Headscratchers / Toy Story 2

Be sure to see Toy Story (whole franchise), Toy Story, Toy Story 3, and Toy Story 4.

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As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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The Opening Video Game—HD visuals in the 90's?

The movie is clearly set at some point in the 90's, and the game console Rex is playing is clearly shown to be a Super Nintendo Entertainment System sitting on top of Andy's TV. So how the hell is the thing able to output graphics decades ahead of its time and on par with a freakin PlayStation 4 game?! Not even a Super FX chip equipped game could even come close to that kind of fidelity, and a SNES definetely couldn't run a high quality FMV heavy game (i.e. Dragon's Lair) if that was the approach they were going for. Heck, how is Rex even able to play the thing when we clearly see that the system doesnt even have a cartridge in the slot or controllers plugged in, and that the power switch isnt even on?!

• In regards to the graphics:
  • There's no indication that the graphics look that good in-universe, the audience could just be perceiving them that way because they're animated the same way as the rest of the movie.
  • In other words, it's a fantasy sequence done solely to give audiences a more immersive experience. Rex and Buzz (the Toy version) are simply visualising a more naturalistic environment as the game is being played. That's what audiences are supposed to do with fiction even if it doesn't look real.
  • In a world with sentient toys, is it that much of a stretch for video games to have more advanced graphics than their real-world counterparts?

The Japanese Toy Museum

Does anyone else find it strange that a Japanese museum toy owner would pay at least several hundreds of thousands of dollars to import vintage dolls and paraphernalia from a largely American centric show about western puppets into their museum?

• Japan likes American culture almost as much as the US likes Japanese culture. The whole point of museums are to acquire unique and distinctive collections that represent things that their patrons wouldn't ordinarily see; as such, the more unique, international and varied, the better. Plus, it's not out of character for a country that has a museum dedicated to parasites.

Why is Woody such a rare toy that finding one unboxed and used makes a collector leap with joy? If Woody was the hero of his show it stands to reason lots more Woodies would have been made and purchased than Jessies, Bullseyes and Stinky Petes.

• This is one of those counterintuitive logics. It's precisely because Woody is popular that many were sold; thus, having one in good condition and not second hand is rare. Contrast this to Stinky Pete (blatantly the least popular character in the show) who is still mint-in-the-box. In the 1950s, collectors who purchased toys and kept them in the box was less common.
• It's only difficult to find old toys if you're insistent on them being in good condition. Realistically, an obsessive collector like Al would already have multiple Woodys in varying states of repair. So Al was joyful because Andy's toy was the best condition Woody he'd ever encountered. To add more, maybe Woody dolls were worth less when they didn't have the hat. When there is an old toy, especially a rare one, that has some accessory, it's harder to find the toy with the accessory since children play with them and lose things. In this case, Woody's hat. To quote Toy Story 2, "What's a cowboy without his hat?". For the collection to be truly "complete", the toys would probably have to have their accessories.
• Simple matter of cost might also explain this. Al might simply be unable to pay an exorbitant price for a truly mint condition Woody. Given the look of the show and the mentions of Sputnik (and how that resulted in sci-fi toys overtaking cowboy toys), it's pretty heavily implied that Woody's Roundup and related merchandise originates from the 1950s, probably 1957 at the latest. In that case, if you think it's hard finding even a popular toy in reasonably good condition originating twenty or thirty-odd years ago, try locating one from fifty or sixty-odd years ago. Not easy, and at that age, they're practically going from 'mere' toy-collecting and getting into 'genuine antiquities', so the price will skyrocket even further.

Does Andy know about the gold mine he's technically sitting on?

• How did Andy have all those Woody items in the first movie (a bedspread, posters, and other stuff) without him and his mother knowing it's possibly worth quite a bit of money?
  • Word of God states that Woody is a hand-me-down from Andy's Dad to Andy — as such, it's not hard to suggest that the posters etc were also initially Andy's dad's. Plus, most of the western-themed stuff in Andy's bedroom apart from Woody is not so much specifically Woody's Roundup merchandise as it is generic western / cowboy-themed stuff.
  • It's made very clear that Andy loves his toys. Even if he knew Woody would net him an easy few grand, he would reject it in a heartbeat. Especially since Woody is one of the few remaining connections to his dad — so it'd be like Andy selling his own father. Ain't gonna happen.

What is it about Buzz Lightyear of Star Command that leads action figures of its characters to have the "Pinocchio delusion?" On that note, where exactly did the display Buzz think he was? Where would a large group of Space Rangers be kept in hypersleep, and why would it be on the same planet as Zurg's apparent base?

• Remember the scrapped plot about the "Buzz Lightyear" recall? Perhaps the recall was due to some odd chemical used in Buzz's production that caused him to think he was the "real deal".
• Perhaps it's because he came from a toy-line with a complex backstory, which would act like memories. The other toys either have no story (dinosaurs, slinky dogs, Etch-a-Sketch) or a very generic, basic one (Woody is a cowboy in the Wild West, the Army Men are soldiers in a war) so it's easier for them to form their own personality on top of that, without any Continuity Snarl for lack of a better term. With Bo Peep, she isn't strictly speaking a toy. She's a figurine. It could be that she calls herself (or Andy calls her) Bo Peep, after the nursery rhyme, but her actual name is something like 'shepherdess'.
• Buzz's delusion might stem from being such an advanced toy. That perhaps the more similar he was to the real deal the more he thought he WAS the real deal. As for the little aliens, their issue seems more caused be being stuck in a glass room with a mysterious claw for their entire existence. The Allegory of the Cave comes to mind.
• Barbie is how everyone thinks Barbie would be. Lotso was the perfectly loyal friend everybody pictures their teddy bear being only it becomes deconstructed. Woody had many of the same morals as the Woody from Woody's roundup that's why a fictional character was able to remind him of his morals in the movie. Toys can change over time but they all basically start out with the personality one would expect from them. Let's look at what we'd expect from Buzz. Buzz from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command in our universe borders on delusional about his Space Ranger status. When Warp Dakmatter actually points out Buzz borders on insane with how seriously he takes his job, Buzz dismisses/confirms this. Apparently Buzz actually believes Zurg is behind every cat stuck up in a tree. In the show we can tell Buzz wouldn't know what to do if he weren't a space ranger. It feels like we might actually be missing the first half of the series where Buzz would have been even more insane. Basically, Buzz is delusional because he's based in someone delusional.
• Because Andy knows who Buzz is supposed to be, story and all. It's Andy's belief that brings his toys to life so that he knows who Buzz Lightyear is supposed to be and thinks of that first then toy second when he sees Buzz which causes Buzz to believe he is the original. Woody by contrast comes from a show that's been off the air for at least twenty to thirty years. He knows in general who Woody is supposed to be from hearing about it, from his mom or missing dad, but that's all second hand and he thinks of Woody as a toy first.
  • Utility Belt Buzz is hit with the same thing save for getting belief from nonspecific sources. He's not the result of one kid thinking about that specific toy but hundreds thinking of the character. Anything that doesn't fit with that belief he simply deluded himself into not seeing. The audience sees hundreds of identical Buzz Lightyear dolls, Utility Belt Buzz sees hundreds of space rangers in stasis.

If new toys think that they're the real character, how come Woody had never heard of Woody's Roundup?

• "New toys thinking they're the real character" seems only specific to Buzz Lightyears.
• There's an entry in WMG that might explain this: "It's not unheard of for popular toys to have a movie based off of them (Barbie, for instance), so a TV show isn't too far out there. Jessie, Bullseye and Pete were based on characters created for the show, so they have all of the 'pre-set' memories, but Woody was made before the show was, which would explain him not knowing "who he is"."
  • Or maybe Woody post-dates the show. Maybe even after the show was cancelled, Woody dolls were still mass-produced in an attempt (albeit a failed one) to prolong the character's popularity. These dolls were still equal models to the ones made during the shows run but had no connection except perhaps a vague "From the popular TV show 'Woody's Roundup'" writing on the boxes.
• Also remember that Buzz Lightyear didn't even know he was part of a show/franchise until he saw a commercial for himself on TV. Woody may not have had a chance to see himself on TV. Even if the Woody doll doesn't predate the show, this could still make sense. Every toy based on a TV show, when they're brand new, is unaware that they're a toy and is also unaware that their TV series exists. So there are two separate realizations that a toy can come to: (1) they're not the "real thing", and (2) they're based on a TV series. For Buzz, he realized both of these things at about the same time. For Woody, it's possible that he believed he was a real cowboy when he was brand new, but then gradually realized after a few years that he's just a toy.
• Woody spent so long in the attic that he forgot a lot of stuff, possibly just "going to sleep". He remembered being played with before and going into the attic, and that he was eventually taken out again and given to Andy, but he was alone for long enough that he did the toy equivalent of going senile and forgetting his backstory. It would also explain both his dedication to Andy and being a good toy, his sadness at going into the attic but the knowledge to help comfort the others about it and look forward to being played with by Andy's kids, and ultimately his decision to be given to another kid right away instead.

Why does Buzz Lightyear's "Space Ranger" personality seem to only annoy Woody in Toy Story while the other toys are seemingly passive (almost accepting), when in Toy Story 2 they all suddenly hate the new Buzz's SR attitude?

• Because as far as they're concerned, Buzz has for absolutely no reason suddenly decided to re-indulge his delusions of grandeur while they're in the middle of an important rescue mission, and is putting them all at risk as a consequence (he almost drops them down an elevator shaft at one point). Back in Andy's room in the first movie, it wasn't really a problem, no one was getting hurt and he was a novelty, so there wasn't really any harm in letting him indulge his little fantasies (except to Woody, who was feeling threatened by Buzz's popularity) if nothing but to spice up the atmosphere a little.
  • That still doesn't explain why none of the toys, except for Woody, think Buzz's "Space Ranger Mode" in 1 is insane, and in fact thought it completely ordinary. They don't question his ideals or even try to convince him he's a toy until 2.
    • They didn't buy it. They clearly thought he was insane, especially when he gave the "galactic ranger" speech. The other toys humor Buzz's delusions because they like him and don't mind it nearly as much as Woody does. It's the "falling with style" scene that does it, really. Buzz sufficiently impressed the other toys enough that they didn't really care that he was nuts. Woody however, was still smarting from being so callously knocked off the bed in favor of Buzz, and even then, he was more angered about being replaced as the favorite toy, with the delusions being a secondary annoyance that he initially didn't even realize that Buzz actually believed. ("You actually think you're the Buzz Lightyear? Oh, all this time I thought it was an act!")
• Consider also our Buzz and the other Buzz still have slight personality differences. Our Buzz in Toy Story 1 acts like he is in a new village and has to get introduced and doesn't believe he is in charge, and is trying to fit in. Toy Story 2 Buzz thinks he's in charge and doesn't take their advice. His insane acting makes him not listen to what would be reason, and to drop them all. He knows whats going on and suddenly acts like he never met them before.

LOOK, Evil Emperor Zurg's eyes are not connected to each other because of his nose. Then why is it that when we see his Zurg Vision, we see his eyes interconnected?

• How do you explain your vision being without a gap in the middle yet your nose separates your eyeballs? It's always possible the vision is actually electronic considering Zurg's eyes literally "light up".

Why was Al only concerned about Woody seemingly missing his hat? Isn't he missing his gun too? His holster is empty.

• He's a puppet from a relatively cheap children's television show from the 1950s; presumably the original carvers just decided that putting a gun would be too tricky or too time consuming and left it out.
• The holster is just for decoration. He didn't have a gun in the TV show, so there's no reason why AL would be concerned about something like that.
  • If he didn't have a gun on the show then what would he need a holster for?
    • Moral Guardians might have objected.
    • And small toy guns are a choking hazard. I don't think the toy company that made the dolls would want to deal with the incoming tsunami of lawsuits from grieving parents whose children choked to death on the toy guns. So they simply didn't make 'em.

Jessie and Woody's relationship. It's supposed to be a brother-sister one, right? Because it seems more romantic than anything. Jessie-Buzz basically came out of nowhere and they accidentally made it seem like: A. Woody would never get Bo Peep or B. They were now just friends.

• Aside from the fact that Woody never expressed romantic interested in Jessie in the first place, it has been clearly established from Toy Story and Toy Story 2 that Woody and Bo Peep are indeed an item (pardon the pun). Plus, as Woody and Jessie are both from Woody's Roundup family, a brother-sister relationship makes more sense, unless you meant this.
• I particularly enjoyed a (sadly since-been-taken-down) fan fic's interpretation of Buzz falling for basically a female version of Woody.
• I disagree, Buzz clearly liked Jessie since the end of Toy Story 2. Jessie liking Buzz did seem to come out of nowhere, but maybe Pixar didn't want to have obvious pairings, or for Woody to start developing a harem.
  • A part of Jessie's attraction to Buzz, I believe, was because she had previously thought negatively of space toys since they were the reason Woody's Roundup was canceled and she was ultimately put in storage. But when Buzz helped save her and Woody at the airport, as well as compliment her as he did when they all made it back to Andy's house, he managed to change her opinion of them by doing so.
    Jessie: Well, aren't you the sweetest space toy I've ever met!

Did Andy's Mom ever wonder where Jessie, Bullseye and the Aliens came from? When Andy sees them he calls out "Thanks, Mom!" yet she didn't buy them and has no reason to have the faintest idea why they just mysteriously appeared in Andy's room. Surely at some point during the intervening years between Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 she said something along the lines of, "Where did that cowgirl and horse come from?" Andy, assuming that she bought them, would have been very confused by this. Neither of them knew where the toys really came from, which must have left them thinking that Santa Claus was real and started operating very early.

• Probably, but she might have just assumed that another kid gave them to Andy or something and then passed it off. He's happy with his mysteriously appearing toys, and won't bother her, which is reason enough for her to let him keep them. What I'm confused about is how does Andy somehow know the correct names of Jessie and Bullseye in Toy Story 3, according to the height chart (in the teaser trailer)?
• Maybe Jessie's voice box mentions hers and Bullseye's names.
  • I always assumed that Andy found out Jessie's name after pulling her string a couple of times. One of the real world Jessie doll's phrases is "Hi there, I'm Jessie!" As for Bullseye, Jessie probably has greater ties to the rest of the line than Woody (if you only bought the hero, no harm done; but if you buy the sidekick she'll get you to buy the others by talking about toys you don't have) and the in-universe toy talks about Bullseye. If Woody has a phrase we've never heard before in 3, there's no reason Jessie can't have a couple of phrases we never knew about. She may even openly refer to Woody, or the Roundup, thereby causing Andy's theoretical online searches for his toys' backstory (let's just hope he didn't run across any Woody's Roundup fanfic).
  • Honestly, people, how was this above response not your first assumption? Especially seeing as how in the first movie it's shown they can control what their voice box says.
    • Because Jessie never shows to have a voice box of her own (or a pull string)
    • I'm pretty sure Jessie has a pull string.
    • Apologies, looking at some of her scenes in slow motion, she does have one... It's kinda weird we never get to hear what she says.
    • Just a small mention, but we see in the first movie that toys can say things of their own accord and have it look like it's just their voice box, as Sid now knows. Thus, it's also possible Woody could've just done the same thing with Andy one day, in order to let him know about Jessie and Bullseye's real names.
• It's been several years, he might well have looked it all up. He's played with them all enough to screw up their value as collector's items, and he doesn't have a Stinky Pete, so cashing in isn't a real option.
  • Andy could've Google'd their names. The public library would probably have internet access, if nothing else.
• Well, since he just got back from Cowboy Camp, she must have assumed he won them, or a kid he befriended gave them. The aliens she probably assumed he won at the pizza place.

At the end of Toy Story 2, Al has a new commercial lamenting the loss of the Woody collection. Would be fine, except this was the next day, with the luggage train still outside. This means Al has 12 hours to get to Japan, find out the toys are gone, talk to the museum guys, fly back, unpack, shoot the commercial, edit it, and get it on the air. Wow.

• Not to mention that the stockholders of Al's Toy Barn would actually allow a commercial with the owner of the company crying his eyes out during the take to air. Pixarians actually Lampshade this.
  • Well earlier in the movie when Al is on the phone with (I'm assuming) the producer of the commercial, he stated something along the lines of "And I want to do it in one take, you hear?"
  • Plus, it's not exactly as if he's running a massively expensive advertising campaign there. Basically, it involves him dressing up in a chicken suit and standing outside his store. They probably didn't have time or cash for a lot of reshoots, and he was probably inconsolable at having lost the centrepieces of his toy collection, and thus his chance at making millions of dollars. They were probably forced to run what they had.
    • Not running the commercial at all would have been a lot less damaging than losing face like that on public television. Also remember that they could have simply rerun a previous commercial and taken the loss.
    • If they keep previous commercials; again, he's not exactly running the biggest advertising operation there.
• The DVD Commentary admits this doesn't make sense, they just wanted to show that Al got what he deserved.
  • Maybe he only sent the packages without leaving for Japan. I know he repeatedly mentions in his lines how he'll be on the flight but maybe the plane left without him, he did seem to be in a VERY big hurry for the plane. This just seems to make more sense.

In Toy Story 2, Andy's mom put Wheezy in a yard sale and Woody takes him out. At the end he get repaired because his squeaker was broken. There are two problems with that:

1. Didn't she notice that she put him in the box and he just magically appeared back in Andy's room?
2. If she was willing to fix his squeaker after the yard sale, then why wasn't she willing to before? It just doesn't add up.

• My reasoning is that she simply thought no one bought Wheezy and that Andy eventually found him in the box. After much whining, she repaired him.
• She never fixed Wheezy. It's actually stated explicitly that "Mr. Shark found me an extra squeaker"
• And as for noticing he'd come back from the yard sale to Andy's room, who's to say she remembered putting him in the yard sale? She may have just been on a quick 'search and destroy' mission to find toys to sell, and never really registered what in particular she was choosing.
• And who hasn't changed their minds about throwing away/repairing something at some point?
• She probably just assumed no one bought him and that she'd brought him back in. Just because something is put into a yard sale doesn't mean that it is guaranteed to get sold.

In the universe of the movie, toys seem to be magically animated, and possess personalities independent of their original intent (i.e., Stinky Pete can be cultured and well-mannered, Zurg can be Buzz's loving father, etc.). So how would that apply to the toys from Small Soldiers? Would their magical toy personalities be different from their technological, A.I. personalities? Split personality disorder?

• Method acting.

What happened to Zurg and Bonus Belt Buzz in 2? I don't think they returned to Al's Toy Barn.

• They played catch in the bushes, and went on to live out the rest of their lives. It's possible that Zurg was the same Zurg that winds up at the daycare at the end. Unknown about bonus belt Buzz.
  • If it was meant to be the same Zurg, they probably didn't want to show Buzz with him to avoid an at-a-glance "Wait, why is Buzz back in the donations box?" reaction, especially if the viewer hasn't seen the second film to get the reference.
    • Viewers who haven't seen the second film won't understand plenty of things. The movie mostly made references to the first one, but obviously people who didn't see 2 shouldn't expect to get everything. Especially who Jessie and Bullseye are, and when Andy ever got ahold of any of those Pizza Planet alien toys. Or why Potato Head calls them "[my] boys!" at the end. But I agree with the avoiding confusion about which Buzz is which.

The biggest idea behind the series is that all toys are alive. If this is the case, shouldn't some of that memorabilia from Woody's Roundup in Two (such as the boot's snake) come to life as well?

• It seems that, in the world of Toy Story, there are two kinds of toy: the "character" toy and the "prop" toy. Only "character" toys such as Woody and company can come to life, but "prop" toys such as the record player and the "snake-in-my-boot" cannot come to life. Now, sometimes, you can have toys which blur the line, such as the Etch-a-Sketch, the lawn gnome Hamm talks to, Mr. Spell and the See-n-Say. The line, therefore, must be drawn at whether or not a toy can communicate.
  • The snake should still count as a character as it is an animal.
  • The main problem with that being the existence of RC, who certainly could not communicate.
    • Actually RC could communicate to some extent. In the first film, he attempts to do so with Rex after Woody knocked Buzz out the window.
  • I think that whether or not a toy comes to life is based on how character-like the toy is. Most do, some don't, but the more character-like, the more likely it will come to life. That's why a lot of other toy-like things in Andy's room don't come to life.
  • Another example of a non-living toy is the monkey zipline in Al's Toy Barn.

This always kind of bugged me from Toy Story 2: How exactly can Bullseye "lick" cheesy Al's fingers while he's asleep? He's a Toy, he has no digestive tract and he's completely made out of stuffing, therefore why does he feel the need to eat? At first I thought it was just simulation of eating, but until I saw this [1] commercial which show Buzz and Woody eating popcorn. Is this how they recharge their batteries? Where does the food go in all that fluff and stuffing? Or is it more like this [2]◊?

• The commercial is likely non canon, being a commercial and all. As for Bullseye, he didn't consume enough cheese to need a digestive system. As to why he would desire to, well, remember, he's has the mentality of an animal. He's not very smart, and saw some cheese on a guy's finger and licked it. Of note is that he only tasted the cheese, while ignoring the cheesy puffs on the ground.
• Also, note that in that commercial, Buzz and Woody never eat any popcorn. They are only shown holding it and almost putting it close to their mouths. Why they would just be pretending to eat it is anyone's guess, but also, why would they know who Wall-E is? Either the commercial isn't canon, or Buzz's batteries were Buy-N-Large products for a reason...
• His desire to taste in spite of lacking a digestive system can be compared to the other toys' desire for romance, in spite of a way to consummate such a relationship.
  • ...how do you know they can't?
    • Just a good guess. When Woody got his shirt sleeve cut, there's just cotton, no blood, not even peach colored fabric. Highly doubtful that he has a penis in his jeans. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are essentially walking around naked, and they have no genitalia.
    • You probably wouldn't find tongues, teeth, and eyeballs if you opened up their heads, but they still have them in full functioning form when they talk to each other. There's some degree of additional articulation available when they aren't posing as toys, so it's not improbable.
• And for that matter, when Rex sees Woody holding Buzz's dismembered arm, he throws up. How can a toy throw up?!
  • I think Rex was just miming throwing up, as a way of copying human behavior. Mentally, he may have felt like retching, but physically there was nothing to come up nor a way for anything to come up.

When does 2 take place?

According to the main article it takes place years later. Is one to three years considered "several years later"?

• Taking place the summer (August according to the calendar) right after the original makes the most sense, so it's almost a year after the original. Andy and Molly are definitely not 3 years older.

In 2, does Mom just not notice that Woody was stolen? She must have noticed that the safe-box she locked him was broken into, and him being Andy's favourite toy, you'd think she'd tell him what happened. But Andy arrives back home still expecting him to be there and Mom doesn't seem to bat an eyelid when she sees him?

• She probably didn't want to bother him at camp. If he found out that his favorite toy was stolen, that would just ruin the rest of camp time for him. And we never see her expression when Andy got them back, so we have no idea how surprised she'd be that Andy came back, and with two more Western themed toys to boot.
• Well, first off, I don't think she ever really locked the cash box, so she wouldn't have been able to tell if someone opened it. Second, she may have just assumed she put Woody somewhere else (like Andy's room) and forgot about it.
  • Very unlikely, since she had a fight with Al over the toy, with Al being rather persistent, and her having to lock the toy into the money box. If she would remember anything from that yard sale, it would be exactly that. A better question is why she did not call the police on him, since it would be very obvious who could have stolen Woody. The whole theft issue, however, is never resolved in the movie.
    • Even if she did call the police, it's not like she could give them much to go on; it's not like he gave her contact details and given how many people she interacted with that day, about the best description she'd likely be able to provide would be "obnoxious fat guy with a beard" which, let's face it, is far from a unique description. And that's if the police were going to make finding a child's lost toy priority one which, let's be honest, is unlikely.
    • Al appears in commercials so she could have an idea on his identity, like she could have described him as "this guy in a chicken suit from the commercials".
    • Yeah, but did she even know he was the same man? Even the toys didn't recognize him until Etch drew him in a chicken suit.

What is a 'Code 546'? Any ideas?

• Something involving inter-dimensional royalty, hence explaining why he can accept the fact that there are 2 "real" Buzz's (he seems to think the other Buzz's are generic space rangers in hyper sleep). Utility Belt Buzz probably believes Zurg kidnapped royalty on a diplomatic mission of some sort in his (Utility Buzz's) dimension. Either that, or it means he fell into another dimension.
  • Good point. Could explain why Utility Buzz knelt down in front of Woody and said "Your majesty". He thought he fell into another dimension where other Buzz is Woody's Royal Guard or something.
    • I always figured "Code 546" is just something along the lines of "Royal Escort". So Belt Buzz would’ve said "You mean it’s a royal escort? And he’s a king?"
  • Space Rangers are Crazy-Prepared for every situation.
    • Taking the above to its (il)logical extreme, a 'Code 546' is Space Ranger lingo for the exact set of circumstances that led to their situation. If Belt-Buzz had been able to fight past his stunned silence, the dialogue would've been something like this:
  Belt-Buzz: You mean we're all a bunch of toys?
  Buzz: Yep.
  Belt-Buzz: And he's a priceless collector's item who's been stolen by a toy store owner in hopes of making millions?
  Buzz: Uh-huh.
  • The 'Your Majesty' thing is just so Rangers don't have to explain the (real) meanings of their codes to civilians.
  • The interpretation this troper's always taken is that it's short hand for "he's royalty in need of protection, and i'm a clone/copy/time travelling future version/alternate version of you sent to protect him."

In Toy Story 2, how did Stinky Pete manage to turn on the TV with the remote right in front of Jessie without her seeing him?

• I always assumed that when they are in toy mode, they aren't aware of what's going on. Which would explain why Woody wasn't screaming when his arm was being ripped off until after it happened and Al left.
  • Toys must not feel pain in toy mode. There's plenty of times where something that should hurt doesn't. I think they just automatically turn into toys in the presence of humans, but automatically come back when they're gone. Though, this doesn't explain how Woody and Sid's toys scared Sid away. However, as proof that toys know what is going on, Woody hears Andy talking with his mom about the birthday party in like, the first scene of the first movie.
  • It's also possible that they don't see, hear, or feel anything in "toy mode", but once they are able to snap out of it, they instantly remember the things they didn't see, hear, and feel. Like waking up and remembering a dream.
    • But there was at least one shot in the first film that was obviously from the perspective of an inanimate toy...?
    • Maybe "toy mode" is a state of mind where the toys physically go inert (and can only force themselves out of it with great willpower, in the presence of humans), and what they see and perceive is only what's necessary — as the opening of the third movie shows, they experience play time like a real, epic adventure, because they're only perceiving what's necessary for play time.
• I always assumed that Jessie did see Stinky Pete turn the TV on, but didn't mention it because she was more loyal to him than she was to Woody. Plus, once Woody accused her, it seemed like she got caught up in the principle of the thing and didn't want to dignify his accusation by shifting the blame.
• It could possibly be that Jessie was lying and did turn on the TV that time. She did have plenty of motive to, after all, and just because Stinky Pete can get out of his box doesn't necessarily mean it was him that time.
  • Woody accuses Stinky Pete of committing the act when he tries to stop Woody from returning home to Andy, and Stinky Pete certainly doesn't go to any lengths to deny it...To answer the question, though, I always figured Stinky Pete just turned the TV on from somewhere else and then slid the remote in front of Jessie to frame her for it, and she was so absorbed in watching what Woody was doing (albeit in the semi-conscious state referred to above) that she didn't notice it appear there.

Why can't Bullseye talk?

Bullseye is a horse toy that acts mostly horse-like, whereas all the other animal toys (Rex, Trixie, Lotso, Hamm, etc.) we see throughout the movies have human speech and intelligence. Why?

• Bullseye doesn't talk because he is based on a character that doesn't talk. If an animal is based on a talking animal, or is just a generic animal toy that isn't based on a fictional character, they talk.
  • Additionally, he's the only toy in his line without a voice box. You notice he not only doesn't speak, he doesn't make any noise at all, not even horse sounds. Now of course voice boxes aren't a requirement for toys to talk, but he does possess that distinction within his "family".
    • He does whinny in TS 3, when the prison guard does his round.

Isn't that stealing?

Ok, so the reason Al is the bad guy is because he stole Woody. Ok, that works. But what bugs me is that, at the end of the movie, Woody, Buzz and the other toys take Jessie, Bullseye and Stinky Pete from Al. There's no indication that he stole them, and they are his property whether they're alive or not. So doesn't that mean that the good guys just did exactly what makes the bad guy bad?

• Considering the toys are sentient beings, what Al did is more like kidnapping, and in Jessie and Bullseye's case, they left of their own accord, and Stinky Pete followed them.
  • Yeah but Al didn't know they were alive and they're still technically possessions whether they left willingly or not.
  • Al stole Woody which is bad enough but from the toys point of view he kidnapped Woody which is actually worse. Even if Al doesn't know she's alive Jesse has every right to leave if she wants too. If a dog convinces your dog to run away it's not considered stealing. Actually one has to wonder how Emily ended up donating Jesse to the greedy collector foundation.
    • She didn't, she donated her to some sort of charity and through an elaborate series of events she got to Al.
  • Even if we can consider it stealing, well, for Al it's a case of 'tough shit' really; Al was quite happy to steal someone else's cherished property for his own greedy ends, so his own cherished property getting 'stolen' on him is simply just desserts. It's Karma balancing the universe and biting him on the ass in the process. The two also aren't morally equivalent, really; Al stole Woody so that he could sell him and profit, Woody and the other toys 'stole' Jessie and Bullseye to give them a new, happier home and, as a consequence, to make a small boy happy. Al's motives were selfish and greedy, Woody's motives were selfless. There's absolutely no reason why we should feel sorry for Al or consider Woody morally equivalent to him.
    • Good intentions don't make crimes right, including stealing. And yes, we can feel sorry for Al, since he does get his own property stolen alongside losing the doll he stole. And you cant simply retaliate one crime with another crime and be morally in the right. Both characters initially cant get what they want, and resort to theft to get their way, so yes, they can be considered morally equivalent, while not being judged equally by the movie (or viewer) through how they are portrayed.
    • Leaving aside the moral absolutism here (since while we technically can feel sorry for Al, the fact that he's consistently depicted as a selfish dick who, you know, basically stole a kid's beloved toy to satisfy his own greed heavily suggests we're not supposed or encouraged to), who's stealing anyway? The toys are, in this case, sentient beings making a decision for themselves. Woody doesn't steal Jessie and Bullseye, he persuades them to join him and the other toys. Al didn't offer Woody this choice (albeit unwittingly, but then, there's still the whole 'he stole a toy from a kid out of greed' thing). They're not morally equivalent because what Woody did wasn't stealing in the first place.
  • Just wondering here, why would toys abide by human law? Maybe if Andy knew Jesse and Bullseye were Al's that would be stealing, but toys leaving of their own accord? They're toys, not slaves. Toys seem to leave of their own free will all the time— the Army Men in TS3 to escape being trashed, Woody in TS3 to get back to Andy (from both Sunny Side and from Bonnie's room), Buzz and Woody from Sid's house in the first movie, etc. are just a few canon examples. It would certainly explain toys that suddenly go missing or groups of toys (like the Army Men) that seem to magically have less members...
    • Since toys are considered property that can be bought and sold, they are technically slaves through being toys. The toys, especially early on, do not exhibit all that much free will in terms of being able to leave (note that Sid's toys, while locked up, did manage to escape when they specifically were told to do so). Woody leaves these places only because he is still owned by (and feels ownership by) Andy. Lotso feels this same urge to return, until he finds out he has been disowned by his previous owner. The Army Men seem to leave, but come back to the rest of the toys after Andy handed them all over to another child (implicitly also including the soldiers in the gift).
    • Actually, they don't; the Army Men end up at the daycare centre at the end.
  • Long story short, it's not stealing. If you look at it from the viewpoint of the toys just being toys (as the toys themselves seem to), as the use of the word "stealing" would imply...then, no, it's not stealing. Especially since Jessie and Bullseye could've stayed if they wanted to. And if you choose to look at them as living beings, "stealing" actually transfers to "kidnapping", and convincing someone to run away with you after a kidnapping doesn't equate to kidnapping them yourself.

Why don't the other Woody's Roundup collectibles (aside from Jessie, Bullseye and Stinky Pete) move when Al isn't there?

• What makes a toy be alive, so to speak? It can't be just looking like a person/animal

because many of the Woody themed toys don't move during the movie - even while Woody's interacting with them - while other non-anthropomorphic toys like the Etch-a-Sketch do. I thought for a bit maybe a toy has to be loved to come to life, but there are a bunch of still-in-package toys in the series, including Stinky Pete and all of the toys in the toy store, that move.

• I assumed that toys began with a general consciousness after they are made. When they gain a loving home, they gain a soul. And when they lose that home, they keep it until they die. Or something like that.

• I think it would be a little too creepy. Can you imagine a baseball bat and a baseball rolling around on their own?

Why does Jessie only remember Emily?

Jessie presumably was made at the same time as Woody and the TV show (circa 1950s) and Emily was most likely a child in the 60s/70s. That's a good ten year gap or so. Didn't she have anyone before that? Woody too- if he is a hand-me-down from Andy's father, he was probably a child in the 70's/80's, to have a kid born in the 90's (unless there was a considerable age gap between Andy's Mom and Dad). That's a really long time to have no owner, especially for a toy.

• Judging by the style and appearance of the girl, as well as the van and room during the flashback, it would be better assumed that she was a child of the 80's. Before then, Jessie probably lived with another owner that didn't have such a great emotional impact or simply forgot. Woody, on the other hand, just spent several years in the attic.
• It could be that Andy's Dad was born around 1954 or 55, and got Woody when he was very young and around the time the show went off the air. He would have grown up in the 1960s, and put Woody in the attic for a few decades. So Andy's Dad would have been in his thirties when Andy was born, and gave him Woody when he was old enough.
• Just because Jessie was released in the 1950s doesn't necessarily mean that's when she was bought. She could have been purchased for Emily in a discount store or something.
  • Emily loses interest in Jessie when she becomes a teenager, which is when a lot of very late 60s/early 70s "Dance Party" posters start popping up on the wall, and Emily is wearing bell-bottoms when she finds Jessie again. She drives a sorta late-60's woody (hah) station wagon to drop Jessie off at the charity truck. I think the odds are in favor of Emily being more or less contemporaneous with the show. If she's 16 or so in 1970, that would mean Emily was about 3 when the show was on the air.
  • It's possible that the series was repeated until the 1980s - this happened a lot with real-life TV series (EG Champion was a common time filler on Saturday early mornings on BBC1 into the 80s - it originally aired in 1954), and merch was sometimes rereleased. If you reference the way Thunderbirds merch has been redone over the timeframe; Blue Peter did a Tracy Island "make" in the late 70s/early 80s. The ATV/ITC series was repeated frequently.

In the first movie, Mrs. Potato Head is said to be Molly's present, yet in this (and 3), she's one of Andy's toys... so, what happened there? Did Andy simply keep taking the Mrs. away from Molly so his Mr. could have a Mrs., or what do you think the possible scenario is?

• I think you've answered your own question. My sister and I had toys that belonged to one another that we thought went together with our own which we simply took and played with a lot. Sometimes, if the other sibling didn't protest, we'd just eventually think of the toy as one of ours, especially if we became attached to it. This is probably what happened to them— Molly probably didn't show much interest in the Mrs Potato Head (in the first movie Mr. Potato Head complains that he's not age appropriate for Molly anyway, and she was around the same age when she received his spouse) that Andy needed for his scenarios, so he eventually claimed her as his own.
• I think it's only addressed in the first movie that Molly OPENED the Mrs. Potato Head present. Perhaps most of her presents that year came in wrapping and packaging that would be too difficult for a toddler to open single handedly. And Andy's mom wanted to give her a little Christmas morning hype by letting her open one of her big brothers presents. That or the "to Molly" sticker on the present was just a mistake on Mom's (or Santa Claus') part.

After Al falls asleep watching TV, the channel goes off the air and cuts to static. Were there any TV stations left in the late 90s that still weren't running on a 24-hour schedule?

• He may have been watching a VHS tape that was connected to the TV through a channel that was otherwise running static. When the tape ran out and stopped playing, it went to static.
  • Or was watching a tape that was recorded at the very end of a long ago broadcast day. There are a number of such videos on YouTube currently mostly used to point out that, yes, stations did indeed used to go off the air.
• how did the TV turn on if it was already on
• Some cable channels like Food Network and HGTV end their programming and then they pass infomercials until they start programming again in the morning.

Was that real?

• When Woody is watching a puppet of himself singing at the end of Woody's Roundup, we see a boy who, if I recall, looks suspiciously like Andy come onscreen, grab the Woody doll and hug him, all while he continues to sing. Was that actually part of the show's ending, or was it something Woody was imagining in his head? It seems a little odd for it to have been either option...
  • I just assumed it was a random boy who just happened to look like Andy. From Woody's perspective, of course that boy would remind him of Andy.
  • That's one part of the question. The other part is why the kid is there in the ending song to begin with? Was he supposed to be there, or was Woody imagining him completely? I know the show is obviously using toys and puppets in its production, but it's still weird in an existential sense to have a human kid show up out of nowhere and start playing with them.
  • I think the kid is supposed to be there. Think of it like Sesame Street where the monsters/muppets all have their own adventures and the humans interact with them. Only here, it's in the end.

Don't endanger yourselves! Just leave a note!

• After Al steals Woody, why don't the other toys just write out a note and say it's from Al, sort of like Woody does to tell Andy to donate his toys in the third film? They could just write it out as, "My name is Al McWhiggin. I'm the overbearing, fat guy who tried to buy your son's cowboy doll from you, and now I've gone and stolen him. Come and find me if you can!" and leave it somewhere where Andy's mother will find it easily, an inventory check would alert her that Woody is indeed missing, and she could either do some research on Al and figure out who he is herself or take the information she has to the police.
  • Did the toys ever find out Al's last name? And who would write a letter like that, as amusing as it is? Also, the toys don't know Al's address. All they know is that he's the owner of Al's Toy Barn. What good is that?
  • Al lives just across the street from the store. And even if no sane person would ever leave a note like that, there's only so many rational ways for Andy's mom to try and justify it - it's not like she'd ever stop to think that the toys might've written the note. (Also, my example of what the toys could've written in the note was mostly meant to be taken as hyperbole - obviously, they would write something a bit more subtle, or find some other way of bringing his identity to Mom's attention.)
  • As discussed earlier, would the police even bother with something like this? Even if they deduced it was Al from Al's Toy Barn, I'm pretty sure Al is competent enough to feign ignorance.

After the toys escape the plane, what do they witness before leaving?

• After escaping, a plane comes in from behind them and they stare in shock. Did it crash? It just doesn't seem very clear to me.
  • Of course it didn't crash. They stare in shock because the plane flew in right over their heads unexpectedly.
  • They're shocked because they almost got squashed by a landing / taking off jet airplane without noticing.
  • Don'tExplainTheJoke. It was supposed to be kind of a lighthearted way to ease the audience off of the tense sequence of events they just witnessed. The toys were celebrating, having forgotten they were still on the runway of a busy airport. The plane taking off over them was just reminding them that, uh, they need to go on back to Andy's.

Why didn't Woody just tell Jessie and the other Woody's Round-Up Toys that he was stolen from Andy?

• Sure, Jessie's bitter that she was abandoned but stealing a toy from a kid? Definitely an evil thing to do (and a good way to get her to help Woody).
  • Even when he tried explaining that, Jessie got caught on the fact that Andy ripped Woody, with the Prospector even drawing special attention to it. Odds are, Jessie would've remained stuck on that even if the story were explained to her in full, or the Prospector, conniving as he is, would work some manipulation on her behind Woody's back to keep the two from making amends.
  • He did try, but they didn't care. Especially Jessie.

There's a theory circulating that Woody is actually an heirloom that Andy received from his father, hence why he's so attached to him. But as far as I can tell, there's actual proof of this in the second movie - when she refuses to sell Woody to Al, Andy's mom mentions that he's an "old family toy". So...what's up with this? It seems pretty conclusive, but I never hear anyone bringing it up. Was I the only one who noticed?

• The reason no one brings it up is because it screws with the story - Woody almost certainly had to have been owned by someone else, probably the father, besides Andy, and yet Andy is the only owner Woody ever mentions. So unless Andy's dad shoved Woody in a box the day after he got him (unlikely for a child of the fifties with less entertainment options), it's a huge, gaping Plot Hole.
  • It doesn't screw with the story that much. There's no real plot reason that Woody has to mention any other owners he has; we can just assume he's a hand-me-down.

Literally Right Behind Me...

• How come Amy didn't hear Pete and the Barbie doll talking in that scene near the end?
  • She just wasn't listening. Also, Pete and Barbie weren't speaking very loudly, and their voices were probably muffled slightly from behind the bag, as well.
  • Add into that the fact that this scene takes place in a public airport where one would expect people to be chatting in earshot of others—if Amy did hear anything but wasn't actively trying to listen in, the logical part of her would think "People having a conversation somewhere behind me," not "Tiny people on my backpack are talking."

What's the point of the sign?

• I know this is a minor detail, but something that's irked me since I first watched this film was the shot of the "No Children Allowed" sign as Al first enters his apartment building. It never factors into anything having to do with the plot - it's not like Andy tries to go looking for Woody, but is denied access into the building or something. The toys are the only ones to mount a rescue mission, and Andy never even finds out Woody was stolen. So why is the sign in the movie at all, and why is it given so much focus in that shot?
  • My guess is it’s possibly a statement regarding Al and how he’s interested in toys just for money and not fun.
  • This is actually brought up in the DVD commentary. The sign is emphasized to show just how dire Woody's situation is- his sole purpose in life is to be loved and played with by a child... and he just got brought into a kid-free zone.

Why do the toys complain about Al’s Toy Barn being closed?

They’re not there to shop. They’re there to rescue Woody. Plus they have to remain still if spotted by humans. Wouldn’t a time when the store is closed actually be the most convenient time for them anyway? The store closed means there would be nobody shopping. There would also be no risk of being bought (especially if you think about what happened to Buzz and Woody in the first film when they were in Pizza Planet). I mean, it is a toy store after all.

• They were upset because if the store is closed, they can't get inside to look for clues about Woody's whereabouts. They were lucky that there were employees inside setting things up for the day, which meant the doors were unlocked to let them in.
  • But then why did Rex still complain even right after they saw an employee walk in?
  • Because it's Rex. At least that's what I've always assumed.

Andy’s Mom is a jerk.

• Andy was obviously upset about Wheezy being broken. His mom told him she would get him fixed… then all she did was put him on the shelf, and hid him behind a book! Did she even try to get him fixed? And worse, she puts him in a yard sale without Andy knowing while he was away at camp. Woody had a good reason to rescue Wheezy. Andy’s mom also shouldn’t be taking things from his room and selling them without his consent.
  • For the record, we don’t know that she intentionally hid Wheezy instead of getting him fixed. It’s also possible that she meant to repair him at first and forgot he was up there — adults have busy lives, after all, and she does at least do a decent job of choosing what to put in the yard sale. It’s mostly limited to books and board games and stuff, as opposed to the toys Andy still plays with. She probably threw Wheezy in figuring Andy’s forgotten about him and moved on at this point.

Should Rex be messing with Andy's video games?

• Unless the Buzz Lightyear video game Rex is playing at the beginning is just a straight no-continues Arcade-style game (which doesn't seem likely since the game looks to be a fifth-generation console game with enough meat to its content to warrant a strategy guide), then it must have a save system. If Rex is constantly playing the game trying to beat it, what happens the next time Andy decides to boot the game up? He'll either notice that his save point is at a different spot in the game than where he left off, or that there's mysteriously a second save file present with its own progress made.
  • First, making a lot of assumptions there. Second, in the Play-Station era when this was made, console games did not automatically save, as a rule. Hell, a lot of Play Station games still used passwords, for goodness sake. It would be more effort for Rex to save than to just play the game without saving.
  • Two words: MEMORY. And CARD. Rex has one secreted away somewhere Andy wouldn't come across it, and he inserts that into Andy's gaming console whenever he wants to play his game. As for how Rex would have obtained one- maybe Andy had a few and "misplaced" one (read: Rex stole it).
    • However, Rex is specifically shown playing an SNES, which didn't have memory cards.

Is Emperor Zurg Buzz Lightyear's father in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command?

• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is probably like the Ewoks and Droids shows made after A New Hope. While it may be canon to Toy Story (given how Disney tends to treat its televised spinoff series), it's probably not canon to the Buzz Lightyear series within the Toy Story movie. The Zurg from Toy Story 2 is probably the equivalent of an Empire Strike Back or Return of the Jedi Dart Vader action figure. The only significant difference (to anyone who isn't a collector) is the packaging, but it gives the toy's "mind" an entirely new, deeper backstory. The original Zurg toys, fresh out of the box from the toy store, would likely have had no more personality than "I will destroy Buzz Lightyear!" and "I am the ruler of the galaxy!"
  • The show played around with this in the episode where Zurg takes over Roswell. During a lightsaber duel, Buzz pins Zurg down, but Zurg throws him off by saying "Buzz, I am your father." When this confuses Buzz, Zurg punches him in the face and says, "Psych! Made ya look, dimwit!"

In the Toy Story-verse, what do collectible figurines do? I mean the kids toys find fulfillment in being played with, so expensive or adult-oriented figurines that aren't meant for play still have a vestigial instinct for being played with and are doomed to a life of sadness because they exist just for someone's collection, or are they just fine with it? (Yes, I am overanalyzing and well aware of it. I'm just thinking of some of the figurines I've acquired over the years, or kitschy knick-knacks, that kinda thing.)

• Lawn gnomes and Christmas Decorations seem just happy serving their job as ornaments so I think that as far as collectible figurines go, as long as they get to serve their primary function, they're happy. That's the main key, as stated by the film's director John Lasseter, about bringing an inhuman object to life.
• figurines that aren't meant for play still have a vestigial instinct for being played with and are doomed to a life of sadness because they exist just for someone's collection- That's the theme of the second movie, so, yes.
  • Not really. The ones from the second movie were meant for play, but were being treated as collectors' items instead. Plus, the only ones who had any real desire to be played with were the ones that had been played with in the past- as long as the collectors' items were never played with at any point, they're probably fine with it. This is the only explanation that enables me to sleep at night with a bookshelf full of fresh-from-the-store-or-amusement-park plushies...
  • Presumably, a figure designed primarily for looking at prefers to, well, be looked at—that's what they were made for. They'd probably freak out if someone actually tried to play with them.
  • I always imagined figures to be somewhat snobby. They're designed for "sophisticated adults" (in their mind) and not crude children. They're designed to be visually appealing and admired, playing with them (especially being played with by children) could even be construed as an insult to them. ("Look at my beautifully sculpted face, what have you done to me!") It makes me think of "high-brow" vs "low-brow" entertainment. Someone who spends their free time at the opera might not be down with watching monster trucks (not impossible of course) and vice versa. Neither fate (being admired from afar vs being played with) is evil, per se, but more a case of "to his is own".
• Bo Peep doesn't seem to mind being used as a play thing, and remember she's a lamp decoration
• A popular WMG goes that toys only have personality once someone gives them one. It seems reasonable to conclude that once a toy has been played with and given a personality, it'll come to life.
  • But this is disproved in Toy Story 2 with Stinky Pete. He's never been played with.
    • Ah, but he has been handled (or at least his, ahem, package has been handled) by someone that has deeply immersed themselves in the whole Woody's Round-Up thing. He hasn't been played with, but he's the property of someone who knows what his personality should be. It would also explain why he's so hell-bent on being collected... he absorbed that as being his "destiny" from his owner.
• I don't think it's so much that toys have an instinct for play, so much as they have been played with, enjoyed it, and want to continue doing it. For example, the toys that have been played with, such as Woody and Jessie, appreciate being played with, and want that feeling again. Stinky Pete on the other hand, who has never been played with, has no desire to be anything but a collectible.
  • That makes sense. This is backed up by the fact that, in the short Toy Story That Time Forgot, none of the dinosaurs have a pre-exiting desire to be played with. In fact, they have no idea what "playtime" is until their owner finally plays with them for the first time.

The timeline is all screwy. It worked well enough until Tour Guide Barbie's comment about retailers' short-sightedness "back in 1995." This sounds like it's been at least four or five years, therefore the sequel takes place in 1999 at the earliest. But if so, then why is Molly only now starting to walk?! If it's been several years she should be about preschool age now. I know, I know...

• The "back in 1995" comment was a Shout-Out to Real Life, in which this exact thing happened in the Christmas season of that year (the year Toy Story first came out). I would call it a Rule of Funny as well as a Rule Of Take That!.
• There's no inference that Andy got his Buzz "back in 1995." Molly just learning to walk implies that the sequel only takes place about a year after the first, maybe less considering the first movie ended at Christmas, and the sequel takes place in summer.
• What I didn't get was why Andy appears to have gray hair as opposed to his originally brown color at the end of Toy Story 3. Perhaps he's now in his late teens already.
  • They actually say this out loud in film 3, Andy is 17. And the grey hairs could be genetic. I know a girl who's only 18 who has grey hairs already. It's not that uncommon.
• Barbie is fresh out of the box, even a year ago could be a long time for her.
• Besides, couldn't you say "back in [year]" even if it was just the previous year? "Back in 1995" just suggests that the year 1995 is past, but it could now be anymore from 1996 to later.

Since when are the little green men characters in the Buzz Lightyear universe? They were the mascots of Pizza Planet, but there was nothing to tie them in to Buzz Lightyear.

• Maybe they were part of the Buzz Lightyear franchise and were later added as mascots of Pizza Planet.
  • Snoopy somehow became the mascot of Metlife Insurance. Anything is possible in character licensing.
• Or alternatively Buzz is part of a Pizza Planet backed line of toys. It doesn't seem that far of stretch given the space theme for the company to be the ones behind the Buzz Lightyear universe as a way of creating an interest in space themed stuff for kids.
  • I figured the LGM toys were made exclusively available at Pizza Planet while other toys in the Buzz Lightyear line could be bought in other stores. I have noticed that some toy lines (i.e. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) had certain products that could only be obtained at certain stores.
• I don't think they were 'mascots' or associated with Pizza Planet at all beyond the claw-game just happening to be located there. In the real world, the claw-games I've encountered which happened to have toys in them are usually filled with cheap knock-off stuffed toy versions of famous children's cartoon characters — I've seen ones with Looney Tunes characters, Batman characters, Shrek characters, and the like. It's likely that whoever maintains the claw-machine at that particular restaurant just got a job-lot of cheap alien squeaky toys from the Buzz Lightyear cartoon because it fit in with the whole 'space' theme of the restaurant.
  • The little green aliens actually are Pizza Planet mascots as they have the Pizza Planet logo on their spacesuits.

Where did the Barbies at the end come from? Andy didn't have any, and Molly's not old enough to take an interest in them.

• Who says Andy didn't have any? Or maybe his mom collects them.
• I wouldn't put it past misguided relatives giving Barbies to Molly, either. Not everyone buys age-appropriate toys for kids.
• You'd be surprised how young a girl will be given barbies. My sisters had them when they were far too young to play with them.
• If you listen to the commentary, it becomes clear that this is a case of Rule of Cool at work.

Couldn't Al have just sued the airline for losing his extremely valuable luggage?

As far as anyone could've seen Al's bag came open during the transport process, which given how adamant he was on threatening the clerk about keeping the bag safe it makes sense that he would blame it on careless attendants and employees. He would probably have a pretty good case, as long as he could prove the toys were in the bag before being shipped.

• Operative word: prove. He's not that bright, he probably didn't think to take out special insurance or document the process of putting them on the airline. Depending on the amount of money he wanted the airline also may have fought him in court and won, or settled for a very small amount.
• There's a limit to how much you can be compensated for lost or damaged luggage on an international flight — and it's far, far below the amount that Al was seeking from the toy museum. He would've had more protection if he'd used a proper shipping service to send the toys to Tokyo on a cargo flight, but he seemed to be trying to cut corners by checking them as luggage on a passenger airline.

How in the world does Zurg's ion blaster fire so many nerf balls and never run out of ammo?

• Since toys coming to life gives them the ability to do things toys normally wouldn't be able to do (such as Woody having teeth when speaking despite lacking an open-mouth smile when in toy mode), Zurg having infinite ammo may be a "feature" of his ability to come to life.

Where did the "extra squeaker" come from?

• It's mentioned that Wheezy got an extra squeaker from the toy box to replace his broken one, but it's never explained where it came from.
  • It was in the toy box the entire time; it was just too small to be immediately noticed and identified, and the other toys didn't bother to look for one as Weezy had been placed on the toy shelf (which, to the toys, is a place where your fate is uncertain) and since they couldn't hear him crying out for help due to his broken squeaker, they must have come to the conclusion that Weezy had accepted his fate (which he eventually did) and would soon be given away. Once Weezy was saved from the yard sale, the toys decided to look for a new squeaker for him, and that's when Mr. Shark found a spare one in the toy box.
    • Actually, as evidenced by Woody’s reaction to seeing Weezy, none of the toys knew he was up there. The rest of what you said makes sense, but not knowing Weezy’s there adds another reason for the toys to not care about finding another squeaker.

Why does Buzz try to take the belt off of Utility Belt Buzz? He knows he's a toy, so he should know it won't do anything, so in what way does he think having it will benefit him?

• I don't think he thinks it will benefit him. He probably just wants to wear it because he thinks it's cool.

Why did Jessie still think the final episode was cancelled?

• When Woody tells Jessie to let go of the plane, he tells her to pretend it's the final episode of Woody's Roundup. Jessie replies that it was cancelled and they never saw if he made it. But at this point, it has turned out that the final episode was not cancelled after all, since it played in an early scene. And Woody even saw its conclusion. Did Jessie miss all that?
  • Since all of the episodes were only playing on tape, it's possible they were recorded in such a way that the ending Woody saw was taken from a different episode but set to play after the one that was never finished.

How did Stinky Pete turn on the TV if he never left his box until later?

• He did leave his box to turn on the TV. Woody and Jessie just didn't know he did it until he left his box later to lock the vent. That's why he says "you keep forcing me to take extreme measures" - the first being secretly opening his box to turn on the TV and wake up Al, and the second being to leave his box a second time to prevent Woody's escape.
  • If he left his box before, how did it appear to have never been opened? Maybe he was really good at disguising it and to keep the audience, as well as Woody and Jessie, from knowing that he had left it. But more importantly, when he left his box to turn on the TV, how the heck did Jessie not notice? And how did Stinky Pete manage to get back in his box, and get it closed again, before Al woke up?
  • As for how the box appeared to have never been opened, there wouldn't be any obvious signs to the contrary as long as the packaging wasn't torn. Jessie wouldn't have seen Prospector using the remote if we assume she was in Doll State at the time, which would mean she'd have been staring straight ahead; as long as the remote was within reach of Prospector's box, he could've just used the end of his pickaxe to hit the power button and then slide it in Jessie's direction to suitably frame her, without having to risk exposing his not-quite-mint-in-the-box status.

Shouldn't there be security cameras in Al's Toy Barn and other stores? If so, why are there a bunch of barbies screwing around, playing limbo with each other and giving tour guides? Shouldn't they be spotted on those cameras?

Two possibilities, neither mutually exclusive:

• Very few retail outlets have the budget or electrical ability to run cameras on every aisle and corner of the store—if the toys can find a blind spot the camera doesn't cover, they're in the clear.
• As seen in the sequel, Lotso's monkey henchman can view and mess with security cameras at a daycare center—why not have a toy at the Toy Barn do the same? It must be pretty stressful to be a toy under constant surveillance, what with not being able to move at all for fear of breaking The Masquerade.

How does Wheezy know the song "You've Got a Friend in Me?"

• In the original movie, the song was just part of the soundtrack and didn't actually show up in-universe. But in this movie, it's revealed that it originated as from the Woody's Roundup show. So where did Wheezy learn the song? Andy has likely never seen an episode of the show.
  • The song could just be an in-universe example of Pop-Cultural Osmosis leading to Mainstream Obscurity.
  • It's implied that Woody was a hand-me-down from Andy's father, who presumably grew up with the show. He may have taught Andy that song before he disappeared. Wheezy wasn't in the first movie, so he probably never knew Andy's dad; but he could still have overheard Andy or his mom sing it.

After Woody and Buzz fail to catch the moving van because the RC's batteries deplete, Buzz drops the remote in frustration. How comes that Andy still has the remote?

• If it was left lying in the middle of the street, odds are it would've been run over or smashed before Andy could reclaim it. He may have had the ability to contact the company that made it and request a new controller - I know that some toy manufacturers do give consumer that option if a part is lost.

How come Slinky's midsection seems to retain a lot more strength? To list off some features, he offered it to used to bungee cord off from a two-story house, to descend and stretch 10ft to get to a suitcase, and then stretched past 20 feet in the baggage handling area.

• That's probably more related to the length and strain put on his middle section differing greatly in the movies. In the first one he was completely stretched out for several minutes while being pulled in two directions (he was basically the only thing keeping RC moving for a while there). In the second one all his stretching is for brief periods with the other side free to recoil back to the stretching end. Just like how if you stretch a slinky for a few seconds it'll be fine but if you stretch it out and keep it like that it'll warp.

Who does Jessie think turned on the TV?

• The way she responds to Woody's accusation shows she must know what transpired beforehand, so if not her, who else would have done it? The remote was in front of her, and Woody and Bullseye were both nowhere near it or the TV when it switched on. If Jessie and Prospector were the only ones within reach of the remote, and Jessie is so adamant that she didn't do it, wouldn't that make it obvious to her that the Prospector did?
  • She may have assumed that the television turned itself on due to the remote being faulty (like the "on" button getting stuck down, triggering the TV turning on by random chance) or perhaps even the TV itself being faulty. This can happen in real life; sometimes things can malfunction and turn themselves on in the middle of the night due to stuck buttons or defective circuitry.

What exactly was wrong with just airing the finale to Woody's Roundup?

• There were probably lots of kids excited to see it. The space toy craze may have taken over, but it's not like the creators of the show had anything to lose by airing it. They could have aired it and then, at the end of the episode, announced a brand new space-themed show, or, if they were worried about the finale being a flop, advertised the finale telling kids to stay tuned until the very end for a big surprise (which would be the new show).
  • Stinky Pete actually lied to Woody about Woody's Roundup getting cancelled before the final episode. If one pays close attention to when Woody shows Andy's toys the episode of Woody's Roundup, Woody doesn't turn the TV off, and the episode continues playing. After Andy's toys leave, Woody sees what Stinky Pete didn't show him earlier; the episode's ending. In it, Woody made it across the canyon and rescued Stinky Pete and Jessie just before the dynamite exploded. Jessie congratulated him for the rescue, and Woody provided the episode's moral; your real treasures are your family and friends. He then sang "You Got a Friend in Me" during the closing credits. There's also a book that tied in with the movie called Woody's Roundup that shows Woody's rescue from the episode.

No Children Allowed?

• Putting aside that the "No Children Allowed" sign ties thematically into Woody's situation... Are there really such apartment buildings that ban children from being inside them? Wouldn't that turn off a lot of potential renters? What sort of policy is that?
  • Maybe it's a luxury apartment specifically for rich businesspeople who own valuable goods and assets and need a place to keep them secure, and the sign was put there to let people know that children can't go in just in case they run inside and damage a priceless object.

Investigative work

• Buzz is able to discern the identity of the thief who took Woody via two methods...both of which raise some questions. Why does he need to punch the letters from Al's license plate into a speak-and-spell if it just repeats them back to him? Why not just go down the list of possible words in his head? Similarly, why did Etch need to sketch out Al in a chicken suit for the toys to put it together that he was the guy in the chicken suit? Why not just have Buzz say, "He was the guy in the chicken suit!"
  • Regarding the Speak and Spell: He's hoping that, if he puts various words in and hears them read back to him, it might jog his memory by sounding like something (a business, a location, etc.) to get a better idea of where the thief might be from. Doing that entirely in his head could be frustrating, so Speak and Spell helped make a tough job easier. And as for the chicken suit sketch: Buzz asked to Etch to draw Al in the suit to show the toys who exactly the thief was: It wasn't just a random guy who works at Al's Toy Barn, it's Al himself!

Wouldn't the people who owned the cameras see the pictures of the toys alive?

• Andy's toys use flash photography cameras to blind Stinky Pete and stop him from killing Woody. But... wouldn't whoever own the cameras see photographic evidence of toys alive once they get them back?
  • The photographs would consist of blurry, out-of-focus, brightly-lit shots of Stinky Pete cowering from the brightness of the camera flashes with Woody on the floor. The owner would obviously be very confused as to where they came from, but there's not enough activity in the photos to make them think that toys are alive. They'd have to deduce that a toddler ran off at the airport, stole their equipment and took several very poor-quality photographs of a couple of their cowboy dolls while riding on a conveyor belt.
  • That’s also assuming that Buzz and co. bothered returning them to their suitcase, if they could even find it.
  • It's also assuming that the cameras had film inside them that could record the photos at the time.

Who would fix Woody after Stinky Pete rips his arm?

• During the airport scene, Stinky Pete re-rips Woody's arm and threatens to cut him in pieces (until he is stopped by Buzz and the gang) if he does not agree to go to Japan. He even says, "If he fixed you once, he can fix you again." But who does he expect will fix Woody once they get to Japan? Geri is obviously not accompanying Al to Japan and Al apparently doesn't have the same skills to repair Woody on his own. In fact, when Woody's arm first came off, Al freaked out. So who would put Woody back together again now? Did Pete expect Al to find somebody in Japan who could fix him as well as Al's cleaner did?
  • Al's own personal toy cleaner did a lot more than just fix Woody's arm, such as polishing him up and touching up the parts of him that had faded out. All Stinky Pete did was reopen the tear; Al wouldn't need to rely on his own restoration guy, or any toy restoration guy, to fix such minor damage. All he needs is someone who can stitch up the tear.
    • Geri did clearly say that his restoration job was "for display only", and wouldn't last if Woody was handled too much. This was primarily for the photo shoot Al messaged to the museum, and Al probably had some accountability of shipping the toys to Japan as " handling too much".
• And I'm pretty sure the Japanese museum the toys were bound to would have had some kind of toy repairman to fix Woody again.

Why are the toys afraid of the Al commercials enough to turn off the TV in panic? This was BEFORE Al came to the yard sale, let alone stole Woody.

• Because the commercial was loud and they were afraid someone might hear it.
• The first thing Woody says when the TV turns on is “Rex, turn it off! Someone’s gonna hear!”
• Given how the store is in Andy's town, it's possible that some of his toys were bought from there and as such may have been familiar with what kind of a person Al was prior to the events of the film, leading Al to possibly gain a reputation amongst even the toys who were previously unaware of him.

How does Al manage to daily drive a 1950s car? Even by 1999, wouldn't it be difficult to find parts or anyone who can work on one? Plus, he lives in an apartment with no garage and leaves his car parked outside.

• Maybe Al is trying to save money to buy a modern one. But take Vanzilla for example. The Louds had that old van passed down as an heirloom starting with Lynn Sr.’s grandfather.
• Al's a toy collector who primarily sells completed collections containing all the accessories in as pristine a quality as possible (hence making such a big deal out of Woody having his paint intact and having his hat and vest), so he's probably pretty well off; with how much toy collectors value having complete collections of toys, especially with all their accessories intact and the boxes, he likely earns a pretty penny selling them on top of all the revenue he'd be earning from running Al's Toy Barn. And rich people love owning vintage cars.
  • Stereotype.

Toy Gun

• Why is there a toy gun even that an upset Jessie uses to shot onto the cardboard cutout of Woody? Woody does have a holster but his hands don't make a pose to put a gun in when he's in toy form. Jessie doesn't have a holster and Pete was "mint in the box. Never been opened" so the gun couldn’t have belonged to either of them.
  • Maybe there were a few episodes of Woody's Roundup were the characters did use a gun like that (obviously in a way that wouldn't have looked too violent for 1950s children's programming) but not enough for a gun to be included as an added accessory with the toys.
    • Then why bother to have a toy gun where you shoot a dart out? Buzz has his laser ("little bulb that blinks") and even Mr. Potato Head is shown to hold a gun at the beginning of the first movie. Even Zurg has a weapon.
  • The toy gun she shoots at the cutout is for children to use, not an accessory for the dolls. It's blatantly too large and is just an item of merchandise in Al's collection.