"The 'Toy Story' films accomplish what timeless classics aim for. They are full of innocent characters who face an endless trail of adventures. We all know the likes of Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and we wonder who we would be…if we were toys."

Tom Hanks, the voice of Woody

TAKING THE TOYS TO THE TOP :The Franchise
On October 2, 2009, the creators of the beloved "Toy Story" films reopen the toy box for a very special double feature that includes "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" as they have never been seen before: in spectacular Disney Digital 3D!
The return of these DisneyPixar classics to the big screen kicks off a Disney Digital 3D "Toy Story" celebration that culminates in "Toy Story 3," a brand-new adventure coming to theaters June 18, 2010.
"We're so excited to be bringing these first two films back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way, thanks to the latest in 3D technology," says John Lasseter, the director of "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2," who now serves as chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor to Walt Disney Imagineering. "Disney Digital 3D™ offers lots of great new possibilities for the art of animation, and we will continue to use this new technology to push the boundaries in telling our stories."
The "Toy Story" films and the host of unforgettable characters they introduced to the world hold a special place in the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide. Since "Toy Story" astounded moviegoers with its free-flowing images and warm-hearted humor in 1995, the film and its characters have become entrenched in the zeitgeist the world over, including Buzz Lightyear's mantra, "To infinity and beyond," which has become a 21st-century catchphrase.
"The 'Toy Story' films accomplish what timeless classics aim for," says actor Tom Hanks, who voices the series' cowboy hero, Woody. "They are full of innocent characters who face an endless trail of adventures. We all know the likes of Woody, Buzz, Bo Peep, and Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and we wonder who we would be…if we were toys."

TOY STORY
"Toy Story," the groundbreaking first collaboration between Walt Disney Studios and Pixar, has become one of the most influential animated films in history. Set in a whimsical world populated by walking, talking toys with rivalries, dreams and fears of their own, the movie pioneered the use of innovative tools and techniques for an entirely new form of animation.
The first full-length animated feature to be created entirely by artists using CG technology, "Toy Story" was conceived and directed by Lasseter, a former Disney animator who had already collected an Oscar for the short "Tin Toy." "Toy Story" represented a major milestone in animated moviemaking. All 77 minutes of breathtaking animation, 1,561 shots and a cast of 76 characters that included humans, toys and a dog were meticulously hand-designed, built and animated in the computer.
Four years in the making, the delightfully irreverent comedy-adventure featured a top-tier voice cast that included two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks and comedy superstar Tim Allen. With an inspired score by Oscar-, Grammy- and Emmy-winning composer, songwriter and performer Randy Newman, "Toy Story" crossed generational boundaries by combining an original, imaginative story and lovable characters with the exciting new capabilities of computer-generated animation.
The first fruit of a long-term collaboration between Disney and Pixar raised the bar exponentially for future animated films. "Toy Story" blazed a wide trail in a brand-new medium, earning international acclaim. Originally released on Nov. 22, 1995, "Toy Story" became the highest-grossing movie of the year, with box office of nearly $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide.
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards and two Golden Globes. Lasseter received a Special Achievement Award (Oscar) from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his "inspired leadership of the Pixar 'Toy Story' team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film," and "Toy Story" was included on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Greatest American Movies.
"Toy Story's" success has sparked an unrivaled winning streak of ten hits and counting for DisneyPixar, including "A Bug's Life," "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," "Cars," "Ratatouille," "Up" and, of course, "Toy Story 2."

ABOUT "TOY STORY" A Star Is Born: On November 22, 1995, the art of animation went "to infinity and beyond" when Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios, a Northern California-based pioneer in computer graphics, released the now-legendary "Toy Story," the first full-length animated feature created entirely by artists using computer tools and technology. Read more

EVERYBODY IS AN AUTHORITY ON TOYS The Stars of "Toy Story": "Toy Story" focuses on the rivalry between Woody (voice of Tom Hanks), a traditional pull-string talking cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear (voice of Tim Allen), the coolest space action figure ever made. With the kinds of bells and whistles that make him any boy's dream, Buzz is a pain in the neck as far as Woody's concerned.Read more

FILLING WOODY'S BOOTS: An Animated Gathering
If a computer-animated feature were a live-action film, the technical scientists would be the crew, and the animators and voice talent would be the actors. Once the story was locked and edited to story reels, the cameras set and the action blocked, it became the animators' job to breathe life into the characters. Read more

BUILDING A CG WORLD  A Pixel-by-Pixel Approach: "Toy Story" marked art director Ralph Eggleston's introduction to the world of computer animation. The "heightened reality" look he envisioned for "Toy Story" resulted in a stylized world with realistic textures. After discussions with the director, Eggleston, who has since served as art director for "The Incredibles" as well as production designer for "Finding Nemo" and "WALL·E," designed a color script of the film's 28 major sequences. Read more

TOY STORY 2
Picking up where "Toy Story" left off, "Toy Story 2" enjoyed the benefit of almost five more years of technological innovation. In between the two movies, "A Bug's Life" had served as the proving ground for the next generation of CG technology, which added more realistic movement, flexibility in lighting and camera techniques, and startlingly detailed rendering to the CG artists' palette. "Toy Story 2" made history by becoming the first film ever to be entirely created, mastered and exhibited digitally.
The unprecedented success of "Toy Story" may have made a sequel inevitable, but "Toy Story 2" surpassed the original at the box office, becoming the first animated sequel to gross more than its inspiration. "Toy Story 2" broke opening-weekend box-office records in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan, and became the highest-grossing animated release of 1999, with more than $245 million in domestic box-office receipts and $485 million worldwide.
The film was nominated for an Academy Award^® and two Golden Globes and won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture--Comedy or Musical as well as a Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (Randy Newman, "When She Loved Me").

ABOUT "TOY STORY 2" The Saga Continues: Four years later, Guggenheim was proven correct with "Toy Story 2," which took the art of computer animation to the next plateau. The film utilized state-of-the-art technology to work its storytelling magic and create a world of infinite possibilities. Read more

WELCOME BACK, BUZZ LIGHTYEAR AND WOODY:  Revisiting Beloved Characters: Creating a sequel to one of the most successful and beloved animated films of all time was a daunting undertaking, but for John Lasseter and the "Toy Story 2" creative team, working with characters that they knew and loved was well worth it. Read more
PLAY IT AGAIN, RANDY: Setting the Mood with Music: Acclaimed songwriter/composer Randy Newman, who wrote the songs and score for "Toy Story" and "A Bug's Life," provided another colorful score and two original songs, including the beautiful ballad "When She Loved Me." Read more
ADD FIVE YEARS OF CG INNOVATION AND STIR: A New and Improved Toolbox: Computer animation had come a long way in the few short years since "Toy Story" made motion-picture history as the first feature-length undertaking of its kind. Read more

TOY STORY 3 - Old Friends, New Story
"With 'Toy Story 3' shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought this would be the perfect way to let audiences experience the first two films all over again," says Lasseter. "We resurrected all the data, and it's awesome to see how great these films look in 3D. They're amazing. There's a new generation of kids that has never seen either film on the big screen. Most of them have seen them on video at home or on DVD, which isn't the same thing.
"To see the movies back to back will be an amazing treat as well," Lasseter adds. "This is certainly nostalgic for me and reminiscent of my youth when double features were the norm."
The all-new "Toy Story 3" follows them to the big screen in June 2010 and promises to be packed with more cutting-edge technical surprises as well as a heartwarming and inspiring story.
Lee Unkrich (co-director of "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo" as well as the editor of "Toy Story") directs this highly anticipated film.
"John took me aside and said, 'We're going to make 'Toy Story 3,' and I really want you to direct it,'" Unkrich recalls. "I jumped at the opportunity. These characters and this world are near and dear to me. And I really wanted to be part of shepherding them forward."
In this latest chapter, Andy is preparing to depart for college, leaving Woody, Buzz and the rest of his loyal toys troubled about their uncertain future.
"We decided to set 'Toy Story 3' at a point in time that is just emotionally ripe," says Unkrich. "It's a very funny film, and it's going to be a very emotionally satisfying film as well."
"'Toy Story 3' takes place in the summer between Andy graduating high school and going off to college," says John Lasseter, executive producer. "The toys are actually at that place of being outgrown. And that's where the adventure starts.
  "Toys are put on this Earth to be played with by a child--that's the one thing they want more than anything else," Lasseter continues. "The things that keep toys from being played with by a child are the things that cause anxiety in their lives--being lost, being stolen, being broken. And the thing that they fear most of all is to be outgrown. When you're lost, you can be found. When you're broken, you can be fixed. When you're stolen, you can be recovered. But once you're outgrown, that's it."
"Toy Story 3" is a comical new adventure that lands the toys in a room full of untamed tots who can't wait to get their sticky little fingers on these "new" toys. It's pandemonium as Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang try to stay together, ensuring "no toy gets left behind." Meanwhile, Barbie comes face to plastic face with Ken (yes, that Ken).

TAKING "TOY STORY" TO 3D: Lead Stereographer Bob Whitehill Takes Pixar's Team--
and Toys--into Another Dimension
Bob Whitehill, the lead stereographer for the "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" conversions as well as stereoscopic supervisor for "Up," says the filmmakers' top priorities were to make the films' 3D versions "comfortable, consistent and captivating."
"First and foremost, our focus was to make films that are graceful and easy to watch," Whitehill explains. "We also wanted to be consistent to the original intent of the film's visuals in composition, lens choices and elements of that nature. And finally, we wanted the experience to engender a robust and dimensional visual experience that draws the viewers into the toys' world, ultimately enhancing and strengthening the effect of the story. Story is always the main focus here at Pixar."
The filmmakers had to adapt the images for modern software and re-render them as if they had just finished creating them. "Through a technical process we dubbed 'triage,' we were able to bring the shots up to modern software fluency," explains Whitehill. "We then re-created every single frame using two different cameras--one for the left-eye view and one for the right. The films are thereby a perfectly true representation of the world created in 3D."
Other recent 3D conversions have taken a slightly different tack, notes Whitehill. "Some take the final frames of the original 2D movie and split that image apart to create the stereo effect. Our process does not estimate what the 3D would look like; it captures the original compositions exactly."

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

JOHN LASSETER (Director, Original Story, "Toy Story," "Toy Story 2") is chief creative officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor to Walt Disney Imagineering. He is a two-time Academy Award-winning director and oversees all films and associated projects from Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Lasseter directed "A Bug's Life" and executive produced "Monsters, Inc.," "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles." He returned to the director's chair in 2006 with "Cars."
In 2004, Lasseter was honored by the Art Directors Guild with its prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award and received an honorary degree from the American Film Institute. He received the 2008 Winsor McCay Award from ASIFA-Hollywood for career achievement and contribution to the art of animation.
Under Lasseter's supervision, Pixar's animated features and short films have received a multitude of critical accolades and film industry honors. He received a Special Achievement Oscar in 1995 for his inspired leadership of the "Toy Story" team. His work on "Toy Story" also resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, the first time an animated feature had been recognized in that category. "Finding Nemo," released in 2003, became the highest-grossing animated feature of all time and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film.
As creative director of Pixar, Lasseter enjoyed the critical acclaim and box-office success of "The Incredibles" in 2004. The film was recognized with a record-breaking 16 Annie Award nominations and several "Best Of" awards by The Wall Street Journal, American Film Institute, National Board of Review and many others.
Lasseter also has written, directed and animated a number of highly renowned short films and television commercials for Pixar, including "Luxo Jr.," "Red's Dream," "Tin Toy" and "Knick Knack," which was produced as a 3D stereoscopic film. "Luxo Jr." was a 1986 Academy Award nominee and "Tin Toy" became the first computer-animated film to win an Oscar when it received the 1988 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Prior to the formation of Pixar in 1986, Lasseter was a member of the Computer Division of Lucasfilm Ltd., where he designed and animated the computer-generated Stained Glass Knight character in the 1985 Steven Spielberg-produced film "Young Sherlock Holmes."
Lasseter attended the inaugural year of the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts and received his B.F.A. in film there in 1979. While attending CalArts, Lasseter produced two animated films, both winners of the Student Academy Award for Animation: "Lady and the Lamp" in 1979 and "Nitemare" in 1980. His very first award came at the age of five when he won $15.00 from the Model Grocery Market in Whittier, California, for a crayon drawing of the Headless Horseman.

PETE DOCTER (Original Story, "Toy Story," "Toy Story 2") is the director of "Monsters, Inc." and "Up," DisneyPixar's tenth and most recently released feature film.
Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the studio's third animator, Docter collaborated with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton in developing the story and characters for "Toy Story," Pixar's first full-length animated feature film, for which he also served as supervising animator. He served as a storyboard artist on "A Bug's Life," and wrote initial story treatments for both "Toy Story 2" and "WALLE." 
Docter's interest in animation began at the age of eight when he created his first flipbook. He studied character animation at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) in Valencia, California, where he produced a variety of short films which have shown in animation festivals around the world, and won a Student Academy Award.  Upon joining Pixar, he animated and directed several commercials, and has been nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Animated Feature ("Monsters, Inc.") and Best Original Screenplay ("WALLE").

ANDREW STANTON (Screenplay, Original Story, "Toy Story," "Toy Story 2") has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company's elite group of computer animation pioneers. As Vice President, Creative, he currently oversees all features and shorts development for the studio. He wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning feature film "WALL·E," for which he also received a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination. Stanton is currently working on a future feature film project.
Stanton made his directorial debut with the record-shattering "Finding Nemo," an original story of his that he also co-wrote. The film garnered Stanton two Academy Award nominations (Best Original Screenplay and Best Animated Feature), and "Finding Nemo" was awarded an Oscar for Best Animated Feature of 2003, the first such honor Pixar received for a full-length feature.
Stanton was one of the four screenwriters to receive an Oscar nomination in 1996 for his contribution to "Toy Story," and went on to receive credit as a screenwriter on every subsequent Pixar film. Additionally, he served as co-director on "A Bug's Life" and was the executive producer of both "Monsters, Inc." and the 2006 Academy Award-winning "Ratatouille."
A native of Rockport, Massachusetts, Stanton earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Character Animation degree from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he completed two student films. In the 1980s, he launched his professional career in Los Angeles animating for Bill Kroyer's Kroyer Films studio, and writing for Ralph Bakshi's production of "Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures."

THE ART OF ANIMATION

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