Honestly, it’s kinda wild to think about.
Back in the early nineties, if you told a Hollywood executive that a bunch of computer scientists in Northern California were going to kill off hand-drawn animation with a movie about a plastic cowboy, they would’ve laughed you out of the room. But here we are. Decades later, the Toy Story movie isn’t just some nostalgic relic from the VHS era; it’s a living, breathing blueprint for how we tell stories today.
With Toy Story 5 officially on the horizon for June 2026, everyone is looking back. And frankly, most people get the history wrong. They think it was just a "tech demo" that got lucky.
It wasn't.
The "Black Friday" Disaster You Weren't Supposed to See
Most fans think the original 1995 production was all smiles and "You've Got a Friend in Me." It actually almost died in a single afternoon. On November 19, 1993—a day now infamous at Pixar as "Black Friday"—the team showed an early cut to Disney executives.
It was a total train wreck.
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Woody wasn’t the lovable, slightly neurotic leader we know. Under pressure from Disney to make the film "edgier" and less "childish," the writers had turned Woody into a literal tyrant. He was mean. He was snarky. He intentionally threw Buzz out the window.
The Disney execs hated it. They shut down production immediately. For a few weeks, it looked like the first-ever computer-animated feature was going to be a tax write-off. The only reason we have the movie today is that John Lasseter begged for two weeks to fix the script. He and his team (which included a young Joss Whedon) stayed up all night, every night, to find Woody's soul.
They realized that the Toy Story movie didn't need "edge." It needed heart.
Why the Tech Actually Matters (And No, It’s Not the Graphics)
If you watch the original 1995 film today, the humans look... well, they look terrifying. Sid’s dog, Scud, looks like a balloon animal made of wet clay. But the toys? The toys still look incredible.
That was a strategic choice.
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Pixar’s early team knew they couldn't do skin or hair yet. They didn't have the processing power. To give you an idea of the scale, rendering a single frame of the first movie took anywhere from 45 minutes to 30 hours depending on the complexity. That’s insane.
So, they picked toys. Plastic, wood, and metal are easy for computers to understand. They reflect light in predictable ways. By leaning into the limitations of the technology, they made a world that felt "real" because it was literally made of the textures the computer was best at creating.
The Evolution of the Toy Story Series
| Movie | Release Year | The Big Tech Leap |
|---|---|---|
| Toy Story | 1995 | First-ever fully CGI feature film. |
| Toy Story 2 | 1999 | Mastering human skin and organic textures (Jessie’s hair). |
| Toy Story 3 | 2010 | Massive-scale simulations (the incinerator scene). |
| Toy Story 4 | 2019 | Photorealistic lighting and "wet" surfaces. |
| Toy Story 5 | 2026 | "Toy meets Tech"—dealing with tablets and modern electronics. |
The Toy Story 2 "Delete" Button Scare
You've probably heard the urban legend that someone deleted the second movie. It's actually 100% true. An anonymous employee ran a rm -rf command on the server, and because of a bug in the backup system, the movie started vanishing in real-time.
First Woody’s hat disappeared. Then his legs. Then the whole character model.
The movie was saved by Galyn Susman, the technical director. She had just had a baby and was working from home. She had a copy of the film on a computer in her house. They literally drove to her place, wrapped the computer in blankets like it was a holy relic, and drove it back to the studio at 20 miles per hour.
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Without that "work-from-home" setup, Toy Story 2—often cited as one of the best sequels ever made—would simply not exist.
How to Watch the Franchise Like an Expert
If you're planning a marathon before the 2026 release, don't just watch for the jokes. Watch the shadows.
In the first Toy Story movie, the shadows are often "hard" or just simple circles. By the time you get to Toy Story 4, the lighting is so sophisticated that it mimics the way a real camera lens behaves. Look at the antique mall scenes; the "dust motes" in the air aren't just a filter. They are individually rendered particles interacting with virtual light.
But more importantly, look at the themes.
- Toy Story 1 is about the fear of being replaced.
- Toy Story 2 is about the fear of being forgotten (The "museum" vs. the "playroom").
- Toy Story 3 is about the fear of being abandoned (Growing up).
- Toy Story 4 is about finding a purpose outside of your original job description.
The Actionable Next Step for Fans
If you want to truly appreciate the craftsmanship, don't just stream the movies. Dig into the "making of" archives.
- Watch the "Tin Toy" Short (1988): It’s only five minutes long. It was the proof of concept that convinced Disney to take a chance on Pixar. The baby is horrifying, but the storytelling is 10-out-of-10.
- Check out RenderMan: This is the software Pixar built. They actually let people download a non-commercial version for free if you're into 3D modeling.
- Visit the Disney Parks in 2026: To coincide with the fifth film, Disney is expected to update the "Toy Story Mania" and "Slinky Dog Dash" attractions with new interactive elements.
The Toy Story movie franchise isn't just about plastic things that come to life when we leave the room. It’s about the very human experience of change. We all feel like Woody sometimes—stuck in the past while the "Buzz Lightyears" of the world take over. That’s why we’re still talking about it thirty years later.