29 'Toy Story' Secrets That Will Toy With Your Head

Ever since its release in November 1995, "Toy Story" has remained a family classic and one of Pixar's most successful creations. In honor of the iconic movie's 20-year anniversary, here are some fun facts and fan theories that will be sure to blow your mind.

1. The director of "Toy Story," John Lasseter, based Woody and Buzz off childhood toys of his own .

2. Buzz Lightyear was originally named Lunar Larry . Something about Buzz Lightyear just sounds better.

3. The name Buzz actually came from Buzz Aldrin , the second man to walk on the moon, and Lightyear references the distance that a beam of light travels in a year.

4. "Toy Story" was the highest grossing movie of 1995, earning more than $360 million world-wide  and beating out "Batman Forever" and "Apollo 13."

5. Bill Crystal was originally asked to voice Buzz Lightyear , but he turned it down. Tim Allen memorably filled the part. Crystal has since admitted that was the worst mistake of his career. This partly explains why, when he was offered to voice Mike Wazowski for "Monster's Inc.," he accepted immediately.

6. Andy's father's absence is never explained in any of the "Toy Story" movies. There are no photographs of him in the house, though there are several of Andy, his sister Molly and their mother.

One fan theory posited by Jess Nevins , and later by Jon Negroni in The Huffington Post, suggests that Andy's father abandoned the family. Nevins explains that if the father died, there would likely be photographs of him around the house. If the parents got divorced and Andy's mother won custody, it's unlikely that his every trace would be so deliberately removed from Andy's life.

This led Nevins to draw the conclusion of paternal abandonment. It would also explain why the family is moving to a smaller home, perhaps facing financial distress after having the father leave them, and why Andy's mom is not wearing a wedding ring. 

7. Nevins also proposes the possibility of Sid and Andy being related as a result of a scandalous affair between Andy's father and Sid's mother. This goes along with the premise that Andy's father might have abandoned his family.

8. "Toy Story" was the first fully computer-generated full-length feature film . Each frame took anywhere from four to 13 hours to complete, depending on the complexity of the shot.

9. The green and purple colors of Buzz Lightyear's spacesuit are John Lasseter and his wife's favorite colors , respectively.

10. This was  the very first computer-animated film to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay .

11. Interestingly enough, it's also the only Pixar film to include full opening credits .

See for yourself!

12. It says "Julie Mcbarfle has cooties" on Sid's backpack. This is a reference to camera manager Julie McDonald, who requested to have her name snuck into the film. 

13. Reddit shrewdly noticed that whenever a character's eyes blink in the movie, they never blink simultaneously  but rather one at a time.

14. Who could forget the toy soldiers and their military strut? Well, rumor has it that the animators perfected their walk by gluing sneakers to plywood and attempting to walk with the sticky soles.

[How Well Do You Remember the First 'Toy Story' Movie? Take Our Quiz! ]

15. The drawing of Woody featured on the wall by Andy's bed is actually an early sketch of Woody .

16. Earlier drafts of the script included a Barbie doll who played Woody's love interest. Mattel, the company that owns Barbie, did not want their product in the movie  because they thought the production would be a failure. 

17. The address that the Pizza Planet delivery boy asks for -- West Cutting Boulevard -- was in fact the street where Pixar Animation used to be located . They have since relocated.

18. Sid Philips, otherwise known as the terrifying child who takes joy is destroying toys, was inspired by a former Pixar employee who often disassembled toys for bizarre experiments and creations.

19. An earlier version of the film portrayed Woody as a sarcastic jerk  who was rude and insulting to the other toys. Walt Disney halted production of the film while a new script was written to make Woody a more likable, charismatic character.

20. Every car in the movie has a license plate dating back to November '95 , the date the movie was released.

21. There's a fan theory that says Andy's mom is Emily, the young girl who originally owned Jessie .

You may notice that Andy's cowboy hat and Jessie's toy hat are identical. In a clip of Emily's childhood bedroom, that very same hat that Andy wears is seen on her bed, right next to the doll. 

22. Though, to be fair, Pete Docter was pretty vague when addressing the theory that Emily and Andy's mom are the same. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight , the writer behind "Toy Story" explained:

"You know, John Lasseter was the director on that, and we talked for hours about backstory -- and we have our own kind of backstory that's a little different than that."

23. As if Sid wasn't already creepy enough, the carpet at his house has the same pattern as the carpet in "The Shining." How spooky is that??

24. The character of Andy is actually named after Andries "Andy" Van Dam , a professor and a computer science and animation pioneer from Brown University. Van Dam taught several of the "Toy Story" creators.

25. You can hear "The Lion King" song "Hakuna Matata" playing in the car when Molly is looking at Woody and Buzz on the road. Talk about an Easter egg!

26. Eric von Detten voiced Sid . Yeah, the same hot guy from "Princess Diaries" who played Mandy Moore's douchey boyfriend. PLOT. TWIST. 

27. A bunch of the books in Andy's room are titled after short animated films that Pixar created , like "Tin Toy" and "Knick Knack."

28. The painted clouds on Andy's wall, shown when the movers move his boxes out of the room, create a quick silhouette of Mickey Mouse .

29. Your childhood is a lie: Oftentimes, Tom Hanks' brother, Jim, voiced Woody . Not Tom himself.

Watch the reveal below:

BONUS: "Toy Story 4 " is scheduled to hit the big screen in 2018. Its plot? John Lasseter revealed that the next Woody and Buzz adventure will center entirely around their search for the one toy that was given away, Bo Peep.

We can't wait!

What was your favorite movie in the "Toy Story" trilogy?

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