Pixar’s Toy Story was a revolutionary contribution to the realm of animation. As the first fully CGI-animated motion picture, it was a gamble and a test of ability just to be brought into existence. Luckily for them, the movie was a monster hit and it changed the studio forever. But it wasn’t without a few bugs.
Being the first of any major project doesn’t mean it will always be perfect, and even Toy Story had a few mistakes and limitations upon its first release. They might have flown by the eyes of most viewers, but not by us. Check out these ten mistakes from the original Toy Story.
Sudden Wall Panels
This might not seem like a majorly big deal, but it’s one we caught nearly instantly upon our latest rewatch of the movie. As the view pans down from the cloud-covered wall of Andy’s bedroom, we see at first that the wallpaper covers the entire wall. Then, when we cut away to the floor, we see paneling halfway up.
Granted, this background flaw does nothing to impede the story or stall the plot or character development, but it does stand out as one of those things that could have been fixed early on. Maybe it was a programming problem, maybe it was a fluke, or maybe it was just something the animators just didn’t see.
Potato Head Falls Apart
When the movie opens with Andy playing with his toys, we see Mr. Potatohead tossed into Molly’s crib to be left to the mercy of Andy’s little sister. Since toddlers aren’t always the most gentle with their toys, it should come as no surprise when we see Molly pull Potatohead apart. Then why is he suddenly more together after he’s dropped on the floor?
This isn’t some minor nitpick, we actually see Mr. Potato Head’s parts fly off in all directions as Molly plays with him. When she finally tosses the potato carcass onto the floor, the next time we see him, he’s only missing a few parts. We’re calling shenanigans on this one.
Woody’s Mouth Changes in the Chair
This mistake is kind of an oddball but it’s one we just couldn’t shake. During the opening credits as the film’s iconic theme song plays, Andy and Woody go for a spin in a big red recliner. As they’re spinning, Woody’s expression suddenly changes to where his mouth hangs open, and we can’t figure out why.
It’s not a drastic change, and the rest of his face stays the same as when we first see him. We don’t think this is meant as a reveal to hint that the toys are all sentient, but it might be an editing mistake missed by the filmmakers. But we can’t be 100 percent sure.
Characters Blink One Eye at a time
One thing you must remember is that the film came out in 1995. Up until then, CGI animation in movies had mostly been used to create minor special effects, so the medium wasn’t exactly a science. To make the toys look more lifelike, they were given certain features in their posture, expression, and so on. You would think blinking would be an easy thing to do, right?
Apparently, this was not an easy task due to the technical restrictions at the time. If you watch very closely, all the characters can only blink one eye at a time. It’s even noticeable in a few different closeups, namely Rex and Buzz.
Andy is His Own Friends
Another case of technical limitations were the human character models used in the film. Human characters were harder to create and animate than the toys were, so more detail had to be worked in to create them. To save time and money, they used the same humanoid models for all human characters.
That means every kid at Andy’s birthday, every patron of Pizza Planet, even Sid and Hannah Philips are all versions of either Andy or Ms. Davis. Trust us, you won’t be able to look at Andy and Sid the same way ever again. The limitation isn’t Pixar’s fault but putting so many of the identical models together at the same time perhaps was.
Sarge’s vanishing Pistol
Yet another technical glitch that strikes the film involves Sarge’s pistol when we’re first introduced to the green army men characters. When Woody first approaches him, we see sarge in his standard position, pistol in one hand and binoculars in the other. But when we cut up close, it’s gone.
This happens again when we cut away, then close up again just before he addresses the rest of the troops in the bucket. Again, this might be an error in programming or a simple mistake, but it’s still one of those things we had to include. You’d think a soldier like Sarge would know how to handle his weapon.
Baby Monitor Receptors Are Reversed
This one only got our attention recently, but we’re sure parents of infants and small children will recognize the technological blunder the toys commit in their surveillance attempt during Andy’s birthday party. It’s not an animator’s issue or a CGI glitch, but rather a common mistake involving baby monitors. They’re swapped
Where the soldiers should be carrying the half that you can speak into, they’re actually carrying out the monitor that only transfers sound, not voice. This means that the toys in Andy’s room should be hearing nothing at all. An honest mistake, but one that went noticed.
Buzz Almost Swears
This is one we’ve talked about before, but we can’t leave it off our list simply due to how “scandalous” the matter is. Toy Story’s G rating was close to having a P slapped in front of it until the editors changed the script. The only thing is, they forgot to change the animation.
If you look closely at Buzz’s lips while he is inspecting his cardboard spaceship, his voice says “blast” but his lips say “damn.” Something tells us our Buzz Lightyear figures would have received a massive recall if they were uttering that kinda phrase.
Battleship Blunders
While Woody is trying to get Hamm and Mr. Potatohead’s attention from Sid’s bedroom window, we find the pair engaged in a rather suspicious game of Battleship. Two things are going on with this little tableau, one might be an accident, the other might be just a glitch, but we still need to put them on the list
When we’re shown Potato Head’s side of the board, we see his screen is entirely full of miss markers. This could be either a mistake or it means Hamm is cheating. We also see the red marker in his hand disappear mid-conversation, before briefly appearing and disappearing again.
Sid’s Creepy Clock
This mistake not only made it into the movie completely uncorrected, but the filmmakers put it literally right in front of our eyes. The only people who could possibly miss this are those who can’t tell time. When the storm ruins Sid’s plans to blast Buzz into orbit, he sets his alarm for 8:25, but then it goes off at 7:00 the next morning.
We don’t know why this happens, we don’t know what the purpose is to further the plot, and we don’t understand how it could build suspense, so we’re going to say this was a pure blunder.