“I’m sorry honey, but you know,
toys don’t last forever.” Toy Story and its sequels
may help us reconnect with idyllic imagery of childhood,
complete with trips to Pizza Planet and a toybox that invites
maximum nostalgia. But at the heart of these movies,
there’s actually a dark worry and panic driving the adventures
of Woody and his fellow toy friends. On closer inspection,
all of Toy Story is really about the fear of abandonment. “But what if Andy gets another
dinosaur, a mean one? I just don't think I could take
that kind of rejection!” The toys live in
an unstable environment -- they dread every Christmas,
birthday party, and yard sale, as they’re in danger
of being cast aside. “I know Andy's excited about Buzz. But you know he'll always have a special place for you.” “Yeah, like the attic!” They meet other toys who have
already lived their worst nightmare. “We were lost. Cast off, unloved.” And they know there’s a clock ticking, as Andy will eventually grow up
and have no use for them. “Andy's growing up, and there's
nothing you can do about it.” While we tend to think
of abandonment issues as a specific problem only affecting
those who've known extreme neglect or similar ordeals,
the Toy Story franchise makes us realize, that, in some form,
the fear of abandonment is a universal terror
that plagues us throughout our lives. “I can't do storage again. I just can't! I won't go back in the dark!”. Children dread the loss
of their parents, and then grow up to worry
about the loss of their own children. In these movies,
the toys play both these roles -- on the one hand they’re the kids
who are totally dependent on their parent-like human, but on the other they are the parents
caring for a child who will one day outgrow them. In Toy Story 4,
Woody is like the “empty-nester” who has to at last face
being out on his own and ask if life can still have
meaning beyond the relationship that’s always defined him. So here’s our take
on how the Toy Story films force us to confront
the repressed horror that underlies the very fabric of our existence. “Will Andy pick me?” “Don't count on it.” Before we go on we want to talk about
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in the description below to sign up now. First let’s look at how in this
set-up the toys are the children, who see Andy, and then Bonnie,
as their parent. Woody and his friends channel
a kid’s feeling of being totally reliant on a
grown-up. We see how vulnerable they are out in the world
and how they fear being taken by someone with ulterior motives. “It’s a dangerous world out there for
a toy.” The fear of abandonment
is usually associated with some kind of childhood trauma. And, while the main Toy Story toys
have a loving father figure who genuinely cares about them,
they encounter signs of trauma all around in their world. They’ve met other toys
who’ve been abandoned. “You never forget kids like Emily
or Andy. But they forget you.” They’ve seen their friends discarded
right in front of them. “Yeah, we’ve lost friends along
the way Wheezy and Etch and…” “Bo Peep?” The villain of the first movie
is the vicious toy-abuser, Sid. “He tortures toys, just for fun!” Whose carpet is an homage
to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. This links Sid to Jack Torrance,
who attacks his own family, “Here’s Johnny.” Becoming an evil perversion
of what a father should be. So there are very real threats
out in the world for these toys to fear. Just as, even if kids in our world
aren’t the victims of abuse or neglect, they’re probably aware
from a fairly early age that these things affect other kids
and are a possibility for them. On the day-to-day level,
Andy’s toys are troubled by a lack of emotional security,
as they know they can always be replaced. “It's just a mistake!” “Well, that mistake is sitting
in your spot, Woody. Have you been replaced?” This breeds a culture of competition
and infighting among them. “Listen, Light Snack,
you stay away from Andy. He's mine, and no one
is taking him away from me.” The toys rarely get
their “parent’s” undivided attention. “It's just that I've
been looking forward to this all year. It's my one time with just me
and Andy.” For these toys,
their owner is a god-like creator who gives them life
simply by declaring them toys. “Hello, I’m Forky.” An exaggeration of the way
that parents give life to their kids and get to name them. They get their sense of belonging
and identity from having Andy’s name written on them, getting at how as kids
we derive our ideas of who we are from our parents. “Oh Bullseye,
we’re part of a family again!” But in these toys’ case,
due to the hyper-competitive and insecure environment,
that reliance on the parent for identity is taken
to an unhealthy extreme -- They believe that they need
to be perfect to earn love and attention. In Toy Story 2,
Woody believes Andy won’t take him to camp because Woody’s hat is missing. “This'll be the first year
I miss cowboy camp, all because of my stupid hat!” Woody’s hat is found after all,
but when his arm rips Andy does decide to leave him behind. “Maybe we can fix him on the way.” “No, just leave him.” Confirming a child's worst fear:
that his parent figure's love is conditional. “What happened?” “Woody's been shelved.” This stressful situation
may remind us of the ruthless achievement culture
that some young people grow up in today. Children in a cutthroat world
may feel that they have to live up to impossible ideals
in order to earn their parent’s, and culture’s, approval. Even if the parent does love their kids
no matter what and doesn’t intend to send this message. “One more rip, and Andy's done with me. And what do I do then, Buzz, huh?” The toys may also be giving
expression to anxiety that Andy is feeling in his own childhood. We never see or hear about Andy’s dad,
and story supervisor Matthew Luhn has explained, quote, “If there was a dad in Toy Story,
the boy would not have had such a need for a doll who represents a kind
of authority figure, like Buzz.” The first movie also takes place
during a time of transition in Andy’s life -- He’s recently become a big brother,
he’s celebrating a birthday, and he’s preparing to move. And while Andy himself doesn’t seem
to be struggling with these changes, we could interpret the toys
as giving voice to what he’s feeling deep inside. “Oh I hate all this uncertainty.” The way Buzz and Woody clash
looks like classic sibling rivalry -- Something Andy may be feeling,
even if we aren’t privy to it. “Couldn’t handle Buzz cutting in
on your playtime, could you Woody? Didn’t want to face the fact that Buzz
just might be Andy’s new favorite toy.” Now let’s look at how the toys
are like parents to Andy. “Woody, Take care of Andy.” “Yeah, he’s a good kid.” They see their whole purpose
as taking care of this person who doesn’t seem to realize
they have inner lives of their own -- Much as kids often don’t notice
or appreciate the hard work their parents do to look after them. “What matters is that we're here
for Andy when he needs us. That's what we're made for, right?” Woody believes he was put on this earth
to make a child happy -- “Somewhere in that pad of stuffing
is a toy who taught me that life is only worth living
if you’re being loved by a kid.” And this reflects a parent’s feeling
that their most important role is giving their kids a stable,
comfortable childhood. Most centrally, the toys watch Andy grow up
knowing that one day he won’t need them anymore -- Just as parents raise their kids
with the understanding that eventually their little ones will want independent
lives of their own. “How long will it last, Woody? Do you really think Andy is gonna take you to college
or on his honeymoon?” Sure enough,
they’re eventually dismissed as uncool and useless. “Mom, no one’s going to want
those old toys. They’re junk.” In the same way that teens
and young adults typically start to write off their parents. “Why didn’t you just say
pick up your feet?” “I didn’t know if you were-“ “You’re being passive aggressive.” “No I wasn’t-“ “You are so infuriating.” In the third movie
as Andy gets ready to head to college, the toys embody a parent’s sadness
at being left behind by their child as they grow up. “How long’s it been
since you all were played with?” “It’s been years.” They’re like the parents
of adolescents, soon-to-be empty-nesters,
mourning a time when their kids paid more attention to them. Woody is the lone toy Andy plans
to bring to college with him. But Woody’s turning point comes
when he witnesses this moment between Andy and his mom. “I wish I could always be with you.” Andy’s mom expresses
what Woody himself feels, and Woody realizes that, just as Andy won’t be bringing
his mom to college with him, it doesn’t make sense for Woody
to go either. Instead, he makes the hard choice
to join his friends in the donation box -- Separating himself from Andy,
for Andy’s own good, since part of a parent’s role
is pushing the little bird out of the nest and letting it learn
to fly on its own. Andy’s goodbye to his toys, “Thanks guys.” Underlines how the toys’ job
as parents is done: they gave Andy a happy childhood. “We done our duty. Andy’s grown up.” Now it’s time to do that for Bonnie,
who is very much like their grandchild. While we speak of the “fear”
of abandonment, for the toys it’s really a certainty
of abandonment. And Toy Story captures that,
in fact, for all of us, abandonment is an inevitability. “We all knew this day was coming.” “Yeah but now it’s here!” “Look, every toy goes through this.” Eventually, in one way or another,
parents and children lose each other to time. “Molly and I have been growing
apart for years it’s just I can’t believe
she would throw me away!” So the movies are asking the question:
how do we live with the knowledge that eventually the person
at the center of our world won’t need or want us anymore? “What's the point in prolonging
the inevitable? We're all just one stitch away
from here to there.” “Yard sale?” The villains of Toy Story 2
and Toy Story 3 show us what not to do. Prospector and Lotso are embittered
by abandonment and respond by becoming tyrannical villains. Prospector has never been chosen
and loved by a kid. “I'll tell you what's not fair:
spending a lifetime on a dime-store shelf watching
every other toy be sold.” While Lotso was forgotten
and replaced by his owner “She replaced all of us, didn’t she?” Both toys are so scarred
by this lack of love that they try to convince other toys
they’re doomed as well. “You'll all be ruined, forgotten! Spending eternity rotting in some landfill!” “We’re all just trash
waiting to be thrown away.” Lotso even creates a narrative
where his owner Daisy never cared about him at all. “She loved you, Lotso.” “She never loved me.” But this cynical worldview
isn’t right -- Daisy did care about him… Lotso was her favorite toy
and he wasn’t replaced out of cruelty, but necessity. So the movies are pushing us
to face the reality of abandonment, but that doesn’t mean
we should view this picture in the harshest possible light. Essentially, the moral of the story
is that even if being loved is a transient experience,
it’s still worth it. “You still worried?” “About Andy? Nah. It'll be fun while it lasts.” In Toy Story 3,
it pains Andy to let go of his toys -- and there’s something oddly comforting
about this, as it shows that you can love something
and still need to let it go. The way Andy passes on the toys
to Bonnie shows he really does care
that they have a great home -- he’s just realized
that he’s not that home anymore. “I’m going away now, so I need someone
really special to play with them.” In this franchise the solution
to the problem of abandonment is that the toys can always
be passed on to someone else. “Andy'll love you! Besides, he's got a little sister.” “He does? Why didn't you say so? Let's go!” This is pretty optimistic
when it comes to literal toys, as in our world kids tend to want their own brand new stuff
and at a certain point, old toys get thrown out. “Let’s face it --
when the trash bags come out, we army guys are the first to go.” But the lesson here is that
it’s important to find a new purpose in your life after one chapter
comes to an end. In the fourth movie,
Bonnie makes a new toy, Forky. “She literally made a new friend. I want you to meet Forky!" And we see how Woody has evolved
past the jealousy he experienced in the first movie -- he now looks out for Forky
because he knows the toy is important to Bonnie. “Forky is the most important toy
to Bonnie right now. We all have to make sure
nothing happens to him!” But more importantly,
Woody starts seeing a broader world through Bo Peep. Producer Jonas Rivera said, quote, “His worst fear -
he's said it all along - was being a lost toy. What if she represented something that would challenge his place
in the world and just lean into that?” “Who needs a kids’ room
when you can have all of this?” So Woody’s biggest challenge yet
is to create a new, individual identity that’s not centered
on the parent-child relationship. After their kids grow up,
all parents do the same. But in fact, all stages of life
demand this self-reinvention from us. We have to dramatically reshape
our conceptions of ourselves, set out into the scary unknown,
and leave the people we love most behind -- knowing that this doesn’t devalue
how much we did love them and that we will continue to carry them
in our hearts. “Now Woody, he’s been my pal
for as long as I can remember.” The Toy Story movies highlight
that our identities are so often formed in relation to others. Woody sees himself as Andy’s toy,
and he struggles to conceive of an identity beyond that. “Well if you knew him you’d understand. See, Andy's a real--” “Let me guess. Andy's a real special kid. And to him, you're his buddy,
his best friend.” But, over time,
Woody is forced to see himself as more. “So long, partner.” Multiple toys in Toy Story
have to go through an existential crisis about
what it is to be a toy. “You are a toy!” “Woody, you're not a collector's item. You're a child's plaything.” “I am not a toy!” Which we might interpret
as a metaphor for asking what we are, apart from our relationships. This is central in the fourth movie,
as Forky is not even really a toy in the traditional sense of the word. He’s not store-bought
or anything fancy; he's just a spork Bonnie decorated
and decided to play with. “I was made for soup, salad,
maybe chili, and then the trash!” Thus this character exposes how fragile
the category of “toy” is. It's anything that's brought to life
by our love and imagination. “And when Andy plays with you,
it's like even though you're not moving,
you feel like you're alive, because that's how he sees you.” What these characters
come to understand over time is that being a toy
and making a child happy is their life’s purpose. “I was made to help a child.” They can’t run from that,
and once they accept it, the fear of abandonment
is no longer so scary -- because all the years leading up
to the goodbye were worth it. “I can't stop Andy growing up. But I wouldn't miss it for the world.” Hi guys, this is Issac,
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