If the first Toy Story ended up anywhere close to the film’s rough cut, it probably wouldn’t have been considered a Disney-Pixar classic.
The cast and crew of the 1995 animated movie discussed the creation of the film in Complex’s revamped series Magnum Opus. They recalled the rough cut of the film, which severely disappointed executives.
Around the 18-minute mark of the video below, Pete Doctor, Chief Creative Officer of Pixar, recalled that the “first versions of it sucked.”
“They were awful. You really hated all the characters, especially Woody,” he admitted. “And I think that grew out of our intellectual understanding of story, which was, ‘Well, if if he learns to be selfless, he should start as selfish, so we'll show this character as selfish.’”
“And then you're like, ‘Well, but that's totally unappealing. I don't want to watch that. I want to punch that guy in the face or turn the TV off,’” Doctor continued.
Toy Story was rewritten a number of times before the crew went to animation, as the Pixar staff was initially discouraged against animating multiple times for budget purposes.
Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who voices the film’s protagonist Woody, explained that a rough cut “didn’t match up to the potential” that Pixar set out for.
“It wasn't, dare I say it, enjoyable,” he said.
The team eventually got it right, as Toy Story grossed over $400 million worldwide and was the second highest-grossing film of 1995. The franchise’s fifth installment released on June 18.
