Moving On In Life

A look at pixar’s greatest movie about growing up

by william migdol

In the year 1995, Pixar Animation Studios, also known as simply, “Pixar”, released its first movie by the name of Toy Story. The premise was simple; toys would come to life whenever people wouldn’t watch. Toy Story was a hit and it’s sequel, “Toy Story 2” that was released in 1999 was a hit. Having been born in the year 2000, these two movies were my favorites as a kid.  This made 10 year old me very excited when I heard that there was a Toy Story 3 coming out in the year 2010. Never before would I realize how much of an emotional journey this movie would put me through.

The movie starts with the following scene where the toys act out the story that their kid, Andy, is making up.

Following this we get to see a montage of Andy playing with all the toys with the theme from the movie playing in the background.

Following these scenes we jump forward to Andy right before he leaves for college. The remainder of the movie is spent with the toys contemplating whether or not they should move on without Andy where they feel more value at a daycare (before realizing it’s being run by an evil teddy bear), or in the attic for Andy to eventually give to his kids one day. The one exception is Woody, the main toy, who contemplates if he wants to stay with this one girl who finds him, Bonnie, or if he wants to go to college with Andy. Eventually they make it back to the house where , just before Andy leaves, Woody sneakily leaves a sticky note on the box full of toys that says to leave the toys at Bonnie’s house,  leading to this touching goodbye scene that continues to make me cry whenever I see it 9 years later.

Last year in June my family moved up to Tahoe from San Jose. While I am very glad we made that move, I’ll never forget my last morning staying with my friend who let me stay with him for a bit after my family sold the house before I moved up to Tahoe. He asked if I wanted to go get breakfast before and when we were done we drove back to his house. At one point he said, “wow, it’s weird that this is it after 10 years.” It was at that point I realized I wouldn’t see my best friend at least once a week anymore. While we’re still really close friends, this moment made me strongly connect with this scene as a scene where you have to deal with goodbyes.

Several people agree that this was a great movie. Joshua Meyer, author for the website, “Slashfilm”, says that, “Toy Story 3 is a gateway drug of a movie. It’s a film where you can sit down and watch it as a Pixar agnostic and come away, in the end, as a big believer in the ingenious storytelling possibilities of computer animation. “(Meyer, 2019) By using animation, the film contributes to its youthful tone and allows it to really be seen from a child’s perspective which is how it should be. The film was also widely praised immediately following its release in 2010. Jon Ochiai, writer for the website, “The Good Men Project,” states, ‘”Toy Story 3 ‘ is one the best movies of the year. Pixar, John Lassiter, and company have done it again—crafted a visually captivating movie and a sentimental story with heart. I saw ‘Toy Story 3’ when it first came out over a month ago. ” (Ochiai, 2010)

The idea of family is fitting given the cast. When filming this film, the cast genuinely cares about each other as well as the story shown in this behind the scenes video.

By putting the heart and sole into this film that they did, they were able to truly make a film that fulfills the message they were trying to go for and really convey a message to youth about growing up that they can take with them for the rest of their lives.