Hollywood writing 30 years after ‘Toy Story’

I don’t remember going to the theater to watch older movies when I was growing up.

It was always a place for the new — new movies, as well as a chance to catch up on trailers to see what else was coming out in the future.

This wasn’t always the case, though. Back before home video, theaters would frequently have limited-run showings of older films. It was a good way for studios to make some quick cash to fund newer projects, while giving audiences a chance to catch their favorite films again.

This practice lasted all the way into the ’90s, when a 1990 re-release of Disney’s “Fantasia” made more than $25 million between 481 theaters, according to Box Office Mojo. But after VCRs and eventually DVDs began to take off, the demand for older films in theaters hit a lull.

Until recently.

In 2023, I watched “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” in theaters, celebrating its 20th anniversary. Just a couple weeks ago, “Jaws” was back on the big screen. And recently, people around the country have had the chance to see “Toy Story” in theaters again.

“Toy Story” was an immediate hit in 1995, making back almost all of its $30,000,000 budget on the opening weekend. It would go on to gross more than six times its budget. More important than money, however, was the cultural hold that it had over kids in its day. My brother, 8 years old when it came out, could practically recite the script word for word.

These days, Pixar seems to be having trouble capturing that same level of attention from its audience. Its 2025 release, “Elio,” was a lovely film, and the test audiences reportedly enjoyed it — but also said they wouldn’t pay to see it in a theater. The box office bore that out — “Elio” only had about 25% of the ticket sales of “Toy Story.”

Maybe this is something that all of Hollywood is struggling with — and maybe that’s why theatrical re-releases have made a recent comeback.

Regardless, I’d like to take some time to look at “Toy Story” and examine what made it such a success.

In the '90s and early 2000s, Pixar garnered a reputation for snappy, clean storytelling. “Toy Story” is certainly an example of that. I was immediately impressed with how efficiently the film established the setting, and how funny the script was. Also impressive were the character designs — they’re classic now, but they were always extremely clever, carefully crafted to hide the limitations of still-developing 3D animation technology.

More than any of that, however, I think “Toy Story” worked because it knew where to keep its focus.

The conflict in this movie is not large, even compared to its own sequels. There are only two characters, Woody and Buzz, who have any real development … but that’s all that the movie needs.

The whole conflict revolves around Woody, the cowboy doll, grappling with jealousy over the flashy new space ranger toy, Buzz. His attempt at sabotaging Buzz leads to them both getting stranded far away from home, and they need to work together to get back.

The story’s simplicity — rooted in emotions relatable to anyone of any age — gives Pixar room to build up a solid, satisfying conclusion to the story, while also allowing lots of time for character building and humor. While the other toys don’t grow and change the way Woody and Buzz do, they all have distinct, fun voices that keep the energy up. The end result is a movie that feels remarkably human … in spite of the main characters being made of plastic.

More than anything else, that is the lesson that Hollywood needs to relearn. It’s tempting, when writing a story, to overcomplicate things. Every character needs to feel complex; every plot needs to be intricate. You need a "twist" that no one sees coming. A decade of cinematic universes has made writers self-indulgent — but at the end of the day, a movie is really just a short story. Sometimes it’s best to keep it very clean.

“Toy Story” will be in theaters again this week, and I’ll be interested to see if the crowds go out to watch it. Some of the recent re-releases have been very successful — I had friends tell me about seeing “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” in packed theaters, and how much fun they had. Maybe there will be a similar enthusiasm here.

If so, I hope Hollywood takes notes. It still has good stories to tell — they might just need some focus.