How 'Toy Story' has endured for over 30 years ahead of 5th movie
To infinity and beyond!
As moviegoers await the June 19 release of "Toy Story 5" in theaters, the people responsible for the beloved Pixar series reflected on its legacy and surviving the nearly disastrous initial screening of the first movie.
A new "20/20" special, "'Toy Story': 30 Years and Beyond" airs Friday, June 12, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.
The four previous "Toy Story" movies are available to stream on Disney+.
"Toy Story 5" will take fans into the future of the series with new characters, storylines and a song from Taylor Swift.
Tom Hanks, the voice of cowboy doll Woody since the original, told "20/20" about the excitement of learning about the story of each new movie.
"It's like Christmas morning. What is it going to be? And then when you actually get there and you read it, it's like, 'Oh. Oh, this is like a little farther and higher than I thought it was gonna be,'" he said.
Tim Allen, who has played Buzz Lightyear since the first movie, noted how intertwined the characters have become with their personalities.
"There's so much of Woody, the character, in Tom Hanks, and I think there's so much of Buzz [in me] when we're together," he said.
In the film, the toys will face a new antagonist played by Greta Lee -- Lilypad, a smart tablet toy that challenges the norms of playtime in an increasingly virtual world.
"Initially, she was potentially a more villainous character," Lee told "20/20." "But it became really clear that she's actually much more human-like -- basically a complicated person."
Tony Hale, who has played Forky since 2019's "Toy Story 4," told "20/20" that the plot meets the modern era of play head on.
"They're not bashing technology. We're meeting it," Hale said. "But the whole angle of this is that it will never replace true connection. You won't get away from that."
The original "Toy Story" was released in 1995 in partnership between Pixar and Disney, inspired by the Oscar-winning 1988 short "Tin Toy."
In early storyboarding sessions, space ranger action figure Buzz Lightyear was named Lunar Larry and Woody was called Dummy, due to having the articulated jaw of a ventriloquist puppet.
When Pixar first screened a rough cut of the film for Disney leadership in 1993, it bombed. ABC News contributor Chris Connelly noted that Woody was "kind of a jerk" in this version.
Andrew Stanton, who worked on the movie's story and is director of the fifth, told "20/20" the team was trying to give the story more of an edge, but accidentally made it "just annoying and unappealing" in the process.
Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, who was a writer and animator on the original movie, recalled how "Toy Story" was a make-or-break project for the studio.
"We showed them a screening. And they said, 'This is just not working. Shut it all down, fire all your animators,'" he said.
"Luckily, somebody wisely said, 'Give us one more shot. Just give us a couple months, we'll turn this around,'" he added.
For the next screening, Woody was rewritten to be warmer and less aggressive. It was a hit, and the Toy Story universe was born, eventually spawning three blockbuster sequels, multiple theme park attractions and countless dollars' worth of merchandise.
Joan Cusack, who has voiced cowgirl Jessie since 1999's "Toy Story 2," told "20/20" that the fandom reaches beyond generations.
"It's been the most important thing I've done in my whole life," she said.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of Pixar, ABC, ABC News, Disney+ and Hulu.
