Pixar Week: Toy Story And Joss Whedon

When you think about Joss Whedon, your mind might think of Firefly, The Avengers or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But did you know that he was one of the writers on the Disney / Pixar classic, Toy Story?
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Image: Mandy Horetski

When you think about Joss Whedon, your mind might think of Firefly, The Avengers or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But did you know that he was one of the writers on the Disney / Pixar classic, Toy Story?

I saw Toy Story in the theater when it was released in 1995 and saw it a few times once it was on DVD. I enjoyed the movie but didn't pay a lot of attention to the credits. I introduced my daughter to the Toy Story movies and she fell in love with them. I've seen all three movies more times than I can count now with her. It was on one of those viewings that I noticed that my favorite writer / director was one of the writers on the original Toy Story.

Joss Whedon is known for writing interesting characters. This makes me wonder how much of Woody, Buzz and the other toy's personalities was from his imagination. It gave me a new perspective to this classic movie and lets me see Toy Story with new eyes, even though I had seen it many times before.

It's hard to know what parts of Toy Story may have come from the mind of Whedon since there were several other writers. To me, Woody yelling at Buzz, "You are a toy!" seems like it could have been written by Joss. As well as Buzz's response, "You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity."

There are also great moments in Toy Story that have a Whedon-ish feel to them. One that pops into my mind is the scene where Buzz is forced to take part in a tea party and convinces himself that he is Mrs. Nesbitt as he deals with the revelation that he is, in fact, a toy.

Are there any scenes or lines in Toy Story that screams Joss Whedon to you?