Pixar Pint #3: Toy Story 2

Does the sequel to Pixar's first offering really surpass the original?

Welcome back to Pixar Pints, our summer-long journey through all 25 Pixar films in release order.

Today, we’re looking at Toy Story 2, Pixar’s third film and first sequel. According to its Wikipedia page, it’s one of the few sequels widely considered to outshine the original. Do we agree?

Let’s get into it.

Toy Story 2 quick facts

Release date: November 24, 1999 | Director: John Lasseter | Music: Randy Newman

Starring: Tom Hanks (Woody), Tim Allen (Buzz + Utility Belt Buzz), Joan Cusack (Jessie), Kelsey Grammer (Stinky Pete), Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head), Jim Varney (Slinky), Wallace Shawn (Rex), John Ratzenberger (Hamm), Wayne Knight (Al)

Budget: $90 million | Box office: $497.4 million

Eli

Aesthetic: 9/10 | There are so many different settings that this movie does incredibly well, from the familiar (Andy's room, car chase scenes) to the new (the airport, Al's Toy Barn, everything in the condo building from the living room to the elevator duct). And there's so much series lore introduced in this film that just looks so pleasing and obviously had so much though put into it. I think this is about as good as the medium could get in 1999. Even the non-toy characters are much improved from the first film, though my docked point does come from them still looking a little uncanny.

Animation: 9/10 | Not as many neat tricks as A Bug's Life but the movements are more fluid. Very little obviously wrong. It's better than Toy Story.

Story: 9/10 | The first time Pixar has had an obvious A-plot and B-plot in its storytelling. Woody and the Roundup Gang's A-plot serve to move the story forward and provide the morals, while Buzz and the toys' B-plot mostly serves as comic relief. It's a really fun experience overall and though the morals are less obvious than they were in the first film, they're still important. 1) Enjoy the good times while they last and even though they're not forever, don't cry because they're over; smile because they happened. 2) All the clout and fame in the world are meaningless if you have to give up the one(s) you love. 3) The secret entrance is in the shadows to the left.

Characters: 9/10 | Woody is likeable in this one, which is why I remembered him so fondly all these years. Buzz is a lot more down-to-earth and the contrast between him and Utility Belt Buzz is hilarious to watch unfold. Mr. Potato Head is less jealous of Andy, but still kind of a grump...his apparent disdain for Mrs. Potato Head is kinda upsetting to watch given he spent much of the first film begging for a Mrs. All of the other previously introduced characters are largely the same, though Rex shines a lot brighter in this film than in the original. As for the new characters: Mrs. Potato Head is a one-note naggy wife whose inclusion almost singlehandedly knocked this score down from a 10 to a 9; maybe she was funny to middle-aged fathers watching this on DVD in 2001. Utility Belt Buzz and Zurg are hilarious comic relief. Bullseye is a silent horse who acts like a dog, and he's not much on his own but his existence kind of "completes" Woody to me. Jessie is the strong female character this franchise needed; thank you Nancy Lasseter for pushing for her inclusion! Stinky Pete is a villain whose actions I don't quite understand. He's evidently spent decades in storage envious of the toys who got sold and loved while he didn't, and now that he gets the chance to go back home to a real child, he...doesn't want to? He'd rather go be on display at a museum and do nothing forever? I'm no therapist, but I think he needs one. Al is an almost cartoonishly evil asshole in ways that I didn't really pick up as a kid, and it's almost too satisfying to see him lose.

Acting: 9/10 | Not as memorable as the original but still well above average. Joan Cusack turns in an incredible performance as Jessie and Wallace Shawn really makes Rex pop in this one, a lot more so than in the first movie. Tim Allen essentially playing two separate parts is really impressive as well, and he does a good job of not letting them bleed into each other.

Music: 10/10 | The orchestral cues and setting pieces are just as good as, if not better than, those in the original. "When She Loved Me" actually made me tear up a little; it's so killer. I love "You've Got a Friend in Me" being reused here because it both adds onto how it was used in the first film and also takes on multiple new meanings.

Overall: 10/10 | Full disclosure: this was my favorite Pixar movie going into this project. This rewatch didn't do anything to prove that notion mistaken. It's my gold standard. I could watch it 10,000 times.

Leah

Aesthetic: 8/10 | Huge improvement over the first Toy Story! The environments looked better, the dog was cute, the toys look great! The people still need some work. Looking back, this is super impressive for 1998.

Animation: 9/10 | Again, lots of improvement from the first movie! It's great to see Pixar moving the medium forward. The action in this movie was fantastic, and there were plenty of funny moments too.

Story: 9/10 | Strong story about fear of abandonment and death, as well as accepting the risks that come with relationships. I liked the resolution of Woody deciding to go back to be there for Andy instead of taking the "safe" route of going to live in the museum.

Characters: 8/10 | The original cast is still strong, and the new characters are pretty fun too. I liked the other Buzz and Zurg, and I thought the Roundup Gang was pretty fun. Al was a total dick to an absurd degree. My biggest gripe was that Bo Peep and Ms. Potato Head seem to exist only to be romantic interests/stereotypes. Ms. Potato Head is overbearing wife to a T, and I feel like Bo Peep still has that token girl character vibe. It's really weird to me how heteronormative these toys are. Even Buzz has to hit on Jessie in the end, which I didn't think added anything, but I digress.

Acting: 9/10 | Still really excellent VA work! There weren't as many standout moments in this movie as the original for me, but it was still really enjoyable!

Music: 8/10 | Okay, so did anyone else think that song that played when Jessie had her flashback about Emily was like really Sapphic? Anyway, I really liked the music in this one. The scoring was great, and the songs they included were pretty good too. Ending with Wheezy singing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” was super cute.

Final score: 9/10 | Really excellent film! It builds on the original, and makes something wonderful and new. I want to say that Pixar's golden age starts here.

Maddy

Aesthetic: 9/10 | The first two Toy Story films and how well they have held up is honestly magic, yet they are also great time capsules of the style of CGI around their release date. Toy Story 2 looks like the peak of late ‘90s CGI, and that’s a good thing.

Animation: 9/10 | Very good. Not much to say.

Story: 9/10 | This is still one of Pixar’s strongest stories and one of the first to have the classic "tearjerker" moment (you know what I’m talking about). It’s just a really good story about abandonment and moving on, and the beginning of this franchise being more about Woody and his arc than Buzz.

Characters: 9/10 | The OG cast still hitting bangers as always (helps when they get their own subplot to shine in). The new additions are great as well. Pete is a well-written twist villain, even though I wouldn’t call Al a villain outside of stealing Woody at the start. This is really the only movie that has Jessie do something and she is a blast. Everyone else is kinda hit and miss or underutilized (looking at the Potato Heads).

Acting: 9/10 | Another Pixar movie with solid voice acting, are we surprised? I’m with Leah that there aren’t many standout moments or performances, but it’s still great.

Music: 10/10 - This soundtrack is so silly and fun! I love it so mu- “When She Loved Me” starts playing.

Final score: 9.5/10 | The best Toy Story movie, the first great Pixar movie, and the movie to define Pixar for next half decade. All of Pixar’s story and emotional quirks are established here and the studio is starting to hit the ground running.

Fun Maddy note: The Woody cleaning scene is the only good ASMR.

David

This is the best Toy Story movie.

Aesthetic: For being from 1999? Pretty baller. It's aged, sure, but aged more like a nice wine than that bag of apples you forgot about at the back of the fridge. Impressive how well things have held up on the whole. The cleaning scene might still be my single favorite scene just for the intense beauty of it.

Animation: It's definitely a late ‘90s animated movie, but even then, the leaps and bounds taken from Toy Story in just four years are extremely evident. It's not the smoothest by any means, but a lot of the small details that really set Pixar apart from so many other stories come through big-time here. This was the movie that made me want to work in animation for a while as a kid.

Story: It's a rollicking adventure that never really relaxes, and small me thought that was pretty goddamn awesome. Though Woody absolutely has the A story here, Buzz's B-plot is by far my favorite from the entire Toy Story series, forced to confront a past version of himself. The dichotomy of Woody, trying to find a greater purpose, and Jessie, whose storyline tells her that the greatest purpose is what Woody is walking away from - that's the good shit. It's a delightful and touching story about abandonment, love, found family, and toys committing absurd heists.

Characters: This is where we really pivot into The Woody Arc - and I frankly love it. Everyone excels and gets their moment, and Enlightened!Buzz versus Dark!Buzz is still incredibly funny after all this time. Al is a solid foil to set up the overarching conflict in Woody's heart, to stay or to go. You can't review this movie without mentioning Jessie and her endless excitement for... well, anything. There's not a character in this movie that isn't memorable in at least one scene and many of them are foundational movie memories of my childhood.

Acting: I mean. No one missed. Everyone was excellent, and adding strong new voices to an already all-star cast reprising their earlier roles is the surest path to a home-run.

Music: [“When She Loved Me” plays] [immediately bursts into tears].

Final score: 9/10 | This movie not being first in my rankings is a testament to Pixar's later work, not a ding to this film in any sense. As much as Toy Story may have been The Movie we watched the most, I think we all enjoyed Toy Story 2 more, and frankly, as time has passed, this one has held up the best of the series. It's a conflict that resonates even after all this time, and beyond that - it's just fun. It's happy, it's sad, it plucks at the heart. This was the first time, I think, that a lot of people probably realized that Pixar was here and meant business, because they killed it here.

Nik

This was the first Pixar film that I ever watched. I can’t be certain but I am positive I watched this many times before ever seeing Toy Story so, for a couple years, I thought this was the first Toy Story film. The Jessie sadness montage is the first time I ever felt some sort of strong emotional effect from any source of media, and even today, it is hard not to tear up when doing so.

Aesthetic: Once again, the environments were fantastic. There may not be a more relatable scene than the one with all the cheese puffs on the floor where Woody has to navigate quietly through. An all time top Pixar scene, in my opinion.

Animation: From the toys themselves, to the human characters, it was crazy to analyze how much progress had been made since the first film in the franchise. It would be hard to argue that the first film was made around the time of the third or fourth, but this one actually could make that argument.

Story: This movie truly felt like an adventure. My favorite storyline is definitely the one that follows Buzz and gang as they go on a rescue mission. I always wanted all five of the group, but sadly, I only ever got Mr. Potato Head and a small Buzz plush. The beauty of Woody’s and Jessie’s opposite storylines is perfect. Where Woody struggles to find purpose as just a “toy,” Jessie wants nothing more to be played with and loved, something she never got, and it helps Woody realize how lucky he is.

Characters: Al and Pete were both fantastic villains. However, what I confirmed on rewatch is I always felt Pete’s ending was a bit tragic. He was just doing what he thought was best. I mean there are worse things than ending up with Barbie, but I’d like to think that in the third or fourth film he might be invited into the fold.

Acting: There’s not much to say; the returning cast killed it, and the new voice actors did so as well. Wayne Knight has perhaps one of the most iconic Pixar character voices to this day. Also, I don’t know if there are any Shameless watchers out there, but I kept thinking in my head that the person voicing Jessie was not Joan Cusack herself, but the character she plays in that show.

Music: This film is riddled with not only the classic “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”, but also the annoyingly catchy “Woody’s Roundup” and the very sad “When She Loved Me”. I don’t want to say Wheezy’s version of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” is the best version, but it kind of is.

Final score: 10/10 | This movie was my childhood, and may be the movie I’ve seen the most times, although being forced to sit through my little brother's two-year Shark Tale obsession may have that beat. All in all, I think this movie is perfect. It is sad, feel good, and just an overall amazing adventure that still to this day gets the heart racing a little bit.

Final notes

We all agree: Toy Story 2 is an all-time classic, superior to the original Toy Story in nearly every way.

The logic follows that all five of us again have the same order:

1. Toy Story 2

2. Toy Story

3. A Bug’s Life

The next one is where we might start seeing some deviations.

Next up: Monsters, Inc.