The director of Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich, reveals that Woody, Buzz, and the other toys in the Toy Story universe can indeed die. The first Toy Story came out in 1995, putting Pixar on the map and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of the year. The sequel in 1999 proved to be another success for the studio, but Toy Story 3 wouldn’t be released until 2010. This sequel ended up being worth the wait, with the story of a grown-up Andy going to college proving to be an incredibly emotion plotline.
Today the Toy Story movies are still some of Pixar’s most popular films, which traces back to the fascinating story from John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and the other writers at Pixar. The idea of having toys come to life when humans aren’t in the room was completely unique, and the idea evolved in the three sequels. There have been debates over the years if the toys are actually immortal since they clearly don’t age, or if Andy would be playing with the toys’ corpses if they could die. Now Unkrich has set the record straight.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
According to Unkrich, toys can die in the Toy Story universe if they are destroyed. The director responded to a fan who asked him to settle a debate he was having with his girlfriend. Unkrich’s original response can be read in his post below:
While Unkrich has made it clear that toys can die, Toy Story 4 created another unanswered question: can the toys create life? Forky was brought to life after Woody grabbed scraps of garbage for Bonnie to participate in arts and crafts time at school. After Bonnie built Forky and put her name on the bottom of his stick, Forky became a sentient toy. Josh Cooley, the director of Toy Story 4, tried to explain this mystery by claiming that the love and care of a child can create life in the Toy Story universe, and Bonnie clearly had a special place in her heart for Forky.
Overall, Unkrich’s explanation makes a lot of sense. He is referring to the climax of Toy Story 3 when he mentions the incinerator, something that would have destroyed the toys had the Aliens not saved them. This scene proved to be one of the most emotional scenes in the entire franchise, with fans briefly believing that Pixar might kill off the beloved characters to end the franchise. In the end though, Pixar is unlikely to kill off the toys in a future storyline, especially since Toy Story 5 doesn’t seem to be happening. That being said, the mythology of life and death doesn’t really need to be explained for fans to enjoy the Toy Story movies.
Source: Lee Unkrich
