Toy Story is definitely a classic in our house.

spikeylover | December 27, 23:33 CET

You know what's funny? My oldest sister tends to scoff(politely) at my Buffy fixation, yet her 7 year old son's favorite movie is Toy Story. I haven't gotten around to telling her that the same man wrote both...that should be a funny day! :~P

Rogue Slayer | December 27, 23:36 CET

Although Joss didn't write TS in its entirety by himself, right? The story is credited to John Lasseter and three others; and the writing is credited to Joss and three others.

From various interviews and other sources, which I can't put my hands on right now, I seem to remember Joss saying that he was asked to punch up Woody's character, making him more likeable and such. Presumably he also added all kinds of lines elsewhere. Joss has also stated that he didn't, contrary to popular belief or appearance of Jossiness, do the claw-game part ("The mystic portal awaits . . . "), but again I don't have the specific reference at hand. Anyone have a good on-line source detailing who did what to whom?

SoddingNancyTribe | December 27, 23:48 CET

SNT, I think you're refering to the awesome InFocus interview. Joss sums it up like this: "I definitely feel I played a part in “Toy Story,” a substantial one, but it is John Lasseter’s movie."
p.s. I just gave Toy Story to my 3 year-old nephew for Christmas. =)

jam2 | December 28, 00:24 CET

Well, I figure he did enough writing to be nominated for the Oscar, so that's good enough for me! :~)

Rogue Slayer | December 28, 00:32 CET

Joss spoke about this in Edinburgh - I think he said he spent a fair amount of time working at the Disney offices on it, from what I recall.

gossi | December 28, 00:34 CET

I have a nearly 3 year old whose first words included Buzz and Woody. We have watched the bonus features on the Toy Story DVD multiple times and I don't think Joss even gets a mention. It is pretty clear from the featurettes included that the story and character development was a group effort among the then-newbies at Pixar. It would be really cool to see which parts/lines can be credited to Joss, since I always wonder that myself. My impression is that SoddingNancyTribe is correct and Joss was brought in to punch up some dialog and do some script doctoring. I know I have seen people try to trace the whole cowboy/spaceman juxtoposition in Firefly back to Toy Story, but it just doesn't seem to be the case.

GoblinQueen | December 28, 00:37 CET

There's vote to pick your favorite of the new "classics" in the article. Toy Story is 2nd at 21%.

It definitely deserves the classic label. My 5 year old cousin loves Buzz Lightyear more than any other animated character.

lyrabelacqua | December 28, 00:59 CET

Being one of the younger people here (I'm assuming) I remember seeing Toy Story in the theaters when I was a kid and was one of my favorites to watch on video. And now that I think about it, it would make sense that Joss wrote a lot of Woody's lines. He's sort of the only normal one in this group of crazy toys, and Joss has always been great at making the out-there seem very real and plausable.

Also gotta say I'm glad to see Rocky Horror Picture Show on the list. Although if it's an "official" classic now, does it still qualify for cult classic status as well?

InevitableTraitor | December 28, 01:23 CET

i love that movie... i kept having nightmares about Buzz getting hurt.
sign of a good movie trust me.
right now im having nightmares about Spike dying... I mean... well, you know what I mean.

savvy_guitar_chic | December 28, 02:26 CET

I loved "Toy Story," but it did take years before I understood what Woody meant when he asked Buzz, "Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?" (Must have been from that Barrelful of Monkeys game.) ;-)

billz | December 28, 03:46 CET

Thanks so much for the link, jam2 - that was a great interview, and one of the sources I had in mind.

After reading that again, and then re-reading my first comment, I feel like I gave JW short shrift and insufficient props for Toy Story. Even if all he had contributed was the toy rescue scene, well, dayenu, to use the Pesach phrase (and, of course, no sacrilege intended . . . ). Indeed, if all he had contributed was "Wind the frog," - dayenu! Sheer utter brilliance.

SoddingNancyTribe | December 28, 03:55 CET

They only just added The Sting this year?

zz9 | December 28, 04:43 CET

Equally as good is Toy Story 2. One of the few sequels on par with its predecessor.

themayor | December 28, 14:56 CET

It would be great fun to sit down with the movie and some friends and try to pick out the Joss lines. If we could ever get confirmation, it would be worth doing because I think that many of us can recognize them when we hear them - or at least we like to think we can!

Lioness | December 28, 16:57 CET