Film
Toy Story 2
The rare sequel that outgrows its predecessor: Woody's existential crisis about being loved versus being collected turns a toy-box caper into something surprisingly moving. It's funnier, faster and weirder than the original, with a garage-sale prologue and a Jessie backstory that ambushes grown adults. Kids get jokes and chases; everyone else gets a quiet meditation on obsolescence.
If you liked this
Toy Story 32010
The trilogy's emotional peak, where the toys finally confront what happens when a kid actually grows up. Funnier than it sounds, and the ending earns every tear it takes.
But It's a legitimate gut-punch — if you're not ready to cry about plastic cowboys, wait.

Toy Story 42019
A stranger, quieter film than the others, more interested in identity than adventure. Forky is a genuinely odd creation and the ending is braver than a franchise this big usually risks.
But Feels less necessary than the first three; some found it a bittersweet coda rather than a story worth telling.

Up2009
Pixar doing what it does best — smuggling real grief and loneliness into a kids' film about a floating house. The tonal range is astonishing.
But That opening ten minutes is famous for a reason; it's rough going for anyone sensitive about loss.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Red Balloon1956
Same premise stripped to its bones — an inanimate companion, a child's devotion, and the ache of impermanence — decades before Woody ever worried about it.
A nearly wordless French short about a boy and a balloon that seems to love him back — the purest, oldest version of the question Toy Story 2 keeps asking: what does it mean to be someone's whole world?
But Thirty-four minutes of near-silence and 1950s Paris; it asks patience a Pixar film never does.

More like this (8)
Monsters, Inc.2001
Same studio, same era, same trick of turning a simple premise into something tender — a monster and a toddler instead of a cowboy and his kid.
But Lower emotional stakes than the Toy Story films; it's more purely fun than profound.

The Incredibles2004
Brad Bird's take on identity and obsolescence, but with capes — a superhero forced into domestic irrelevance, itching to matter again.
But More action-driven and less melancholy; if you want the toy-box intimacy, this is a bigger, brasher animal.

Finding Nemo2003
Another Pixar rescue mission, this time underwater, with the same knack for turning a chase plot into a story about letting go.
But Less thematically rich than Toy Story 2 — it's a simpler, sunnier watch.

The Lego Movie2014
Toys as heroes again, but manic and self-aware, gleefully smashing the fourth wall while still landing a sincere point about play and ownership.
But The jokes-per-minute rate is exhausting for some; it never sits still long enough to be quietly moving.

Shrek 22004
A sequel that somehow improves on a beloved original by widening the world and deepening the characters — the same trick Toy Story 2 pulled off first.
But The humour leans harder on pop-culture gags that have aged unevenly.

Paddington 22017
Not animated, not about toys, but the same generous heart: kindness as an active, radical choice, wrapped in a prison caper that shouldn't work and does.
But If you came for the toy-box universe specifically, this is a much gentler, more earthbound register.

Child's Play1988
Same anxiety — a toy that wants to belong to a child forever — pushed into horror instead of comedy, proving how thin that line always was.
The nightmare version of Al's Toy Barn: a doll possessed, a kid's love for his toy turned lethal. Genuinely tense, weirdly clever about how attached kids get to their things.
But It's a slasher film with a body count; if you wanted more Pixar warmth, this will feel like a betrayal of everything you liked.

The Toys That Made Us2017
The film's villain is a caricature of real toy-collector culture; this series is the nonfiction version of his entire worldview, obsession and all.
A documentary series about the real toy industry — the collectors, obsessives and business empires behind Star Wars figures, Barbie, He-Man. Al McWhiggen suddenly looks like a documentary subject.
But No plot, no jokes, just corporate history and interviews — a very different kind of viewing than anything Pixar offers.

People
Cast
Tom HanksWoody (voice)
Tim AllenBuzz Lightyear (voice)
Joan CusackJessie (voice)
Kelsey GrammerProspector (voice)
Don RicklesMr. Potato Head (voice)
Jim VarneySlinky Dog (voice)
Wallace ShawnRex (voice)
John RatzenbergerHamm (voice)
Annie PottsBo Peep (voice)
Wayne KnightAl McWhiggin (voice)
John MorrisAndy (voice)
Laurie MetcalfAndy's Mom (voice)
Directing
- Ash BrannonCo-Director
- Lee UnkrichCo-Director
- John LasseterDirector
- Adam SchnitzerLayout
- Craig McGillivrayLayout
- Derek WilliamsLayout
- Mark SanfordLayout
- Robert AndersonLayout
- Roman FigunLayout
- Stephen MorosLayout
- Wade ChildressLayout
- Lee CruikshankScript Coordinator
Writing
- Andrew StantonOriginal Story
- Ash BrannonOriginal Story
- John LasseterOriginal Story
- Pete DocterOriginal Story
- Andrew StantonScreenplay
- Chris WebbScreenplay
- Doug ChamberlinScreenplay
- Rita HsiaoScreenplay
- Dan JeupStory Supervisor
- Joe RanftStory Supervisor
Production
- Mickie McGowanADR Voice Casting
- Mary HidalgoCasting
- Ruth LambertCasting
- Sarah McArthurExecutive Producer
- Miguel Ángel PovedaPost Production Coordinator
- Helene PlotkinProducer
- Karen Robert JacksonProducer
- Catherine RoehlProduction Accountant
- Graham WaltersProduction Manager
- A.J. Riebli IIIProduction Office Coordinator