It’s hard to remember a time before Woody and Buzz. Back in the early nineties, the idea of a feature-length computer-animated film was basically a pipe dream. Most people in Hollywood thought it would look cold. Creepy. Uncanny. But what happened behind the scenes Toy Story style was less about "computer magic" and more about a group of desperate, brilliant creatives trying not to get fired by Disney.
Pixar wasn't always the titan it is now. Honestly, they were a hardware company that was bleeding money. Steve Jobs had bought the group from Lucasfilm, and he was losing millions. If the Toy Story project had failed, Pixar wouldn't just be "not famous"—it would have ceased to exist.
Woody Was Originally a Total Jerk
If you watch the movie now, Woody is the heart. He’s the loyal leader. But in the early drafts, specifically the infamous "Black Friday" reel of November 19, 1993, Woody was an unlikable tyrant. He was a ventriloquist's dummy who bullied the other toys. He was mean. He was sarcastic in a way that felt cruel rather than funny.
Disney executives, specifically Jeffrey Katzenberg, kept pushing the team to make the movie "edgier." They wanted it to be more like adult sitcoms. The result was a disaster. When the Pixar team showed the rough footage to Disney brass, the reaction was brutal. Production was nearly shut down on the spot. Tom Hanks, who had already recorded lines, was reportedly confused by the character's tone.
John Lasseter and the "Brain Trust"—which included legends like Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Joe Ranft—had to beg for a chance to rewrite the whole thing. They had two weeks. They stayed up all night, eating junk food and reimagining the dynamic. They realized Woody shouldn't be a jerk; he should be a displaced leader suffering from intense insecurity. That pivot saved the movie.
The Technical Nightmare of 1995
We take CGI for granted now. Your phone can probably render better graphics than the supercomputers Pixar used in the mid-nineties. Back then, every single frame was a battle. A single frame of Toy Story could take anywhere from 45 minutes to 30 hours to render, depending on the complexity.
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They had a "render farm" consisting of 117 Sun Microsystems workstations. It wasn't enough. The computers would crash constantly. If a shadow looked slightly off, it wasn't a quick fix. You had to wait days to see if your adjustment actually worked.
Think about the character of Sid’s dog, Scud. Or the humans. Notice how Andy’s mom is barely on screen? Or how the kids at the party all look identical? That wasn't a stylistic choice. It was because rendering human skin and hair was a nightmare. Humans looked like plastic, which, luckily, worked perfectly for the toys, but looked terrifying for the people.
Behind the Scenes Toy Story: Why Bill Murray Almost Played Buzz
Casting is everything. It’s impossible to imagine Buzz Lightyear without Tim Allen’s "space ranger" bravado, but he wasn't the first choice. Not even close.
The role was famously turned down by Billy Crystal. He later called it the biggest mistake of his career. Pixar actually created a "test" using a clip of Crystal’s dialogue from When Harry Met Sally dubbed over an early version of Buzz. Even that didn't convince him.
They looked at everyone. Bill Murray was considered. Chevy Chase was considered. The character was originally named Lunar Larry. He wore a red suit. The transformation of "Lunar Larry" into the high-tech, white-and-purple Buzz Lightyear happened because the team realized the contrast between an old-school cowboy and a modern astronaut was the ultimate "odd couple" engine.
The Secret "Pizza Planet" Truck and Hidden Details
Pixar is famous for "Easter Eggs" now, but it started here out of necessity and a bit of fun. The Pizza Planet truck, a 1978 Gyoza Mark VII Lite Hauler, was created for this film. It has appeared in almost every Pixar movie since.
There are other things you might have missed:
- The books on Andy’s shelf are titled after short films Pixar made, like Tin Toy and Knick Knack.
- The carpet in Sid’s house is a direct reference to the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. The editors were huge horror fans.
- Rex wasn't just a dinosaur; he was a manifestation of the team's anxiety about being "extinct" if the movie failed.
The Script Doctor You Didn't Expect
One of the reasons the dialogue is so sharp is a man named Joss Whedon. Before he was the Avengers guy, he was a highly sought-after script doctor. He was brought in to punch up the script and is responsible for some of the most iconic lines.
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Whedon was the one who leaned into the "Rex has anxiety" bit. He also helped refine the "falling with style" payoff. The script was a constant work in progress. It wasn't just written once; it was sculpted. They used storyboards like a comic book, pinning thousands of drawings to the walls to see if the pacing worked. If a joke didn't land in the storyboard phase, it was cut immediately. They couldn't afford to animate anything that wasn't 100% gold.
Disney Didn't Want a Musical (Kinda)
Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted songs. Disney was in its "Renaissance" era with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. They thought every animated movie had to be a Broadway musical where characters burst into song to explain their feelings.
Pixar fought back. Hard.
John Lasseter didn't want Woody to break out into a ballad about being lonely. It felt wrong for the "buddy comedy" vibe they were going for. The compromise was Randy Newman. Instead of characters singing their feelings, Newman’s gravelly, soulful voice would sing about the situation. "You've Got a Friend in Me" became the emotional glue, but it happened in the background. It kept the movie grounded in reality—or as much reality as a movie about talking toys can have.
The Toy Industry Actually Said No
You’d think toy companies would be tripping over themselves to be in a movie called Toy Story. Nope.
Mattel refused to let Barbie be in the first movie. They didn't think it would be a hit, and they didn't want Barbie to have a defined personality. They wanted girls to project their own personalities onto her. After the movie became a global phenomenon, Mattel changed their tune real quick, which is why Barbie is a major character in the sequels.
Hasbro also refused to let Pixar use G.I. Joe when they found out a G.I. Joe doll was going to be blown up by Sid. That’s why we got the "Combat Carl" character instead—who eventually got his own redemption arc years later.
The Legacy of the 1995 Release
When the movie finally hit theaters on November 22, 1995, the world changed. It wasn't just a "kids' movie." It was a technical marvel that had a better script than most live-action films that year. It made $373 million worldwide.
More importantly, it proved that the "soul" of a movie wasn't in the pencils or the pixels, but in the writing. The behind the scenes Toy Story drama of the Black Friday reel and the rendering crashes became the blueprint for how Pixar operates. They prioritize story above everything else. If the story is broken, the movie is broken.
How to Apply Pixar’s Lessons Today
If you’re a creator, a business owner, or just a fan, there are real takeaways from the chaos of 1995.
Don't fear the "Trash it" moment. If Pixar hadn't been willing to scrap the "Jerk Woody" version, they would have released a mediocre movie and gone bankrupt. Sometimes you have to kill your darlings to save the project.
Constraints breed creativity. They couldn't do realistic hair, so they made a movie about plastic toys. They couldn't do a full musical, so they invented a new way to use songs as narration. Look at your limitations as design features, not bugs.
The "Brain Trust" model works. Surround yourself with people who are allowed to tell you your idea sucks. But make sure they are invested in helping you fix it, not just tearing it down.
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To dive deeper into this history, I highly recommend reading Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull. It’s the definitive look at the culture that allowed these "mistakes" to turn into masterpieces. You can also find the original "Black Friday" footage on various special edition Blu-rays—it’s a haunting look at what could have been a very different, and much worse, movie.
Check out the early concept art by Ralph Eggleston if you can. Seeing the evolution from a tin one-man-band toy into the Buzz we know today is a masterclass in character design.
The real magic wasn't the computers. It was the fact that a group of people cared enough to almost lose their jobs just to make sure a cowboy and an astronaut felt like real friends.