{"id":307190,"date":"2025-11-22T14:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T14:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/307190\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T14:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T14:26:08","slug":"i-prepared-for-the-role-by-playing-in-my-room-the-making-of-toy-story-as-it-turns-30-toy-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/307190\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I prepared for the role by playing in my room\u2019: the making of Toy Story as it turns 30 | Toy Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Pixar studio was casting for Toy Story<\/a>, children were invited to bring one toy to the audition. Seven-year-old John Morris showed up with 20: a case of his beloved X-Men action figures. He got the part.<\/p>\n

Playing Andy, a young boy whose toys include cowboy Woody and spaceman Buzz Lightyear, his was the first voice ever heard in a feature-length Pixar animation. Toy Story was released 30 years ago<\/a> on Saturday, but to Morris the memory of its premiere is as fresh as ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have goosebumps thinking about it because it started and then there\u2019s Andy, and everyone turned to look at me and I was like, \u2018Oh my gosh, here we go,\u2019\u201d the 41-year-old voice actor<\/a> says by phone from San Francisco. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what we were watching because it was groundbreaking. I grew up watching animation \u2013 Disney on VHS with my younger sibling \u2013 and it looked and felt new and different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toy Story was one of the most influential films in modern cinema. Directed by John Lasseter<\/a> and produced by Pixar with release through Disney, it was the first fully computer-animated feature film, leading studios worldwide to pivot away from hand-drawn animation.<\/p>\n

The story features toys who spring to life when humans are not looking, notably Woody (Tom Hanks<\/a>), a pull-string cowboy doll, and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), a flashy new space-ranger who threatens Woody\u2019s status as Andy\u2019s favourite. Their rivalry turns into friendship as they try to reunite with their owner after getting lost in the wider world.<\/p>\n

The premise grew out of Tin Toy (1988)<\/a>, a five-minute short film that won a first Oscar for Pixar in the days when it was part of a hardware company run by Apple\u2019s Steve Jobs. Disney approached Pixar to produce a computer-animated feature film told from a small toy\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The initial story followed the relationship between Tinny, the wind-up one-man band toy from Tin Toy, and a ventriloquist\u2019s dummy<\/a> named Dummy. Christine Freeman, who is Pixar\u2019s founding historian, says: \u201cThe idea was of a buddy film, which hadn\u2019t been done in animation before, and so they had these two characters and it was interesting but it wasn\u2019t landing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lucky that we got good feedback from the folks at Walt Disney. They said, we don\u2019t believe that this tin toy is going to be an eight-year-old\u2019s favourite toy and also that other guy? He\u2019s really mean. One of the amazing animators and creatives who worked on Toy Story was a guy named Bud Luckey<\/a>. He said, could this ventriloquist\u2019s dummy be a cowboy? That is how Woody was born out of this Dummy character.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tinny would evolve into Buzz Lightyear, but even then the path zigged and zagged before reaching its original destination. Asked about the 30th anniversary during a recent episode<\/a> of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS, Hanks replied: \u201cActually, it was more than 30 years, because Tim Allen and I and everybody involved in it, we recorded a Toy Story movie, for about 80 minutes of it, that was completely thrown out. We had the animatics, the whole bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who were running the studio \u2013 not Pixar, Pixar people are great \u2013 the people running the studio said, \u2018Look, it\u2019s a cartoon. Let\u2019s make them wisecrack-y. Let\u2019s let them improv and insult each other and come up with goofy things,\u2019 which we sort of did for a while. And they showed it, and quite frankly, it didn\u2019t work. It wasn\u2019t Toy Story<\/a>. It wasn\u2019t what Pixar was going for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hanks, 69, added: \u201cJohn [Lasseter] called up and he said, \u2018We looked at it and it\u2019s just not working, and we would like to start all over from scratch.\u2019 We had been working on the movie for about two years. So then we began the process all over again, which is about a two and a half to three year process, which is why on the credits on the Toy Story movies, they always say Production Babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stakes were high for Pixar<\/a> to take its time and get it right. The company had been through various iterations as a hardware company, software company and producer of TV commercials but was struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

David A Price, author of The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company<\/a>, says from Richmond, Virginia: \u201cIf Toy Story hadn\u2019t been a success, Pixar, I\u2019m quite certain, wouldn\u2019t have been able to continue for long as a company.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, Pixar was in very tight, dire financial circumstances in 1995 when the movie came out. Steve Jobs had been putting money into the company for 10 years at this point, $50m cumulatively over the years. When they needed to make payroll, as often as not the top executives would be coming to Steve Jobs hat in hand, asking them to write their cheque. Without Toy Story, there wasn\u2019t an obvious way forward for the company as a going concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photograph: Snap\/Rex Features<\/p>\n

Secondly, it was a make-or-break moment for the new medium. Price adds: \u201cIt was necessary for Toy Story to be a success simply to legitimise computer animation. It\u2019s hard to appreciate now but, at that time, computer animation was more of a novelty than anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a real question whether computer graphics would turn out to be acceptable to mass audiences and if Toy Story had been a flop, then certainly the people who fund movies would have very likely stayed away from it as a medium. On the other hand, because Pixar was successful, it did spur tremendous interest in computer animation and a golden age of computer animated movies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toy Story\u2019s animators had the key insight of grounding the film in a recognisable world that audiences could relate to, with virtual cameras that behaved like real ones. The winning formula also included a witty screenplay, perfectly cast actors and Randy Newman\u2019s song You\u2019ve Got a Friend in Me.<\/p>\n

Asked about Toy Story\u2019s success, Price reflects: \u201cThe easy answer is, well, it\u2019s all nostalgia. Parents 30 years ago when they were young watched the movie and now they\u2019re bringing their kids into it. But it\u2019s much more than that. In my opinion, the classic elements of movie greatness are part of the story.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did they fuse new technology with old elements but it was rooted in a sub-genre that was popular at the time \u2013 or had recently been popular \u2013 and that is the buddy comedy. In the 80s, you had 48 Hours, Lethal Weapon<\/a>, movies like that where very different characters start out not liking each other, circumstances force them to work together, they grow to respect each other. Toy Story was intentionally written very much in that mould. This made it more appealing then and now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond that, he argues, Toy Story works on different levels for both children and parents. \u201cFriendship is something that\u2019s very important to children and friendship is a central element in the story, something that the children respond to. But then for parents it\u2019s a powerful portrayal of status anxiety. On one level you have the children\u2019s problems, on the other level of the movie you have adult problems being addressed and so it\u2019s a movie that brings the generations together in a powerful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

I prepared for the role by playing in my room, essentially, and using my imagination and my creativityJohn Morris<\/p>\n

The part of Andy came naturally to Morris, who grew up creating imaginary worlds via X-Men action figures<\/a>, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lego and Sylvanian Families. He recalls: \u201cI guess my Woody equivalent would be this bear that I still have called Sunny Bear. That was my first favourite object and then I did have that experience during the holidays of getting new toys and the excitement around that, similar to Buzz.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was six, Morris took an acting class called Kids on Camera<\/a> in San Francisco and landed an agent. He started work as a child actor, appearing in commercials. Toy Story was his first voiceover audition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very small, very young, and they asked us to bring our favorite toy to the audition and I brought all my X-Men action figures in a case. My mom was even like, \u2018I think this is too many toys\u2019. I was like, \u2018No, I have to bring them all. I can\u2019t just bring Storm. I have to bring Professor X and Wolverine and all the rest of them.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cI started playing with them and creating the voices and then later, of course, that\u2019s how we see Andy play. I prepared for the role by playing in my room, essentially, and using my imagination and my creativity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was invaluable for recording the role of Andy without the kind of prompts that a stage actor or live action actor might expect. \u201cThey give you what they can in terms of storyboards and character drawings and renderings and little sculpts and such, but you have to use your imagination. That\u2019s key to voiceover.<\/p>\n

\u201cI teach voiceover now and that\u2019s something I talk about a lot: flood your imagination with imagery because that\u2019s what you have to draw from, especially when you just have a script in front of you in black and white. But I remember the first time seeing Andy early in the process and thinking, oh, he looks really nice and warm and then that did help me: OK, I\u2019m going to try to bring a warmth to his voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photograph: Walt Disney\/Pixar\/Allstar<\/p>\n

Morris fitted production around school, slipping away for solo recording sessions that did not involve other cast members. \u201cI couldn\u2019t talk about it while I was working on it. It can be hard for a kid to keep a secret like that. I would leave mysteriously, I guess like kids leave for doctor\u2019s appointments or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I was working on a project, working on a movie, but I didn\u2019t say what it was. But then when it came out there was a lot of excitement and some disbelief. Even to this day, people are like, \u2018You\u2019re kidding?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I\u2019m not kidding.\u2019 Or people are like, \u2018Is it true?\u2019 \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s true.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a children\u2019s film that somehow captivated adults and a machine generated artefact that somehow was as big-hearted as a Dickens novel. Made for roughly $30m, it grossed $401m worldwide<\/a>, becoming one of the biggest hits of 1995. Morris, who was 11 at the time of its release, was as astonished as anyone by its success.<\/p>\n

How does he explain it? \u201cAt the heart of it is friendship and the \u2018You\u2019ve got a friend in me\u2019 notion and the fact that the toys to Andy, and then later to Bonnie, are like friends. They\u2019re almost human in the way that they are and the way that we relate to them. They\u2019re so relatable and lovable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the first computer generated animated film so it has a place in film history, too. I have to say I\u2019ve never met someone who doesn\u2019t like Toy Story and hasn\u2019t seen it. Everyone\u2019s seen it and everyone loves it. I\u2019m so honoured to be part of it, so grateful. I got to bring Andy to life: I mean, how incredible!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Morris returned in 1999 for Toy Story 2<\/a> and in 2010 for Toy Story 3<\/a>, which climaxes with a college-bound Andy donating his toys to a girl called Bonnie; Woody watches Andy leave and says softly, \u201cSo long \u2026 partner,\u201d a scene about the bittersweet passage of time that reduced many a grown parent to a blubbering wreck.<\/p>\n

Toy Story 4<\/a> appeared in 2019 and Toy Story 5<\/a> is due for release next June. Morris would be happy to return to the franchise some day. \u201cI hear from a lot of fans that they\u2019re curious about Andy. What did he focus on in college? Does he have kids? Is he married? I\u2019m like, well, what do you think? It\u2019s open.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we know, the story can go in any number of directions. A lot of fans tell me that would bring the whole thing full circle if Andy was an adult and he has kids; maybe he has Andy Jr and maybe Bonnie babysits them and maybe some of the toys are missing and Andy is a little surprised by that. I of course would love to come back and voice Andy as an adult. That would be like a full circle moment for me too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Pixar studio was casting for Toy Story, children were invited to bring one toy to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-307190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}