Toy Story (1995)

There are films that arrive quietly and films that arrive like a door being kicked off its hinges. Toy Story 2 may be the one that extended the universe, but the original 1995 film is the one that started everything: the first feature-length computer-animated film ever released, produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The premise, on paper, sounds like a fairly modest children's adventure: a group of toys belonging to a boy named Andy are secretly alive, and the arrival of a shiny new space ranger called Buzz Lightyear upends the comfortable world of the existing top toy, a pull-string cowboy named Woody. What unfolds is a road-trip-style comedy about jealousy, displacement, and what it means to matter to someone. That it works as well for grown-ups as it does for children is no accident. It was very much by design.

John Lasseter, who had been working in computer animation at Lucasfilm and then Pixar since the early 1980s, directed the film after years of short-form work that had already turned heads in the industry. Cars would come later in his career, but Toy Story was the project that proved the feature-length format was viable for a studio that had, until that point, existed largely to develop rendering technology. The production was famously troubled at one stage, with Disney pushing for a more cynical, edgy tone that Pixar eventually walked back. What survived was something warmer and considerably more confident. The animation, running to a brisk 81 minutes, was genuinely without precedent at the time of its release, even if the technology has since been surpassed many times over, including by Pixar themselves.

The voice cast is worth pausing on. Tom Hanks, already one of the most recognisable actors in Hollywood by 1995, brings a weariness and dry decency to Woody that keeps the character grounded even when the script asks him to behave badly. Tim Allen's Buzz is the perfect comic foil: sincere to the point of absurdity, completely convinced of his own mythology. Around them, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, and Wallace Shawn fill out the toy-box ensemble with performances that are, without exception, well-judged. It is the kind of cast that trusts the material, and the material trusts them back. For a sense of how Hanks fares in rather less charming territory, my reviews of The Da Vinci Code and Inferno might provide an interesting contrast. And if you want another family film from roughly the same era that takes its young audience seriously, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is worth a look too.

If you’d asked me twenty years ago, I’d have called this a flawless 5-star masterpiece. This film didn’t just kick off one of the greatest animated franchises of all time; it launched an entire era of 3D animation. And considering it actually released a Megadrive (genesis) game, yeah, it’s nothing short of revolutionary. It’s wild to think how much technology has advanced since then. Watching it now, some of the textures and facial animation feel dated compared to what Pixar themselves would go on to do. But here’s the thing: it still works . The story is tight, clever, and full of heart. The characters (Woody, Buzz, Potato Head, Rex) are so well-written they’ve become cultural touchstones. And the emotional beats still land like they always did. I’ve watched it with my kids more times than I can count, and every time, it still feels fresh. It’s got jokes for the adults, action for the kids, and a surprisingly deep message about friendship, change, and growing up. Sure, by today’s standards it might not dazzle visually, but Toy Story was never about the pixels. It was about storytelling, innovation, and proving that cartoons could be serious art. And in that respect, it absolutely nailed it. A pioneer. A classic. A must-watch. Just don’t hand me another Buzz Lightyear toy unless it actually does something.

I keep coming back to that question of what actually makes something hold up. The pixels fade, the rendering gets outpaced, and yet here we are, still watching it. For me, Toy Story proves that the technical achievement, impressive as it was at the time, was always the least interesting thing about it. The story does the heavy lifting, and it does it without any of the padding or condescension that lets a lot of family films down. If anything, revisiting it now only makes me appreciate how rare that combination is: something genuinely funny, quietly moving, and made with enough craft that it earns every emotional moment it asks of you. It set a bar that even its own sequels have had to work hard to clear.

Rating: ★★★★½  | Year: 1995  | Watched: 2025-05-14

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Toy Story (1995) on YouTube

Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Sky Store
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Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · Hulu · fuboTV · Freeform
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from John Lasseter: Toy Story 2 (1999) · Cars (2006)
More with Tom Hanks: Toy Story 4 (2019) · Inferno (2016) · Angels & Demons (2009) · The Da Vinci Code (2006)
More from the 1990s: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Shinjuku Boys (1995) · Blue (1993) · Cemetery Man (1994)
More family: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Wonder (2017) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anastasia (1997)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)