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    You’ll Want to Remember These Toy Story Secrets to Infinity and Beyond

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    Watch: Tim Allen Reveals His and ‘Toy Story 5′ Costar Tom Hanks’ Text Chain

    Fans’ love for Toy Story extends to infinity and beyond.

    So when the fifth film premieres June 19, fans won’t need to call on Star Command to beam them over to the theater.

    If you’re buzzing to know what Toy Story 5 is about, the trailer shows Jessie (Joan Cusack) growing concerned after playmate Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) receives an electronic device called Lilypad (Greta Lee) and the screentime gets in the way of her not only playing with her other toys but also making friends. Because this problem is anything but child’s play, Jessie calls on her now balding pal Woody (Tom Hanks)—who you might recall headed off with Bo Peep in Toy Story 4—to help the toys with this tech takeover.

    Will Jessie, Woody and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) be able to power down this issue or are the games just beginning?

    read

    Toy Story 5’s Joan Cusack Shares Why She Stepped Away From Hollywood

    One thing’s for sure: Ever since the first Toy Story film was released in 1995, Woody and Buzz have kept audiences gripped like the clawwwww. And the pressure to deliver another good film is something Allen and Hanks can’t shake off like a snake in their boots.

    “We do not take this lightly,” the Oscar winner told Entertainment Tonight June 9. “We do not want to let that audience down because we got them when they were 6 and now they’re 36.”

    Pixar

    Over the past three decades, Allen and Hanks have developed a bond not only onscreen but offscreen too—one where they can tell each other you’ve got a friend in me.

    “We bring little gifts to each other,” the Home Improvement star told E! News at the Toy Story 5 premiere in Los Angeles June 9. “We’ve been doing it for years. Little special pens or staplers.”
     
    Before you go see the movie, grab a slice from Pizza Planet, put on Taylor Swift’s new song from the soundtrack and ride like the wind Bullseye through these facts about the Toy Story franchise.

    Moviestore Collection/Shutterstock

    1. Toy Story was initially based on the Oscar-winning animated short Tin Toy, which was about a toy named Tinny who reluctantly allowed a baby to play with him so he won’t cry. 2. While Tinny was initially supposed to be the protagonist, the filmmakers thought the toy was “too antiquated,” eventually making the character a military action figure before adding the astronaut element as well.The character’s name also evolved, going from Tinny to Lunar Larry to Tempus From Morph before the team eventually landed on Buzz Lightyear, inspired by famed astronaut Buzz Aldrin, according to The Pixar Touch, a 2008 book by David A. Price.

    Disney/Pixar/Kobal; Steve Granitz / Contributor / GETTY IMAGES

    3. It might be hard to believe, but in the initial script Woody was actually the villain of the story, a ventriloquist dummy that abused the other toys. As screenwriter Joss Whedon put it to EW, “The original Woody was a thundering a–hole.”4. Tom Hanks was the first (and really only) choice to serve as Woody’s voice. (His brother Jim Hanks voiced the character for video games and Woody-themed merchandise.)

    Snap/Shutterstock, FOX Image Collection via Getty Images

    5. For Buzz Lightyear, Billy Crystal was the first actor the filmmakers had in mind, but the comedy star turned it down, a decision he later said was “the only regret I have in the business of something I passed on.”6. After Crystal bowed out, stars like Bill Murray, Chevy Chase and Jim Carrey were also considered before Tim Allen, famous for his hit TV series Home Improvement, took on the role, partially because Chase was one of his inspirations. 7. Hanks and Allen don’t actually record their scenes together. The reason? “We don’t know,” Hanks said on Good Morning America in June 2026 while promoting Toy Story 5. “It’s been explained to us that it’s impossible.” 

    Disney-Pixar

    8. Brought in to punch up the underwhelming script, The Avengers director Whedon ended up adding essential elements, including the creation of Rex and changing Buzz’s entire personality, making the previously self-aware and cheerful toy completely ignorant to the fact that he was actually a toy.9. Known for his strong female characters (He did create Buffy the Vampire Slayer after all), Whedon tried to get Barbie in the movie as a savior for the two male lead toys, but Mattel ultimately did not give permission, according to Entertainment Weekly.10. Oh, and Pixar debated whether or not to make the animated feature a musical. “It would have been a really bad musical, because it’s a buddy movie,” the writer explained. “It’s about people who won’t admit what they want, much less sing about it. Woody can’t do an ‘I want’ number. He’s cynical and selfish, he doesn’t know himself. Buddy movies are about sublimating, punching an arm, ‘I hate you.’ It’s not about open emotion.”

    Moviestore/Shutterstock

    11. When the studio initially started planning for a sequel, they envisioned a direct-to-DVD follow-up for Toy Story 2, as a majority of the animators were working on A Bug’s Life. It would go on to score a rare 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.12. During production of the sequel, the entire film was nearly destroyed in 1998 when a staffer accidentally hit a button that would erase all the files. When another employee noticed it in the nick of time, 90 percent of the film was still erased and the back-up files were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, Galyn Susman, supervising technical director, had back-up files at her home as she had recently given birth and had been working from home more often. 13. The making of Toy Story 2, especially due to a late overhaul of almost the entire film, was so intense that many animators developed carpal tunnel syndrome, suffered strains and “by the time the film was complete, a full third of the staff would have some kind of repetitive stress injury,” Ed Catmull, the president of Pixar, revealed to the Los Angeles Times.

    Moviestore/Shutterstock

    14. Before Disney acquired Pixar, an animation studio, Circle 7, had come up with a drastically different storyline for Toy Story 3. After Buzz began malfunctioning, Andy’s mom was set to send the toy back to Taiwan so he could be repaired. After learning it was actually a recall, Woody and the gang travel to Taiwan to save Buzz, who was interacting with other recalled toys from around the world. But after Disney bought Pixar in 2006 and disbanded Circle 7, the movie completely changed. 15. Jim Varney died shortly after the release of Toy Story 2, leading Blake Clark to take over the voice role of Slinky Dog in Toy Story 3, with producers later saying they were “really excited” when they learned the two actors were close friends. “They knew each other from way back,’ director Lee Unkrich said in a statement. “When I’m in recording sessions with Blake, [he] just channels the spirit of his friend, Jim Varney, and he’s done a really awesome job keeping that character alive.”

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