the scene where Woody meets the cowgirl she says, "Sweet Mother of Abraham Lincoln". Tom Hanks, the voice of Woody, is in fact a direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln's uncle on his mother's side.
 * When Hamm is flipping through the channels to find the Al's Toy Barn commercial, many of the scenes visible are from Pixar's short films.
 * If you look closely at the wall in some of the scenes showing Andy's room, you can see a big watch on the wall with Mickey Mouse on it.
 * Andy wears a Triple-R shirt during the film. This is a reference to Spin and Marty, a cowboy TV series that was part of the Mickey Mouse Club
 * Al makes a brief cameo in Megas XLR.
 * The nightmare scene where Woody is thrown into the trashcan after Andy says he doesn't want to play with him any more was actually an idea for the first Toy Story, but was not used.
 * In the nightmare, the cards that Woody falls into are all spades. In Tarot or fortune telling readings, spades mean negative outcomes or death.
 * Before the toys are due to cross the road to Al's Toy Barn, Slinky Dog says "I may not be a smart dog, but I know what roadkill is". This may be a parody of a phrase in another Tom Hanks film, Forrest Gump, "I may not be a smart man, but I know what love is."
 * The Cleaner, the old man who restores Woody, also appears in the 1997 Pixar short film Geri's Game. Incidentally, when he opens the drawers of his box looking for his glasses, one of the drawers contains chess pieces.
 * The truck that drives by just as the toys cross the road to Al's Toy Barn is the Eggman Movers truck from the original Toy Story.
 * A Life magazine in Al's apartment features Woody riding Bullseye on its cover. It is dated January 12, 1957 (which is John Lasseter's birth date). Its price is 25 cents and the headlines on the cover read:
 * "Children television. Saturday's favorite cowboy 'Woody'"
 * "Sputnik - First photos revealed" (note that the surprise Sputnik 1 launch occurred on October 4, 1957)
 * "Doctors say 'Americans don't eat enough fat'"
 * Al's car has design elements of both a 1957 Ford Fairlane and 1957-1959 Chrysler Imperial, which may be the kind of car Flo is in another Pixar film, Cars.
 * The dust in the scene where Woody meets Wheezy set a record for number of particles animated for a movie by computer.
 * In the opening sequence, when Buzz is on an alien planet in Gamma Quadrant, Sector 4, and ultimately battles the evil Emperor Zurg, many of the sound effects are directly from the original Star Wars trilogy, including lightsabre sound effects, the torture droid's hum, and the scraping metal noise the AT-ATs make as they lumber across the plains of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back.
 * The scene where Zurg identifies himself as Buzz's father is, of course, a reference to The Empire Strikes Back.
 * John Ratzenberger, who plays Hamm, had a small part in The Empire Strikes Back as Major Derlin.
 * The floating platforms Buzz Lightyear hops on plays Also sprach Zarathustra, the theme to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 * When Buzz says goodbye to the second Buzz he gives him the Vulcan salute, a Star Trek reference.
 * While filming a documentary on the making of Toy Story 2, presenter Andi Peters was invited by John Lasseter to record a line for the film. However, since Peters did not own a US work permit, the cameo very nearly didn't happen. The dilemma was solved as Peters recorded his line in the UK supervised by Lasseter via satellite, and his line made it into the film (he's the Baggage Handler who shouts "Hold it! There's a couple more bags coming from the terminal!").
 * When Barbie is giving the tour around the toy store, she makes a reference to the shortages of the Buzz Lightyear toy after the original Toy Story film, by describing the shortages being caused by 'short sighted' retailers who did not order enough of the dolls to meet the eventual demand.
 * Surprisingly, when the original Toy Story was being made, the producers wanted to use a Barbie doll in their movie as Woody's love interest, but couldn't get the rights from Mattel at the time. But after the first movie Mr. Potato Head sales went skyrocketing so Mattel jumped at the opportunity for the 2nd movie.
 * During the scene in the toy store, there is a camera shot with Rex shown in the rear view mirror of the toy car, a reference to Jurassic Park. The sentence made famous by the Jurassic Park movie "Objects in mirror are closer than they appear" is also visible on the side rear-view mirror of the toy car.
 * The creators of Toy Story 2 decided to give the Little Green Men a bigger role in Toy Story 2 than originally planned, after realizing how popular they are in Asia during a trip there.
 * During the beginning of the film, it is revealed that the Buzz Lightyear introduction is part of a video-game that Rex is playing. The controller Rex is playing the game with looks similar to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) controller. The colored buttons, however, denote it to be a European or Japanese model, and not the North American one. Minutes later, the console is revealed on the top of Andy's TV, which is almost unmistakable for an SNES, a console which is, of course, unable to generate the graphics of the quality shown in the film.
 * In a reference to This Is Spinal Tap, Emperor Zurg's gun-arm dial goes to 11.
 * In the airport, when the Prospector has been inserted into a small girl's bag, an announcer can be heard saying "LassetAir Flight A113 now arriving from Point Richmond." "LassetAir" is a reference to John Lasseter, while Point Richmond was, at the time, the location of Pixar Studios.
 * In the original script, the plane rescue climax was meant to see Jessie slip and fall with Woody catching her and she would be dangling over the plane wheel, distressed and scared. However during production, the roles were switched round to ensure that Jessie does play an important part in the scene.
 * The Pizza Planet delivery truck from the first movie was used by the toys to get to the airport to save Woody.
 * When the pizza truck arrives at the airport the intercom states "the white zone is for immediate loading and unloading...", a reference to a joke in the movie Airplane!. There is also a courtesy phone call as the toys go through the automatic doors.
 * At the very beginning of the film as the text "Walt Disney Pictures presents" is displayed, the outline of Luxo Jr. from the Pixar short film of the same name, can be seen amongst the stars on the top-right hand side of the screen.
 * Al ends his phone conversation with Mr. Konishi (assumedly the owner of the toy museum in Japan to which the toys are to be sold) by saying "Don't touch my moustache". This refers to a mnemonic commonly taught to English speakers learning Japanese to help students remember the phrase どういたしまして (dōitashimashite, pronounced roughly; doy-tashi-mashtay), meaning "you're welcome".
 * Wayne Knight does the voice of the character Al. Coincidently, both Al and Wayne have the same hair and mustache.
 * During the outtakes, director John Lasseter's voice can be heard saying "action" and "we're losing daylight."
 * Compared to the second house in the first Toy Story movie, Andy's home in this movie has had a make over (e.g fence, driveway, etc)
 * When Rex climbs back into the car after falling out during Barbie's tour, Barbie says, "Remain seated please. Permanecer sentados por favor." This is a reference to a safety recording by Jack Wagner at the end of the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride at Disneyland. At the beginning of the tour, Barbie also says, "For your safety, remain seated, keeping your hands, arms, feet, legs, and all other accessories inside the car at all times." This is also a reference to the safety recording played on all the rides at Disney parks worldwide (minus the "accessories" comment).
 * When Buzz climbs into the "New Utility Belt" display cabinet, he looks up to stare at the Buzz Lightyear in the case. This is a relation to the first movie, where Woody climbs the bed and stares at Buzz.
 * Mr. Potato Head throws his bowler hat to block an automatic door from closing in a parody of the character "Oddjob" from the James Bond film "Goldfinger".
 * This is the second Disney sequel to have a theatrical release. The first was The Rescuers Down Under.
 * When Andy finds his new Jesse doll, he calls her Bozooka Jane, instead of Jesse.

Previews of Toy Story 2 VHS

 * Blue Warnings.
 * Gold Walt Disney Home Video Logo
 * Disney's New Park Preview
 * Coming Soon to Theaters
 * The Emperor's New Groove Trailer
 * Coming Soon to Own on Video and DVD
 * Fantasia 2000 Preview
 * Mickey's Magical Christmas Preview
 * Coming Soon to Theaters from Disney and Pixar
 * Monsters Inc. Teaser Trailer
 * Join Us After the Feature
 * Feature Presentation logo
 * Blue Screen Format.
 * Luxo Jr.
 * THX logo
 * Walt Disney Pictures logo
 * Pixar Animation Studios logo

Box office and business issues
Toy Story 2 made over $245,000,000 in its initial US theatrical run, far surpassing the original, and in fact, every other animated movie to that date except for The Lion King, though both were later eclipsed by another Pixar movie, Finding Nemo.

Toy Story 2 was not originally intended for release in theaters. Disney asked Pixar to make a direct-to-video sequel for the original Toy Story with a 60 minute running time. When Disney executives saw how impressive the in-work imagery for the sequel was, they decided to create a theatrical movie, and the plot was reworked to be much more epic and cinematic in scope and duration of the movie was extended to just over 90 minutes.

Pixar and Disney had a five-film co-production deal and Pixar felt that with its change in status, Toy Story 2 should count as one of the pictures in the deal. Disney, however, felt that since the production of Toy Story 2 was negotiated outside of the five-picture deal, it should not count. This issue became a particularly sore spot for Pixar, leading to a falling out between Pixar CEO Steve Jobs and Disney CEO Michael Eisner, concluding in Pixar's 2004 announcement that it would not extend its deal with Disney and would instead seek other distribution partners. With Eisner's departure and Pixar's ultimate purchase by Disney, however, these problems have been overcome.

The movie was first broadcast on pay-TV in the UK on The Disney Channel on December 8, 2001 but like Toy Story, the transition of the movie from pay-TV to antenna TV was extremely slow and eventually first appeared on terrestrial TV on BBC ONE on December 25, 2005.

The film was received very very well by critics, gaining a rare but not unheard of 100% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.

Attached short film
Main article: Luxo Jr.

Theatrical and video releases of this film include Luxo Jr, Pixar's first short film released in 1999, starring Pixar's mascot, Luxo.