Toy Story 3 (2010)
★★★½ — Toy Story 3 (2010)
By 2010, the Toy Story franchise had already secured its place as one of the most beloved series in modern cinema. The original 1995 film had announced Pixar as a genuine creative force, and its 1999 sequel demonstrated that the studio could match, if not surpass, what came before. Toy Story 3 arrived eleven years after that second film, reuniting audiences with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of Andy's toy box at a moment that felt genuinely weighted: Andy is now heading off to college, and the question of what happens to the toys he leaves behind gives the film its emotional engine. It is a premise that spoke directly to the generation who had grown up alongside the franchise, now themselves on the cusp of adulthood. That generational mirroring was no accident, and it gave the film a cultural resonance that went well beyond its family-friendly packaging.
The film was directed by Lee Unkrich, who had previously served as co-director on both Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc., and who would later go on to direct Coco. Produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Toy Story 3 represented the studio working at the height of its commercial and critical confidence, delivering a polished but measured piece of big-studio animation. The voice cast reassembles the familiar ensemble: Tom Hanks returns as Woody, bringing the same warm authority he has lent the character since the beginning (you can see a rather different side of Hanks in our look at Inferno), while Tim Allen reprises Buzz Lightyear with reliable comic timing. Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, and Wallace Shawn round out the returning players, each slipping back into their roles with an ease that comes from genuine familiarity with the characters. The new additions to the cast bring a day care centre setting into the picture, introducing fresh antagonists and a broader world for the toys to contend with. For those curious how the series moved on from here, there is also our review of Toy Story 4, which features Tom Hanks once again. If animation more broadly is your thing, it is worth having a look at what we made of Fantastic Planet, a film that sits at a very different end of the animated spectrum.
The worst of the Toy Story films. I love the passing of the torch from Andy to Bonnie. I love that Andy has grown up with us. People seem to love this one, ending included. I just think there's alot missing. The villains just don't feel that well written.
And that is roughly where I land on it. There is real heart in the Andy material, and I do not want to undersell that, but a film lives or dies on the strength of all its moving parts, and when the opposition feels thin, it takes the air out of what should be the most tense stretches. For me, the emotional beats that work, work because of the history we have with these characters rather than anything the third film itself builds fresh. That is not nothing, and it saves the whole thing from being a disappointment outright, but it does mean it sits a step behind the earlier films when I think back on the series. Sometimes reputation and reality are two different toys entirely.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2010 | Watched: 2025-05-15
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Toy Story 3 (2010) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus · fuboTV
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Lee Unkrich: Coco (2017)
More with Tom Hanks: Toy Story 4 (2019) · Inferno (2016) · Angels & Demons (2009) · The Da Vinci Code (2006)
More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More animation: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025)
More family: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Wonder (2017) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anastasia (1997)
