Toy Story 2
Toy Story 2 is an American animated adventure comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures.[5] The second installment in the Toy Story franchise and the first sequel to Toy Story (1995), it was directed by John Lasseter, co-directed by Ash Brannon and Lee Unkrich (in their feature directorial debuts), and produced by Helene Plotkin and Karen Robert Jackson, from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin, and Chris Webb, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, Brannon, and Pete Docter. In the film, Woody is stolen by a toy collector, prompting Buzz Lightyear and his friends to rescue him, but Woody is then tempted by the idea of immortality in a museum. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, and Laurie Metcalf reprise their roles from the first Toy Story film and they are joined by Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Estelle Harris, Wayne Knight, and Jodi Benson, who play the new characters introduced in this film.
This article is about the film. For the video game based on the film, see Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue. For the soundtrack, see Toy Story 2 (soundtrack).Toy Story 2
- Andrew Stanton
- Rita Hsiao
- Doug Chamberlin
- Chris Webb
- John Lasseter
- Pete Docter
- Ash Brannon
- Andrew Stanton
- Helene Plotkin
- Karen Robert Jackson
- Edie Bleiman
- David Ian Salter
- Lee Unkrich
- November 13, 1999 (El Capitan Theatre)[1]
- November 24, 1999 (United States)
92 minutes[2]
United States
English
$90 million[3]
Disney initially envisioned Toy Story 2 as a direct-to-video sequel. The film began production in a building separated from Pixar, on a small scale, as most of the main Pixar staff were busy working on A Bug's Life (1998). When story reels proved promising, Disney upgraded the film to a theatrical release, but Pixar was unhappy with the film's quality. Lasseter and the story team redeveloped the entire plot in one weekend. Although most Pixar features take years to develop, the established release date could not be moved and the production schedule for Toy Story 2 was compressed into nine months.[6][7]
Despite production struggles, Toy Story 2 opened on November 24, 1999, to a successful box office, eventually grossing over $487 million and received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences, with a 100% rating on the website Rotten Tomatoes, like its predecessor.[8] It is considered by critics to be one of the few sequel films superior to the original[9] and is frequently featured on lists of the greatest animated films ever made. Toy Story 2 would go on to become the third-highest-grossing film of 1999, behind Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and The Sixth Sense.[10] Among its accolades, the film won Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 57th Golden Globe Awards. The film has seen multiple home media releases and a theatrical 3-D re-release in 2009 as part of a double feature with the first film, 10 years after its initial release. Another sequel, Toy Story 3, was released in 2010.
Plot[edit]
Woody and Buzz Lightyear are now the co-leaders of Andy's toys. Andy plans to take Woody to Cowboy Camp with him, but he accidentally rips his arm and leaves him on a shelf. After awakening from a nightmare, Woody discovers Wheezy, a toy penguin who has been left on the shelf after his squeaker broke. Once Andy's mother takes him down to her yard sale, Woody saves Wheezy, but is stolen by Al McWhiggin, a greedy toy collector and owner of local toy store Al's Toy Barn. Buzz gets two vital clues: the car's license plate and a feather from a chicken suit, which help Andy's toys realize who stole Woody.
At Al's apartment, Woody meets three other toys: a cowgirl named Jessie, a horse named Bullseye, and Stinky Pete, an unsold prospector toy - all based on the main characters from Woody's Roundup, a TV show that was popular in the 1950s. Woody is elated to know he once had a franchise and learns that he and the Roundup gang are to be sold to a toy museum in Japan. He wishes to return home to Andy, earning resentment from Jessie, as the toy museum won't take the Roundup gang without Woody. After Woody is repaired, he learns that Jessie was owned by a girl who eventually abandoned her as she grew up. Fearing that Andy will do the same, he decides to stay to go to Japan.
Meanwhile, Buzz and the toy gang reach Al's Toy Barn to rescue Woody. Buzz is imprisoned by a new Utility Belt Buzz Lightyear toy, who, like Andy's Buzz when he first met Woody, believes himself to be real. Utility Belt Buzz thinks they are on a mission to defeat his nemesis, the Evil Emperor Zurg. Andy's Buzz escapes and follows the gang to Al's apartment, unintentionally releasing a toy Zurg.
Both Buzzes and the gang arrive at Al's apartment, where Woody has a change of heart and asks the Roundup gang to come with him and be part of Andy's toys. Pete prevents them from leaving, adamant about going to the museum, as he was never played with. Al takes the Roundup gang to the airport. After a battle with Zurg, the gang departs from Utility Belt Buzz and a reformed Zurg and gives chase using a Pizza Planet truck, helped by three Little Green Aliens. At the airport, Pete rips Woody's arm again, but the toys subdue him.
Jessie is placed on the plane to Japan. Buzz, Woody, and Bullseye work together to save her, and the gang returns to Andy's house. Woody gets his arm repaired again, and Wheezy has his squeaker fixed. In another Al's Toy Barn commercial, Al mourns the loss of his potential fortune after failing to sell the Roundup gang to the museum. Woody tells Buzz that he no longer fears Andy losing interest in him and that even if it does happen, he and Buzz will be friends "for infinity and beyond".
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
A conversation about a sequel to Toy Story began around a month after the film's opening in December 1995.[11] A few days after Toy Story's release, John Lasseter was traveling with his family and found a young boy clutching a Sheriff Woody doll at an airport. Lasseter described how the boy's excitement to show it to his father touched him deeply. Lasseter realized that his character no longer belonged to him only, but rather it belonged to others, as well. The memory was a defining factor in the production of Toy Story 2, with Lasseter moved to create a great film for that child and for everyone else who loved the characters.[12]
Ed Catmull, Lasseter, and Ralph Guggenheim visited Joe Roth, successor to recently ousted Jeffrey Katzenberg as chairman of Walt Disney Studios, shortly afterward. Roth was pleased and embraced the idea of a sequel.[11] Disney had recently begun making direct-to-video sequels to its successful features, and Roth wanted to handle the Toy Story sequel this way, as well. Prior releases, such as 1994's Aladdin sequel, The Return of Jafar, had returned an estimated $100 million in profits.[13]
Initially, everything regarding Toy Story 2 was uncertain: whether stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen would be available and affordable, what the story premise would be, and even whether the film would be computer-animated at Pixar or traditionally hand-drawn at Walt Disney Feature Animation.[13] Lasseter regarded the project as a chance to groom new directing talent, as top choices were already immersed in other projects (Andrew Stanton as co-director of A Bug's Life and Pete Docter as director of what would eventually become Monsters, Inc.). Instead, Lasseter turned to Ash Brannon, a young directing animator on Toy Story whose work he admired. Brannon, a CalArts graduate, joined the Toy Story team in 1993.[13] Disney and Pixar officially announced the sequel in a press release on March 12, 1997.[14]
Release[edit]
Theatrical[edit]
Pixar showed the completed film at CalArts on November 12, 1999, in recognition of the school's ties with Lasseter and more than 40 other alumni who worked on the film. The students were captivated.[31] The film held its official premiere the next day at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles — the same venue as Toy Story — and was released across the United States on November 24, 1999.[1][38] The film's initial theatrical and video releases include Luxo Jr., Pixar's first short film released in 1986, starring Pixar's titular mascot.[39] Before Luxo Jr., a disclaimer appears reading: "In 1986 Pixar Animation Studios produced their first film. This is why we have a hopping lamp in our logo".[39] On December 25, 1999, within a month of the film's theatrical release, a blooper reel was added to the film's mid-credits,[40][41] which features the characters, Flik and Heimlich, from A Bug's Life.
Re-releases[edit]
In 2009, both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were converted to 3-D for a two-week limited theatrical re-release,[42][43] which was extended due to its success.[44][45] Lasseter said, "The Toy Story films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we're so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way, thanks to the latest in 3-D technology. With Toy Story 3 shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way".[46]
Translating the films into 3-D involved revisiting the original computer data and virtually placing a second camera into each scene, creating left-eye and right-eye views needed to achieve the perception of depth. Unique to computer animation, Lasseter referred to this process as "digital archaeology". The lead stereographer Bob Whitehill oversaw this process and sought to achieve an effect that impacted the film's emotional storytelling. It took four months to resurrect the old data and get it in working order. Then, adding 3-D to each of the films took six months per film.[47]
The double feature opened in 1,745 theaters on October 2, 2009, and made $12.5 million in its opening weekend, finishing in third place at the box office. The features closed on November 5, 2009, with a worldwide gross of $32.3 million.[48] Unlike other countries, the UK and Argentina received the films in 3-D as separate releases. Toy Story 2 was released January 22, 2010, in the UK, and February 18, 2010, in Argentina.[49]
Home media[edit]
Toy Story 2 was released on both VHS and DVD and as a DVD two-pack with Toy Story on October 17, 2000.[50][51] That same day, an "Ultimate Toy Box" set was released containing the first and second films and a third disc of bonus materials.[51][52] The standard DVD release allowed the viewer to pick the version of the film either in widescreen (1.77:1 aspect ratio) or fullscreen (family-friendly 1.33:1 aspect ratio without pan and scan).[53] A sneak peek of Monsters, Inc. was attached to these releases, which were THX certified.[54] The standard VHS, DVD, DVD two-pack, and the "Ultimate Toy Box" sets returned to the vault on May 1, 2003.[55] It was re-released as a Special Edition 2-disc DVD on December 26, 2005.[56] Both editions returned to the Disney Vault on January 31, 2009.[57]
A brief controversy involving the Ultimate Toy Box edition took place in which around 1,000 copies of the box set that were shipped to Costco stores had a pressing error which caused a scene from the 2000 R-rated film High Fidelity to play in the middle of the film. The scene in question, which featured the use of the word "fuck" multiple times, prompted a number of complaints from consumers, causing Costco to eventually recall the defective units from shelves and later go on to replace them. The defect was caused by a "content mix" error according to Technicolor, which manufactured the discs, and only affected the U.T.B. Box set copies of Toy Story 2 which were included with the two-pack were not affected by the manufacturing error. According to Buena Vista Home Entertainment, less than 1% of the discs shipped were printed with the glitch.[58][59]
Toy Story 2 was available for the first time on Blu-ray Disc in a Special Edition Combo Pack released on March 23, 2010, along with the first film.[60] On November 1, 2011, the first three Toy Story films were re-released, each as a DVD/Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D/Digital Copy combo pack (four discs each for the first two films, and five for the third film).[61] The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on June 4, 2019.[62]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Toy Story 2 was as successful as the first Toy Story film commercially. It became 1999's highest-grossing animated film, earning $245.9 million in the United States and Canada and $511.3 million worldwide — beating both Pixar's previous releases by a significant margin.[64][3] It became the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time (behind The Lion King and Aladdin).[9] Toy Story 2 opened over the Thanksgiving Day weekend at number 1 ahead of The World Is Not Enough, End of Days and Sleepy Hollow, collecting a three-day tally of $57.4 million from 3,236 theaters, averaging $17,734 per theater over three days, as well as making $80.1 million since its Wednesday launch and staying at No. 1 for the next two weekends.[65] At the time of the film's release, it had the third-highest opening weekend of all time, behind The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.[66] It also broke the studio record for having the best single-day gross, surpassing The Waterboy.[67] When the film opened, Toy Story 2 earned $9.5 million during its first day, breaking Back to the Future Part II's record to have the highest Thanksgiving opening day.[68] On its third day of release, the film made $22.6 million, becoming the highest Friday gross at that time, beating The Lost World: Jurassic Park.[69] For two years, it would hold this record until May 2001 when The Mummy Returns opened with $23.4 million.[70] The film also had the largest opening weekend for an animated film before being surpassed by Monsters, Inc. that year.[71] Moreover, Toy Story 2 was ranked as the third-highest five-day Wednesday gross of any film, trailing only behind The Phantom Menace and Independence Day. The film even had the highest five-day Thanksgiving opening weekend, beating out A Bug's Life.[72] In 2013, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen both surpassed Toy Story 2 to have the largest Thanksgiving weekend debut.[73] For its second weekend, the film had earned $27.7 million, making it the fourth-highest December weekend gross, after Scream 2's opening weekend gross and Titanic's opening weekend and second weekend grosses respectively.[74] By New Year's Day, it had made more than $200 million in the U.S. alone, and it eventually became 1999's third highest-grossing film and far surpassing the original.[75] Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 47.8 million tickets in the United States and Canada.[76]
The film set a three-day weekend record in the United Kingdom, grossing £7.7 million and beating The Phantom Menace.[77] In 2001, that record would be surpassed by Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.[78] In Japan, Toy Story 2 earned $3.8 million in its opening weekend to not only become the country's highest-grossing American animated film, but also the second largest opening weekend in the territory, behind Armageddon.[79] Around this time, the film surpassed Twister to become the seventeenth-highest domestic grosser.[80] Following in biggest grosses are Italy ($6.9 million), France and the Maghreb region ($24.7 million), Germany ($12.9 million), and Spain ($11.7 million).[3]
Critical response[edit]
Reviewers judged the film as a sequel that equaled or even surpassed the original in terms of quality.[9] The Hollywood Reporter proclaimed:
Video game[edit]
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, a video game for the PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast, was released in November 1999.[105] The game featured original cast voices and clips from the film as introductions to levels.[105] Once earned, these clips could be viewed at the player's discretion.[105] Another game was released for the Game Boy Color.[105]