‘Toy Story' is returning to theaters this year. Here's when and why.
Pixar, an animation studio owned by Disney, announced the film's theatrical return in an X post on Thursday, July 17.
"Mark your calendars! Disney & Pixar's Toy Story returns to the BIG SCREEN September 12," the X post reads.
Originally released in theaters on Nov. 22, 1995, the first-ever fully computer-animated feature film will return to theaters to celebrate its 30th anniversary, according to Pixar.
What is 'Toy Story' about?
"Toy Story" follows a group of toys belonging to Andy Davis. When Andy is away from his toys, they come alive, including the film's central characters, Buzz Lightyear( Tim Allen) and Woody (Tom Hanks).
Woody, who is a cowboy doll, is "profoundly jealous" when Buzz Lightyear, a spaceman action figure, "supplants him as the top toy in (Andy's) bedroom," IMDB's synopsis for the film reads. The two toys have to eventually "put aside their differences" once they are separated from Andy in the movie.
Directed by John Lasseter, "Toy Story" became one of the highest-grossing films of 1995. According to a June 2022 newsletter from the Oscars, when the movie was released, "animation was changed forever."
"The genre, known for transporting audiences to new worlds, was up until that point mostly hand-drawn, using techniques made popular by Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros," the newsletter says. "But when Disney joined forces with Pixar — a then-up-and-coming computer animation studio chaired by Steve Jobs — for 'Toy Story,' the first computer-animated feature film was born, and a new world of film was unlocked."
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'Toy Story' was just the beginning
"Toy Story" was not a one-off, as several sequels came after the film's initial release, including "Toy Story 2," "Toy Story 3," "Toy Story 4," and the upcoming "Toy Story 5," which is expected to hit theaters in 2026.
"Buzz, Woody, Jessie are challenged after being introduced to what kids are obsessed with today: electronics," IMDB's synopsis for "Toy Story 5" reads.
What inspired 'Toy Story'?
According to the Academy Awards' newsletter, Lasseter's Oscar-winning short film "Tin Toy" inspired the then-new Disney-Pixar partnership to "explore a movie from a small toy's perspective."
While the script for "Toy Story" underwent rewrites, computer scientists were working on building the software that would eventually make computer animation possible.
"We were not filmmakers at the time," she recalled. "We did not understand film language. We were simply doing whatever we were told to get graphic images on the screen by programming as quickly as we could to get the pictures made… and we were learning along the way.'
"Toy Story" paved the way for animated films, even leading to the Academy Awards creating an Oscar category for Best Animated Feature. Its success also led to the creation of Toy Story Land, a themed area at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
"It was a movie. It was lit, it was dimensional, we had cameras moving around through things. We had Steadicam kind of shots, all that stuff, and it felt like a movie," Lasseter said of the film, per the newsletter. "Yet, they were cartoony, and they were moving like cartoons, and yet I could touch them. They were plastic. It was all that uniqueness — understanding the limitations of what the medium was at that time, and creating the characters and the storytelling."
Watch 'Toy Story' trailer
Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.
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