To the Movie Theater... And Beyond!

So far in this blog I have only discussed live action movies, but I felt like it was time to touch upon a movie that probably has a special place in most of our hearts:  Toy Story.

I don't doubt that a majority of you have seen Toy Story, as the films of the series all came out during the prime of our childhood.  How many of you at one point dressed up like Buzz Lightyear for Halloween, professing at the top of your lungs "to infinity and beyond!"?  How many ran around the house repeating the lines "you've got a friend in me," because those were the only words of the film's theme we could remember?  How many became convinced that this movie was proof that our toys were alive, leaving us determined to catch them in action?

Courtesy of Disney Pixar / Via giphy.com

While we can probably agree that Toy Story played an important role in our childhood, it is equally important to understand its significance on the animated movie industry.  When Toy Story came out in 1995, it was both Pixar's and the world's first full length movie that was created entirely by computer animation.  This obviously changed Pixar and the way animated movies were made, paving the way for those that followed such as Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., and The Incredibles.  The animated movie industry was revolutionized with the introduction of the technology used to create Toy Story, allowing its influence to reach beyond the audiences for which the movie itself was intended.

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However, this is not the reason it remains special to us as we have gotten older.  Throughout the series' fifteen year span since creation, Toy Story has been a series that we have literally grown up with.  It may have been one of the first movies you watched as a kid, and I can bet many of you anxiously awaited the premiere of Toy Story 3 in 2010 as much as I did.  For us, Toy Story was ours. We felt like it was created for us, and for the most part, it was.  The timing was too perfect; the reign of the first and second movies occurred during the point in our lives when all we did was play with toys.  The eleven year hiatus between the second and third movie was representative of the time we spent forgetting about our toys and started growing up.  When Toy Story 3 finally hit the big screen, we understood Andy's thoughts and actions about moving on from childhood because it would soon be time for us to do the same.  Movie makers allowed Andy to grow up at the same rate that the original movie's audience would grow up to ensure that the series would always be ours.

Courtesy of Disney Pixar / Via giphy.com

Collectively the series is synonymous with childhood and growing up.  Individually, each film depicts a fun, creative story that 90's kids, or kids of any era for that matter, would find both funny and heartwarming.  Not only that, but these films depict one of the strongest cases of the importance of friendship and loyalty to both kids now and the young adults that grew up with them.  Woody and Buzz have become a timeless example of friends that would do anything for one another.  Woody showed us the importance of loyalty with his refusal to give up on Andy.  Even minor characters taught us countless lessons, like Rex's portrayal of the importance of confidence.  Toy Story has crept its way into our hearts, growing in meaning each time as we watch these lessons play out in real life and understand how important they actually are.

Not to mention the snarky lines prevalent throughout the series that only get funnier with each viewing.

Courtesy of Disney Pixar / Via giphy.com