References to Lasseter are intended only to describe his role in the film’s making. This article is about Toy Story and its sequels as pieces of art. There’s some excellent writing on this subject - I highly recommend Danielle Tcholakian’s 2019 piece - but this article isn’t about that. John Lasseter, the film’s director, left Pixar in 2018 amidst allegations of sexual harassment, and reports of presiding over a working environment where many female employees were prevented from doing their jobs, let alone rising within the company. It encapsulates something about why this film is special, and why certain films move us, why we pass them on, and why there are some stories that we don’t out-grow.Ī small disclaimer: while I believe Toy Story to be a perfect film, it was made by human beings, who are decidedly imperfect. It doesn’t have the poignancy of Jessie’s memories in Toy Story 2, or the peril of the incinerator-scene in Toy Story 3, but something about this moment leaves me a squashy, pulpy, emotional mess. Then, defying all story-telling logic, Buzz flies, and we get this brief exchange of dialogue:īuzz: This isn’t flying, this is falling - with style. Blasting into the sky, they free themselves from Sid’s rocket, only to plummet towards certain death.

It’s the film’s climax, when Woody and Buzz escape Sid’s house, and use the rocket to catch up with the moving truck, and ultimately with Andy. But there’s a smaller moment from the first film that I think acts as a foundation for everything the later instalments gave us. It’s easy to see the parallel between viewing the film this way, and the film’s content, particularly with regard to Toy Story 3 and its graceful handling of Andy’s transition to adulthood. Toy Story is now a universally regarded movie, and a cinematic rite of passage, passed on from parents who fondly remember it from their childhood, with a hope that it will be loved by the next generation. Twenty-five years and three sequels later, love of the film has only grown with time.

Warning: minor spoilers for the first three Toy Story films. I was six years old when the movie came out in 1995, and it captivated me, along with just about everyone who saw it. As opinions go, this one more or less matches ‘Lennon and McCartney wrote some pretty good lyrics’ or ‘Cake tastes nice’ in its originality and insight, but I say again, the first Toy Story film is brilliant.

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