The Toy Story Movies - Ranked!

 (A version of this article originally appeared on kernelnow.com / mynewslike.com)

There's always rooms for more toys..
(source: MICHAEL [flickr])

It’s been just over a week since Toy Story 4 made its worldwide cinematic debut, long enough for most audiences to have taken in the film – maybe even see it twice – and, ultimately, decide on the place it will take in their hearts. When it comes to a franchise like Toy Story, any new entry into the story is sure to be judged against its previous installments; with that in mind, join us as we take a trip down memory lane and rank all four of the Toy Story films.

4. Toy Story 4 (2019)

RV sitting comfortably?
(source: Disney/Pixar)

If you haven’t yet seen the latest entry into the Toy Story canon, there are two things you should do immediately, firstly stop reading at the end of this sentence, and secondly – GO AND SEE IT.

Have you watched it now? Good – let’s continue.

Ranking the latest film as the lowest is surely a risky move in an age where many sequels and reboots have been so poorly-received that some fans even go so far as to petition against their existence online. Toy Story 4 is different, though; whilst a fourth film was always going to struggle to live up to the trilogy that came before it, director Josh Cooley has done a great job of creating a film that feels like a Toy Story film when so many said another film seemed so unnecessary. Much debate before the film’s release centered on this, and just what exactly Bo Peep’s role would be in a post-Andy’s room world. Happily, the series continues its long streak of successful reinvention and presents a tale worthy of Buzz, Woody and the gang whilst presenting what may be the greatest ret-con in cinema history; Bo’s new role is fully developed and realised, just like that of all the main characters that came before her.

Perhaps the only thing keeping Toy Story 4 from ranking higher is how little most of the toys have to do as Woody races around a carnival town, and how many iconic moments are recycled from its predecessors. Then again, when your predecessors are as good as those below, is that really such a bad thing?

3. Toy Story (1995)

From humble beginnings
(source: Disney/Pixar)

This is easily the most controversial part of this ranking, but the original trio of Toy Story’s sit so evenly-matched that it was almost impossible to separate them. The films are so closely and finely intertwined that they arguably exist best as one long tale than as three separate tales.

No story would exist without its opening act, however, and it’s difficult to imagine one stronger thanthe first Toy Story. It is difficult to find something to say about the film that hasn’t already been studied in detail, but in so many ways it is the movie’s simplicity that marked it as such an instant classic. Yes, Pixar were working with resources that seem prehistoric in comparison to what they have today, but they also had almost no reputation to speak of.

That is, until the now-iconic Toy Story logo faded in over the cloudy-sky wallpaper, and nothing was ever the same again. Eighty minutes later, audiences were introduced to a diverse group of toys both new and familiar, to a world of friendship and support – eventually. Buzz and Woody, the core of the film, showed children that it was okay to embrace change and welcome someone new, teaching lessons in that subtle Disney way that no doubt set the company on its path to buying Pixar Animation Studios eleven years later.

For those of you out there that may disagree with this particular placement, know this: it should be the goal of all sequels to be better than their predecessors and though Toy Story set that bar unenviably high, Pixar were able to do their original proud.

2. Toy Story 3 (2010)

Would Day Care to know what lies ahead?
(source: Disney/Pixar)

Stay strong, everyone – it’s about to get emotional.

The longest-running Toy Story is also the series’ most difficult watch – not because of a lack of quality, but because it’s the most tragic of all. The final act is what’s most sadly remembered but what becomes clear on repeat viewings is that the grief starts as soon as the film does. There is a delightful opening sequence which brings Andy’s imagination to life, but he then suddenly grows up before our – and the toys’ – very eyes. Our heroes have long feared becoming “lost toys”, but as they long for the return of their human they are more lost than any discarded plush.

Toy Story 3 also has one other truly unique factor: Lotso. Before the strawberry-scented overlord of Sunnyside Daycare there was Sid, there was Zurg, and there was Stinky Pete, but it was the toys’ inner conflict which provided their greatest challenge. Lotso is the series’ one true villain – the stiffest physical obstacle the group must overcome and an image of what may happen to them if they lose their hope.

For such a well-reviewed, decorated film it would be hard to argue against it placing atop the Toy Story ranking. It is undeniably the deepest, most emotional part of the series – but much of that narrative depth will be meaningless to the core audience: the children. Like Star Wars and Spider- Man in the Disney family beside it, Toy Story succeeds for and because of its young audience and ultimately, its being the least child-friendly member of its universe is what denies it top spot.

1. Toy Story 2 (1999)

Three years later: a re-Zurg-ence for the toys
(source: Disney/Pixar)

We may have gotten the Toy Story That Time Forgot in 2014, but fifteen years before a much more literal fate almost befell Pixar’s first sequel. Disney originally commissioned Toy Story 2 as a direct-to-video feature similar to Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar, and wasn’t until February 1998 that the decision was made to instead return the toys to the big screen.

It proved to be one of the greatest decisions in the fledgling story of Pixar, and its difficult to see where the franchise would be if it hadn’t been made. Where Toy Story was a film filled with technological risks, its follow-up takes many more chances in its narrative. The first film was a brightly-coloured adventure that delighted children still playing with toys and warmed the hearts of adults who remembered doing the same, but in its sequel John Lasseter and his team introduced many of the story elements that come to mind when viewers think about the Toy Story series.

There are two key features born in this film that inform the two films that have followed: the abandonment of toys by children, and the heart-breaking consequences for the toys themselves. Both of these are perfectly embodied by Jessie the cowgirl, surely the best “new toy” of the entire series in a devastating, unforgettable flashback to her life with “her girl”, Emily.

It’s just one moment in the film that ramps up the pure toys’ story of Toy Story, and through the bitter Stinky Pete the Prospector we get a glimpse into where the movies will take us in their later chapters. Where 1995 introduced us to the catchphrases and characters that make up Andy’s toys, 1999 brought us headlong into their legend. Without their once-unforeseen success here, Pixar may never have tasted success in this or any other franchise to follow, and perhaps may never have introduced the world to just how emotionally-fraying children's animation could truly be.