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“Toy Story 3” raises the bar for 3D filmmaking and exhibition, and takes full advantage of the newest technology to bring depth and dimension to the story. For this film, the Pixar team has perfected and pioneered the latest 3D advances to tell their story in a visually dynamic way. Unkrich says that while 3D certainly enhances the movie-going experience, Pixar has been incorporating dimension into their films all along.

“Our approach tends to use 3D as a window into the world so the audience can experience everything in depth,” says director Lee Unkrich. “We converted ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Toy Story 2’ into 3D, and although neither of those films was designed to be 3D, they felt like they had been. I think that’s due to the fact that we were already staging in depth within our 2D images. For ‘Toy Story 3,’ my goal was to tell the best story that I could, while staging the action as dynamically as possible.”

The original “Toy Story” made motion-picture history in 1995 when it became the first full-length animated feature to be created entirely by artists using CG technology. It 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. It became the highest grossing film of 1995, with a US box office of nearly US$192 million, and US$362 million worldwide. “Toy Story” was nominated for three Academy Awards®, and John Lasseter received a Special Achievement Oscar® for his “inspired leadership of the Pixar ‘Toy Story’ team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film.”

In 1999, “Toy Story 2” (Pixar’s third feature), became the first film ever to be entirely created, mastered and exhibited digitally. The film surpassed the original at the box office becoming the first animated sequel to gross more than its inspiration. It won praise from critics and moviegoers alike, and was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Original Song and two Golden Globes®, winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Comedy Or Musical.



“It was always our goal to make a movie that was as at least as good as the first two ’Toy Story’ films,” says Unkrich. “In the history of Hollywood, there are only a few second films that are as good as the first, and we really couldn’t think of any good third movies. The only one that came to mind was ‘The Return of the King,’ which was really more like the third part of one giant story. That’s when I had an epiphany. We needed the three movies to feel like part of one grand story. And that’s always been the driving force for us in creating ‘Toy Story 3.’”

One of the film’s greatest challenges was to take advantage of the new technological advances in computer animation over the past 15 years (since the 1995 debut of the landmark “Toy Story”), while keeping the look and charm of the original film. Production designer Bob Pauley explains, “All of the characters had to be rebuilt. The technology was so old, that we couldn’t just dig them up and put them in the movie. It took a lot of work, and it was very challenging to remake the characters. We dissected the first two films to find the essence of ‘Toy Story.’ There is a consistent design language and a finessed simplicity that we didn’t want to lose.”

Adds Unkrich: “We had an interesting challenge on ‘Toy Story 3’ because the tools and the technology have advanced quite a bit since ‘Toy Story 2.’ Additionally, the level of talent of the artists at the studio has risen dramatically. The films we make now are really gorgeous. I didn’t want ’Toy Story 3’ to feel like it was in a completely different design universe—it’s still a ‘Toy Story’ film—but I certainly wanted to take advantage of the technology and artistry of which we’re currently capable. I believe we’ve created a film that sits comfortably alongside the first two films, yet looks exponentially better in so many ways.”



As with all the great Pixar films, “Toy Story 3” blends comedy, action and heartfelt emotion to give moviegoers a uniquely moving experience that touches the heart and tickles the funny bone. The filmmakers drew on their own life experiences and families to make the story even more meaningful and believable. For one of the film’s key story points, Unkrich tapped into the time he accidentally threw out a bag of his wife’s childhood stuffed animals (placed in an unmarked plastic bag) during the process of moving apartments.

“Lee’s leadership and vision on this film has been a tour de force,” says producer Anderson. “He really steered the storytelling and the filmmaking. He’s been like a maestro directing a symphony in a way that’s just astounding. He knows when it needs to be a little bit quiet, and when to give the story a little more time to unfold. The film has a lot of serious themes, so we wanted to make sure we balanced it out with a lot of humor. It can be as deep as you want it to be. The story reflects how we all move on. It’s all about the human experience.”

“‘Toy Story’ has always been about us,” says John Lasseter (who directed the first two “Toy Story” films and serves as executive producer on the third). “So much of me, Andrew, Pete Docter, Joe Ranft, and Lee has seeped into these stories about Buzz and Woody, and I think ‘Toy Story 3’ continues that. For me personally, I was able to tap into the real emotion of taking my son to college. It was an immensely powerful emotion. You’re with someone since birth, and then all of a sudden they’re going away. The timing between ‘Toy Story 2’ and ‘Toy Story 3’ was perfect for letting Andy—and our own life situations—grow up.”

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