WMG / Toy Story 3

Development

Buzz thinking he was real had something to do with the scraped plot from the 3rd movie

It would explain a lot, like why no other toy seemed to relate to his delusions.

• But humans have never seen a toy alive (except Sid... who probably wouldn't be believed by others anyway). So how would the humans recall the Buzz Lightyears if they had no idea they acted delusional?
• Notice that its only the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command line of toys that are like this (Buzz, Zurg, the LG Ms). So it would make sense that it was a problem that the manufacturers did (indirectly, of course). Let's say, for instance, this was all caused by lead poisoning hazards: The toys would OF COURSE be recalled by the manufactures (it doesn't matter if the lead poisoning is what's causing the delusions in the toys as a side effect). Basically the WMG is that 'the delusions' are linked to the recalling...
• Buzz, Zurg, and the LGMs are some of the only toys we see fresh out of the box. The other toys that are based after TV Shows or movies might have realized they were toys a long time ago. As for Woody, he didn't play with other people from his show in a very long time, so it is likely that he forgot all about it.

The storyboard artists at Pixar didn't have much faith in Toy Story 3.

At the beginning of the movie, the title shown at first just says "Toy Story" with the traditional logo used for the first film, symbolizing the franchise as a whole. Then, a branding iron enters the frame and brands the "3" on below it, causing the logo and everything around it to burn down. Even if I don't necessarily believe this, it could symbolize the brutal hands of Executive Meddling coming in with a hot staff to cruelly brand a new movie into a franchise that the makers didn't feel needed it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Toy Story 3. I just thought of a new, interesting way to look at the otherwise forgettable scene. It'd also be a brilliant, subtle "screw you" for whatever filmmakers need one in the future.

In Real Life, PIXAR donated real Toy Story characters to local daycare centers for inspiration.

This might actually make sense. PIXAR is known for doing amazing outside research when making their films. The employees donated the Toy Story toys to daycare centers and then videotaped how the children actually played with the toys.

Pixar collected all the tears shed during WALL•E and Up...

...And used them to fuel their computers to make Toy Story 3. All the sorrow and sadness everyone felt was then channeled into said movie, making it the Tear Jerker fest that it was.

Spanish Mode Buzz was present in the Circle Seven script, but as a different character

It's been confirmed that while in the Taiwan factory Buzz would meet recalled Buzz's "from all over the world", ech of which would be "in different states of insanity".

Jessie was actually supposed to be Woody's new girlfriend

The guys at Pixar thought that Jessie should be Woody's new girlfriend so they bought a ticket for Bo Beep. But after realizing the fans' reactions towards Jessie X Buzz, they decided to give them what they wanted.

Meaning of Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is thematically an exploration of death and various possibilities for the after life, including Heaven, Hell, Annihilation, (that is, no after life) and Reincarnation.

As stated above, it is this troper's opinion that the trilogy is about the life and death of Woody, and his life is specifically defined as his relationship with Andy. The movie begins with he and the other toys facing the end of this relationship, which is their lives, and what will happen after. The movie presents several possibilities, and they are:

The Attic = Heaven, or rather Fluffy Cloud Heaven or Straw Man Heaven: In this scenario, it is discussed that once the toys' lives effectively end, (no longer played with by Andy because he's at college,) the toys expect to all go into the attic together. The attic is a place above Andy's room, that is, like Heaven, above where they lived. In this state, they will be together, and able to enjoy each other's company, and engage in fun diversions, like games, books and television. That is reminiscent of meeting your loved ones in Heaven and being with them always. The toys even expect to be in the company of religious figures in the attic. Woody mentions that they'll get to hang out full time with "the guys from the Christmas decorations box." to which the other toys are noticeably "meh" on. When we remember that a very common decoration for Christmas is a nativity set, which includes figurines of religious icons, it seems the toys will be with saints in their attic. But the toys are noticeably less than totally thrilled about going to the attic. While they would be together, they would not be played with by children, which is a toy's main reason for being; and this state is a perpetual one. Remember from the second movie that the toys can potentially live forever if they are not destroyed? As far as these toys are concerned, they will be in this attic forever just existing without purpose. This means that ennui is bound to set in, which is a common criticism for how many interpret Heaven to be.

While the attic isn't a thrilling prospect, the toys assume that it is their best option. However, certain circumstances mean that it's not where they end up, as next they come face to face with...

Sunnyside Daycare = Hell: (note: another troper may come here and disagree, and say that it actually represents Purgatory—that's fine. I can see a case for that interpretation. For this guess, however, I think it's Hell and I'll explain why.) The alternative is the daycare, which at first seems like a blessing but turns out to be anything but. Like the attic, daycare is a perpetual state: nothing stopping them from being daycare toys forever. But here we see the polar opposite of the attic. While the attic promised everlasting togetherness with no play or struggle or anything that makes life interesting, the daycare offers ONLY play and struggle and pain and everything that makes life interesting but with nothing that makes it all worthwhile. They can't form relationships with the kids that play with them, and it really is only all torment. They cannot turn to each other for comfort, as they have been locked away separately. They are all under the thumb of a selfish and brutal dictator who will not let them go because it makes his everlasting suffering slightly more tolerable. (Yes, Lotso REALLY IS the Devil himself.)

After the struggle, the toys escape to a third place, which may either be the worst one yet, or surprisingly, an unexpected reprieve. Yes, I mean...

The Dump/The Incinerator = Annihilation/Oblivion/No Afterlife at All: (Again, I don't blame anyone who thinks that no, this is actually Hell. The imagery is certainly there. I just happen to disagree, here's why.) After the possibility of togetherness but pointlessness, and the possibility of ongoing torment, comes the possibility of complete destruction. The toys react with initial mortal terror, as complete destruction is indeed, on the surface, a very scary concept. There are several times they could be destroyed, but managed to just barely scrape by the skin of their teeth. At the very end, however, falling into the pit, no way out, and no hope of rescue, the toys, starting with Buzz, have a change in attitude. They accept it and intend to go out together, with dignity. The look on Buzz's face seems to say it all. Even if they escaped, where would they go? To lives of unending meaninglessness? They realize that they were there for Andy, and as such lived full lives, and wanting more is not necessary. The toys' acceptance of this end perfectly encapsulates why some people find the idea of simple nothingness after death more comforting than an afterlife. You've lived your life well, there's nothing more to want.

However, that's not the end. An unexpected save gives the toys another chance, and Woody takes advantage of a possibility he glimpsed earlier in his journey but was not yet ready to accept. Now he is. Now, the toys go to...

Bonnie's house = Reincarnation: Andy lovingly hands his toys over to a young child. The toys see their two lives briefly meeting as Andy has a final play session with Bonnie, and then leaves. Now, Woody can finally say goodbye. But in the spirited young Bonnie, the toys find a new relationship, and begin life anew, and find purpose again. It is a wonderful ending, but also a realization. yes, this solution does not offer the eternalness that the attic and the day care does, and when Bonnie grows up the toys will again be back in the same boat. But this experience has changed woody's outlook on such things. he no longer need fear death or want to find a final solution, but rather, to find joy in each wonderful knew situation, each wonderful new child, each new life, and to learn from them all. He no longer needs Andy to be his everything. Bonnie will love him and he her, but when she is done he and his friends will move on, with new life, hope and confidence.

Bonus:

Reformed Daycare = (maybe) True/Properly understood Heaven: The movie is pretty harsh on traditional views of both Heaven and Hell, but in the end credits, seeing the reformed Sunnyside Daycare under Barbie and Ken, does offer a hopeful interpretation of an eternal state, suggesting that maybe after all, instead of the "attic" Heaven described above, perhaps Heaven is a place where you can be with friends and cared for forever while still having a purpose and meaning to your existence, as seen in the restructured and better play scenes with the children. As you may have guessed, this is the aspect I've been able to develop the least.

• Okay, my take on it is that life with Andy is this mortal coil, Sunnyside is Purgatory, the dump is Inferno, and life with Bonnie is Paradise.

• Dude, it's not just Toy Story 3. If you've even seen the previous films, this theme of toy heaven and toy hell is prominent throughout the entire series. John Lasseter and the rest of the Pixarians even draw attention to this. Andy's room is obviously Toy Heaven where all the toys are played with and handled nicely (which is hinted at by Andy's cloud wallpaper). Sid's Room is obviously Toy Hell, where the toys not only die, constantly fearing for their lives, but are also tormented by a ruthless sadistic ruler. And from Toy Story 2, Al's room defines Toy Purgatory, a place where toys are politely handled, cleansed and kept in pristine MIB condition but are ultimately confined to glass cases, never to be played with.

• Sunnyside as Purgatory doesn't really make sense, because souls in purgatory eventually make it to heaven. Toys in Sunnyside seem to either stay there or go to the dump. I would say that Sunnyside and the dump are both Hell. I also agree with the idea of Lotso as the Devil. Especially if you consider that he was once very deeply loved by a child, a scenario similar to Andy's room as toy heaven, except with a different kid. You know, Lucifer was apparently loved a lot by God before being reduced to Satan. And at one point he proudly says that in Sunnyside, toys have no owners and control their own destinies. This reminded me of Satan's statement in Paradise Lost: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in heaven"(is bringing Milton into a Toy Story discussion overanylyzing? Probably but its still fun).
  • Well, it's possible that some toys may actually move to the butterfly room from the caterpillar room, making it a perfect purgatory analogy. That is, if you want to imagine the butterfly room as Heaven, since it would technically be more akin to Hell (not in the sense that toys/souls are tortured there, but it's where Lotso/Satan and his followers/demons live.)

• I would actually consider the Attic to be more of a Purgatory state, as they're waiting for "Andy to have his own kids" so they can be taken down and return to their purpose of being played with. They'll have things to amuse themselves, and perhaps can have moments to sneak downstairs to see how things are going, but cannot return to the world at large until designated to do so by Andy's family. (I.E waiting for judgement from "God" on whether returning to playtime, or Daycare or the dump) On the other hand, as they are going to be there indefinitely until then, I can see how it can be interpreted as a sort of straw heaven of perpetual togetherness but without real purpose, so I commend the WM Guesser for this highly detailed and fascinating theory.

• I support Dante's Inferno. The Attic is purgatory - the toys believe it will come to an end but they don't know how long it will take. Sunnyside is more complicated. In its best state it's more like a first level of Hell (a place for virtuous pagans and the unbaptised). This is where your punishment is basically knowing you're living in a deficient form of Heaven. Under Lotso, it's a much lower level - even in the Butterfly room you're living in fear of the Toy Gestapo, and in the Caterpillar Room you're being beaten and mistreated. But it's still better than the Dump, which is the deepest circle of the Inferno, from which you cannot escape.

Sunnyside is Real Life

From the Discussion above, I realized that Sunnyside isn't Purgatory or Hell, but the Real World. For Toys, obviously. Think about it: It's their "Job" to entertain children, but it comes in "Caste" Form: Some toys stay in the Butterfly Room (Which you could consider the Rich side), but most of them end up in the Caterpillar Room (The Poor Side). Most of the toys in the Caterpillar Room don't last long (Just like how most Poor people die at younger ages then Rich people), while Toys in the Butterfly Room are nearly immortal (Just like how Rich people live longer, usually healthier lives. Plus, they get better care then the poor, just like the Butterfly Room Toys get better care both Internally and Externally). When a Toy Dies (Usually in the Caterpillar Room), they either end up in Hell (The Dump) or Heaven (A Child takes it with them, like Bonnie did).

Plus, just like Real Life, Sunnyside is originally run by Corrupt Individuals who act as if they're Gods and have their own Philosophy on life they expect their subjects to fallow (Lotso), but then they are overthrown in favor of a more Democratic Society where everyone has a much more equal Chance (Barbie and Ken), which has happened numerous times on the Earth (The American Revolution, The French Revolution, The European Revolutions of the 1830's, The African and Asian Revolts in the 1950's, the Revolts against Communism in the 90's, and the most recent Arab Spring Movements).

Alternate Theological Theory for Toy Story (Especially Toy Story 3)

In list format, as I tend to get sidetracked in prose:

• Andy = God
• Being played with = feeling loved by God
• Being broken could represent sin, since Woody becomes fearful that Andy will not want to play with him anymore after his arm is ripped.
• Sid = Pagan god?
• Prospector = Nay-Theist who doesn't see the point in trusting children who will just abandon you eventually.
  • Abandonment = belief God/child doesn't care about people/toys
    • Jessie struggles with this, in a "Problem of Evil"-esque way
    • Lotso takes this to its natural conclusion, becoming a devil figure (going by the Christian conception of Lucifer). Also a Nay-Theist in ideology ("we don't follow any owner; we're free to make our own destinies," though he obviously know owners exist).
    • Especially meaningful near the climax: "Where is your Owner now?"
• Andy's room = Heaven/life (the toys seem to have no issue with being played with in Andy's room forever)
• College = Toy Apocalypse
• Attic = Purgatory (waiting around in comfort you weren't abandoned, but still not exactly the best existence there is)
• Daycare = Life, but in a very non-ideal way as opposed to Andy's room
• Incinerator = Hell/possibly the Lake of Fire, for obvious reasons...
• The Claw = Divine intervention, perhaps Jesus' sacrifice
• On the way home, I described this to my brother, who asked what was up with the ending. I said something along the lines of "Iono, Bonnie's Jesus." Alternatively, the "new Heaven and new Earth" described in Revelations (the new owner thing just kinda being part of the plot).

Combine this with the WMG of Toy Story's being a look at Woody's metaphorical life cycle and it all becomes pretty poignant.

• Perhaps the carnival from the fourth is the Buddhist state of Nirvana? It is apparently outside of life and death, and Woody is there giving other toys owners even as he manages to escape outside the cycle.

More Religious/Literary Metaphor Theories After the Third Movie

• The entire movie, series even, could be seen as a metaphor for mortality and death. Woody and his friends are alone in Andy's room, having "outlived" all of the other toys. Sunnyside could be seen as the Christian heaven, with the Butterfly room as paradise, and the Caterpillar room as purgatory. The garbage dump is pretty much Hell, and Bonnie's house is reincarnation. Woody and the toys are played with by a young child again, surrounded by other toys. But they do manage to communicate with Barbie, Ken, and the rest in "Heaven," so there's no telling what that means.
• This Troper saw the dump more as a "Lovecraftian" vision of the afterlife - not a place of gleeful and active torment as in the "Caterpillar Room", but a cold, alien realm designed only to bring a final and absolute End, operated by vast and incomprehensible beings who simply could not care about the horror of its existence. In truth, the whole movie is a gigantic gumbo of various interpretations of life after death, complementing Toy Story 2's theme of age and mortality - Lotso's ironic fate evokes the punishments of classical mythology, while the upsides of the "Attic" are similar to those of ancestor worship, adding on to the already obvious Heaven/Purgatory and Reincarnation themes noted above.
• And Lotso bear and how he runs Sunnyside Daycare Center totally isn't a G-rated representation of several Real Life dictatorships! After coming home from the opening day, this troper's sister mentioned how Orwellian Lotso's grasp on Sunnyside was. For example, Lotso sending Potatohead to "The Box" or how Big Monkey was watching.
• I swear, when Lotso taunted Woody with "Where is your Kid now?" before leaving them to die, what I heard in my mind was "Where is the Rock of your Salvation? Where is God now?" Lotso, throughout the film, is pretty much fanatical in his reviling of the notion that any relationship with an Owner (the nearest thing a toy has to God) could be good. Don't misunderstand. I don't think he symbolizes atheism. I think he symbolizes people who literally hate God.
• Lotso might actually be a metaphor for someone who feels that God abandoned him in is hour of need. His "We are all trash" speech might represent someone who believes nothing happens after death.
• Lotso can be seen as analogous to Satan or Lucifer, whose pride and jealousy turned him against his owner and motivated him to make all other toys feel unloved and dissatisfied ("Ain't no kid ever loved a toy, really"). But the paradise alternative he promises them (Sunnyside) turns out to be hellish (the Caterpillar Room). His system is finally overthrown when the hero whom everyone thought was dead returns to set them free.
• Sunnyside is a metaphor for abusive nursing homes. Especially how they describe the toys as being "worn and broken down" and the toys are referred to as junk that needs to be sent away.
• It's been suggested the film parallels the Holocaust. To summarize generally, Andy's toys stand-in for Jewish people, and are sent to a concentration camp for undesirables (ie. discarded or lost toys). Lotso and his friends are the Nazis who live lavishly while the prisoners are tortured (by the Caterpillar Room toddlers) under their watch. If our heroes don't survive said torture (get broken by the kids or what have you), they get thrown in the trash. And, finally, our heroes are eventually thrown into an incinerator.
  • The original article actually pointed out that the staff meeting at the start of the movie bears a strong resemblance to the train station scene from The Pianist: "No, we won’t just be abandoned. Surely we can be useful to them somehow. Yes, we’ve lost friends [Bo Peep], but surely that can’t happen to us." The rescue from the incinerator also has a bit in common with the shower scene in Schindler's List. Everyone is huddling together, staying close to their loved ones, while they wait for what they believe will be an inexorable and painful death, but then salvation comes from above. Better still, it's not only a temporary reprieve, but it's the turning point in their fortunes that allows them to survive in the long-term.
• From the same link directly above, it's been suggested the toys died in the incinerator, while their rescue and everything afterward is the afterlife; not much evidence is given for this, however.
• I've read theories that Lotso's interpretation of Sunnyside ("No owners means no heartbreak") is a metaphor for promiscuity or casual relationships without commitment like marriage. Avoid the heartbreak of commitment and have fun "playing with" as many others as possible...
  • Lotso is a pimp.
  • Note that this is not mutually exclusive with the religious symbolism. There's a reason the Bible calls God's relationship with His people a marriage.
• While we're on the topic of religious themes, The LGMs religious veneration of The Claw possibly leads them on a spiritual journey. At the start, they were controlled by the claw, which chose who will go and who will stay. At the end, they have become The Claw, and have chosen who will go and who will stay for themselves!
• Just to include every version of afterlife we can, Post-Lotso Sunnyside]] could be compared to Valhalla: The toys continue to struggle to survive the rough playing of the caterpillar room, but now they have teamwork on their side and can fix each other when they get broken, ready to face another day.
• Also, Rex and Hamm matter-of-factly state that they are from Playskool and a subsidiary of Mattel, respectively. Creationism is no myth for toys. The Mutants' rebellion against Sid can be seen as a Rage Against the Heavens against their evil (to them) God. The Little Green Men are a Wacky Wayside Tribe that has gone into idolatry ("The Claaaaw!")

Andy

Andy studies Artificial Intelligence in college

When this troper was watching Toy Story 3 today, he believed he saw the letters 'A I' on the spine of a book inside the box that woody was packed in at the beggining of the film. The theory is that Andy studies artificial intelligence, and eventually starts up a company that specializes in creating artificial intelligence in robots. Thus leading to a revolution in technology, and creating a new type of 'super-toys', which is related back to his love of playing with Woody and the gang. Thus through countless inventions and events over the years, he marries a woman with the last name of Hobby and takes her name, and invents a robot that is capable of true love. Thus creating the events of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence.

• Or Small Soldiers.
• Nah, Andy goes on to be the chief designer of the Waste Allocater Load-Lifter, Earth-class

Andy will become a Day Care or Kindergarten teacher after College.

The end of 3, when he's playing with Bonnie, shows that he's great with little kids.

Andy gets Woody back in the future

A couple years after TS3, Molly becomes Bonnie's babysitter. She tells Bonnie all about the fun her brother used to have with Woody and Buzz et. al, and they bond over the toys. Then Bonnie gets too big to have a babysitter anymore, but she and Molly keep in touch. Then, when Bonnie is ready to go away to college, Molly tells her that Andy and his wife have a child, and Bonnie decides to give the toys back. It turns out that Andy married Emily's daughter. One day when Emily is over visiting, Andy's wife mentions the box of hand-me-down toys and Emily is reunited with Jesse.

Andy and Bonnie will create an online webcomic together.

• The college that Andy is attending is Cal Arts University, and practices drawing artwork and graphic novels in his spare time. During one of his trips back home, he babysits for Bonnie, and realizes that she has an incredibly active imagination, creating wildly vivid story lines for the toys. They decide to join forces together they create the online webcomic Laser Sheriff!
  • Or Kid Radd

Andy suspected his toys were alive.

He didn't know for sure — he never secretly caught them moving and talking — but he saw (or just barely missed) and heard enough throughout his life to start thinking weird things happened with his toys whenever he wasn't around — enough to make him suspicious but not to make it unquestionably clear to him that toys are alive (unlike Sid). He wouldn't tell anyone, of course, or they would think he was crazy, but he did take extra good care of his toys and never threw the most important ones away but kept them safe in his room. By the time he was 17, he consciously convinced himself it was just his childish imagination, but subconsciously, he still wasn't sure. This is why he couldn't throw them away, sell them online with no way of knowing how they would be treated by new owners, or donate them to a daycare center (being a kid more recently than his mom, he knows how little kids destroy play with toys!). With Bonnie, Andy (subconsciously) knew the toys would be safe and happy having someone to play with again. He took the opportunity with Bonnie to say good-bye to them; that's what we all use little kids for, after all — a cover for doing childish things we secretly still love but have "outgrown." When Woody "waved" good-bye to him at the end, all the old suspicions came back, so, even though he couldn't be sure, he said, "Thanks, guys"... just in case.

Andy and Rob are going to meet at college, and become friends.

It's just meant to be...

Eventually, Andy and Bonnie meet again and get married and pass the toys down onto their kid

Mostly because I want Woody reunited with Andy.

Andy ends up with his toys back

By the time Bonnie leaves to go to collage Andy has a child of his own, so, before she goes, Bonnie gives Andy his toys back as well as some of her own for his child

The college Andy leaves to is affiliated with the Marine Life Institute from Finding Dory

We don't know what he's studying; it might be marine biology.

Bonnie

Bonnie and Andy will turn out LGBT

Recall all the religious symbolism in the third movie? Once the toys end up in Sunnyside Daycare, much angst and suicidal tendencies will enssue among our protagonists, as their deities betray their expectations.

• Why would they care what Bonnie or Andy's sexual orientations are? Religious symbolism doesn't equal religious fundamentalism.
• Doubtful the toys will care about Andy anymore, at any rate.

Bonnie grew up to be Bonnie.

Same hair, skin and eye color. Similar voice. They even share many similarities in their body structures.

Andy and Bonnie are both, albeit from different branches, descendants of Rapunzel and Eugene.

have◊ A◊ look◊.

Bonnie will become a Woody/Jessie shipper

There are enough of them among the fans, who actually know about Bo-Peep and the Buzz/Jessie romance. All that kid is going to know is that she's got a cowboy and a cowgirl who look like they were made for each other. That's probably going to cause some trouble.

• Most fan fics I've read dealing with this do have her notice how alike her new cowboy and cowgirl are... and thus consider them brother and sister in her mind.
  • While that does seem in character for her she could also go the Woody/Jessie Shipper on Deck way. A lot of kids have ship characters like that and have cowboy - cowgirl fantasies. It however seems slightly more possible, at her current age though, that she will make them have a Like Brother and Sister relationship. But if she did become a shipper, how would the affect the two?
    • And if you take an above theory on toys being subconsciously effected by the roles their owners put them in into account... oh boy.

Bonnie will be the subject of many a Dark Fic

Not that I want that to be the case...

Bonnie is Geri's granddaughter from Geri's Game

Both like fixing up toys and both are very imaginative.

Bonnie is a Miyazaki fan.

Why else would she have a Totoro plushie?

• Kids have random toys from shows they don't even know exists all the time, case in point: Woody. OTOH, it's also believable that her mom is the Miyazaki fan, or someone else who is a fan gave her the Totoro plushie.(Bonus points if it was Andy's mom)
  • (Different troper) I had a Totoro toy when I was a kid because it was my favorite movie. It's not too far-fetched that Bonnie liked the movie enough for her mom to order a plush off ebay.

Bonnie half knows all the good toys end up in the caterpillar room.

Thats why her mom looked for her there.

Bonnie's toys

Dolly is related to Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas

In addition to both being both misfit ragdolls, both Dolly and Sally have the obvious appearance of DIY craftsmanship. Sally is noticeably hand created, with yarn hair and obvious stitching lines and mismatched fabric for clothing. Dolly was originally planned as a homemade toy that Bonnie and her Mom made together. Her hair is made out of foam felt, while her outfit is crude with mismatching buttons and obvious green stitching. And yes, while both have differing personalities, they both shown to be gentle and kind-hearted towards their loved ones (Jack and Bonnie, respectively). Plus, is it just me, or does Dolly seem more than a little shaky in walk cycle?

You know that cool, geeky chick you're always playing online games with late at night, but you've never met in-person or seen via webcam? That's Trixie.

• I believe this.

Dolly likes Chuckles, Actor guy likes one of the LG Ms, Hamm likes Buttercup, and Bullseye likes Totoro.

I'm basing this on the ending song and saying with the exception of the note and the scenes before it which are all Barbie X Ken all the scenes depict a paring. Actually I think the Totoro X Bullseye pairing makes the most scence of all of there.

Bo Peep

In between TS2 and TS3 (spoilers), Bo was...

...Given to Carl and Elle for use in their baby's new room. The only evidence that I have of this is that Andy and the Frederickson's are somehow connected (there's a easter egg postcard in Andy's room from them). After the miscarriage, Bo was given away by because the Frederickson's didn't want any reminders of what they had lost. Somehow Bo will find her way back to the rest of the gang. Really.

Bo Peep was sold/given away to Bonnie's family

The reason we didn't see her in the movie was either A) She just happened to be in a room that Woody didn't have the chance to visit (possibly the conservatory, or the Billard Room), or B) She happened to be going on a different, completely unrelated adventure of her own during the events of Toy Story 3, and didn't get back until sometime after the credits. I can just hear Bonnie now: "Oh, there you are, Peep! I've been looking all over for...why are you wearing an airport tag from Guatemala?"

Bo Peep was BROKEN. Woody watched the pieces swept up before his eyes and thrown away.

Sorry, someone had to say it.

• Jossed. Bo is given away in one piece in the prologue of Toy Story 4.

Bo Peep was sold/given away, but eventually broke...

...and was thrown away, around the time of the events of Toy Story 3. She was in the same pile of trash that Woody and friends were in. But the Claw didn't pick her up. I felt like crushing your emotions today.

Woody and Bo broke up.

Between TS2 and TS3, this is how Bo Peep was given away: Woody and co tried to save her from being sold on another yard sale, but unfortunately, they were too late. To add insult to injury, Bo get upset with Woody and lectures him that he's terribly failed to save her and lost complete trust in him, thus severing all ties with him. Woody becomes guilty and heartbroken, but it only took a while for the other toys to sooth his feelings and forget about the whole thing, but deep down inside, Woody just can't forget about that moment he lost Bo.

• Confirmed in 4... halfway. Bo was given away, Woody tried to 'save' her, but she told him to come with her instead. Woody chose to stay with Andy and they parted ways.

Daisy

Emily is Daisy's mom (If she's not Andy's mom).

Emily was a kid in the 50s, 60s, or 70s (?)<!— Feel free to change this —> when "Woody's Roundup" was popular. Daisy was a little girl in the 80s, when Lots-o'-Huggin' bears were popular. Emily, Daisy's mom, and Daisy all seem to have similar hair, just like Ms. Davis had hair like Emily.

Alternatively, Lotso's past took place many years ago, and Daisy is Bonnie's mom.

Daisy's parents are behind the events of Toy Story 3!

They want to destroy all of the toys in the world and they know the toys are alive! They deliberately 'forgot' to put Lotso, Big Baby and Chuckles in the car when Daisy fell asleep, and replaced Lotso so that he would think Daisy didn't want him. Cue Lotso taking over Sunnyside Daycare. Woody and company may have foiled Lotso's Evil Plan and made the Daycare a better place, but Daisy's parents have yet to be stopped..

• You know what? That would make a very interesting fanfic...

Daisy grows up to become a Yellow Power Ranger

The Power Rangers are known for wearing the colour that corresponds to their suits when they are not out saving the world in very Color Character fashion. In the flashback that reveals Lotso's backstory, Daisy wears lots of yellow. Ergo, sometime in her future, she becomes one of the Power Rangers.

Daisy's parents might have a severe memory loss disorder, which is why they forgot the toys.

• Or maybe this is common for adults. About a few years ago, this ad for a medicine that prevents memory loss ran on TV where a woman forgot where she put something (I think it was car keys), and her dog says where she put it in thoughts, ala Garfield and Friends, but the woman can't understand the dog.

Daisy is really a younger version of Daisy from the Ramona book series.

Daisy died when she tried to retrieve the replacement Lotso.

• On another road trip, Daisy dropped her Lotso doll out the window and opened the car door to go retrieve the doll. She was hit by a car and then died.

Ken

Ken and Barbie in TS3 are a Stealth Parody of Love at First Sight couples.

I mean, just * look* at them.

• I would say they're not even so much a Stealth Parody as a parody. This is particularly satisfying because, who do we know who has a reputation for using Love At First Sight?
  • Barbie and Ken are parodies of themselves throughout the entire movie, this is just part of the whole shebang.

Ken was abandoned because he was a girls toy.

He's not the only male girls toy we see yet he's the only one who seems sensitive about it. Given he might just be the only one people teased about it, (Lotso would kill you and Buttercups friends are nice) but it still appears that toys are not overly cruel to male girls toys. It makes sense that there is something making him sensitive about the issue possibly his male owner being teased for having a girls toy and then abandoning him and because he is sensitive about the issue he is fun to taunt so the other toys do. He can not tell the other toys why he is sensitive about this because if Lotso knew he was defending his relationship with his previous owner he would not live long and if the other toys knew this they could blackmail him.

Leaving the dump

Instead of just hitching a ride in the garbage truck, Woody just out and asked Sid for help.

Grabage trucks make a lot of stops, and the toys were in a hurry. Leaning may or may not have been involved. (Considering what Sid probably took away from the first film, it's quite possible all they had to do to convince him to take them home was to just say hi.)-I like this idea! It could have happened off screen.

• It actually fills in a plot hole with the garbage truck which is how they could have taken a lift on it. There is nothing for them to hold on to outside the truck and the truck itself is far too dangerous to jump in (as we've seen it crushes everyone inside it), taking the front seat with Sid's consent was the only way it could have worked out. I'm actually given the impression that it was the original intention but the writers felt having a human interact with the toys like that would break the convention too much (especially for those who had not seen the first film and didn't know who Sid was) so instead they left it as heavily implied.
• Dude, if that did happen, Sid truly would become Mr. Crocker, as he would probably experience a mental relapse in his childhood trauma, as well as a confirmation in his belief that DEMONIC LIVING TOYS do exist.
• As much as I love this theory, I get the feeling that no matter how Sid's dealt with his trauma since the first movie, or how he deals with other toys, encountering Woody would make him curl up in the fetal position, muttering "you're the doll" repeatedly.
• It is possible he's actually grateful for scaring him straight though. He might have realized he'd have been a far worse person if they'd not scared him. Or have realized it was his own sadism that resulted in them scaring him, Woody did tell him so. His own words imply that he actually did treat his toys better after them (he says he had a Lotso toy as a kid and loved it, meaning either he had one already and we never saw it or he got it after he was traumatized and treated it better) and liked actually playing with toys instead of torturing them. If that happened, then odds are he'd be grateful that they scared him straight and willingly gave them a ride. As for why he tied them to the front of his truck, perhaps he thought the toys in the dump were already dead or thought he was displaying them proudly. Ether way, they probably would've informed him Lotso deserved it.
  • Wasn't it a different garbage man who tied Lotso to the front of the truck?

Lotso

Lotso realized he was a toy when he saw that he had been replaced.

Similar to Buzz in the first movie, he thought he was the "real" Lots-O-Huggin' Bear until he saw another Lotso at Daisy's house. Hence why he refused to change his ways even after being reminded of Daisy.

What if Lotso manages to escape from the dump?

• 1: He manages to make his way back to Sunnyside and gets himself in (either by somehow getting himself donated, or just sneaking in). When he arrives, all of his former minions Zerg Rush him and throw him back into the dumpster. And this time, without the toys he left to die to save him, he will be shredded and incinerated.
• 2: He gets back to Sunnyside, and finds that while a lot of the toys are against him now, there are still some that are loyal to him. What happens next? A toy civil war (Lotso's toys Vs. Ken and Barbie's toys), of course!
  • After the civil war he regains his reign, with the few that still pledge loyal or are too scared, but with even harder and more psychopathic rules, turning the place into a real Crapsack World Dystopia. This time, however, there will be a La Résistance force led by Barbie and helped by Woody and gang from the outside. They actively try to hatch an assignation plot to get rid of Lotso for good. Oh dear God I want to see this so much.
    • Fridge Brilliance: This scenario would just compound the religious metaphors. Don't know what I'm talking about? Read Revelation Chapter 20. After Jesus destroys Satan's forces, Satan is bound up and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, while all the believers live in peace (including resurrecting those that have died). But at the end of the thousand years, Satan gets one final reprieve, which he spends launching another great rebellion that leads to him and his army being consigned to the Lake of Fire.
• 3: The "Heartwarming" one, if it's not entirely believable.. He manages to track down Daisy (to, I dunno, get revenge on her somehow? Find the replacement Lotso and rough him up?), who is now an adult. She then finds him and recognizes him as the Lotso she lost, and Lotso realizes that he was completely wrong about everything, and is finally happy again. He could even pull a Heel–Face Turn by apologizing to everyone he's hurt in the past. However, the replacement Lotso is still with Daisy (she could have kept him around as a treasure), and he's starting to feel jealous and unloved...
• Or more likely, Lotso will just fall apart eventually. He probably won't last very long being strapped to the the front of a waste disposal vehicle which has to sort through hundreds of pounds of trash each day. And considering how old and ragged he already is, it doesn't look it'll take much for him to get ripped to shreds.
• He might be the Lotso seen in Up. The one seen in the corner of a girl's room◊. He's off in the corner because he still doesn't want an owner.
• Maybe Sid, since he works at the dump, could see Lotso and those other bug riddled toys tied to that truck and save them because he's still paranoid about toys being alive.
• I gots a better idea: He finally does get free and soon finds who else but... Stinky Pete, abandoned by HIS new owner. Lotso then uses this to convert stinky back to the bad side and plans to get revenge on woody and co after going to sunnyside and seeing things have changed. they then follow molly home and attempt vengance but in the end, pete has a change of heart and sacrifices himself to save everyone from lotso... only to be saved by buzz, while lotso is found by the garbage man and put back on the truck.

Lotso's memories could have been reset

When Lotso has Buzz reset in Toy Story 3, Buzz reverts back to the mentality he was in when he was first brought out of his box years ago. That got me to wondering... the Lotso toy from the new Toy Story collection line is apparently supposed to be exactly like the Lotso in the movie. That means he must also have a reset button inside of him. One way he could have been defeated in the movie was having his reset button pressed, reverting him back to the nice toy he used to be before Daisy owned him.

• Do bears... do bears even have reset buttons?
  • The real life toy's back can be opened up and inside there's a battery powered voicebox that can be turned on/off.
  • I don't think the in-universe Lotso talked though, or had any electronic components, so not likely a reset button.

The garbage truck Lotso was tied to at the end will get into a wreck.

The other toys tied to the grill and the people inside will be saved, but Lotso will die a painful death when the strawberry-stuffing inside him catches fire.

• So you'd rather Lotso was released from his earthly suffering instead of surviving a fate worse than death for the rest of his life? Okay. Whatever floats your boat.

Woody's escape wasn't "lucky" — Lotso let him escape.

Based on Woody's attitude during Lotso's sermon about Sunnyside and professed loyalty to Andy ("Because we're Andy's toys!"), Lotso theorized Woody probably couldn't be persuaded easily into buying his utopian act or adhering to the rules of Sunnyside. So he let him leave, deciding he was better off without a potential troublemaker in the fold. Plus, he got the added bonus of using him to threaten his friends. He never expected, once he was safely away, that Woody would even consider returning and putting himself in danger just to help his friends.

Lotso is Black Friday!Woody only pink and fluffy.

Compare the scene in the Black Friday reel after Woody throws Buzz out of the window to the way Lotso behaves when confronted at the garbage shoot. When the other toys attempt to call Woody on his behaviour he shows utter contempt for all of them and is outright sadistic towards his enforcer, Slinky. Pixar rewrote him after realising that he was a complete jerk and wouldn't work as a hero. Maybe they reworked that version of him as a villain.

All Lots-o-Huggin' Bears meet tragic/unfortunate ends.

In much of the same way that Buzz Lightyear toys were made with built-in personalities and back stories, Lots-o-Huggin' Bears were crafted with the sole purpose of being their owner's best friend, no matter what. Unfortunately, this leads them to be extremely codependent. Lotso's unexpected separation from Diasy despite his pre-programmed need for human friendship lead to him becoming the psychological mess that he was. The Lotso Daisy replaced her original with also eventually went insane once she outgrew him and he killed himself.

Senator Meachum was reincarnated in the form of Lotso. Alternately, Lotso was possessed by Senator Meachum's ghost sometime after being abandoned by Daisy.

Not much for this other than the actor connection regarding Ned Beatty, but a WMG is a WMG.

• "Are you out of your mind? Are you out of your damn mind?! I am the ruler of Sunnyside!"

Lotso's backstory is more ironic than it first appears if you look at the origional idea for him

Somebody believes they were abandoned and replaced and is taking it out on others. Turns out he was replaced but by people who didn't know how special he was because they likely couldn't find him and wanted to protect there daughter. This reminds me of a series of movies I used to watch... what was it called again?

Lotso is misogynistic.

Just look how he bullied Mrs. Potatohead. And his gang only has one girl, Stretch, who isn't feminime looking toy.

Second garbageman

The dump worker who picks up Lotso at the end of the movie is/was Daisy hirself, having transitioned from female to male (transgender). Lotso has returned to his owner.

• S/he does say they used to have one...
  • Or alternatively, Daisy is married to the dump worker and realized it was her Lotso when visiting him on the job.
  • Even more Ironic Punishment, I like this.

The garbageman who takes Lotso at the end of Toy Story 3 is Daisy's son.

Daisy passed on her replacement Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear to her son after he was born, which is the bear the garbageman referenced.

The garbageman who puts Lotso on his truck is Cartman all grown up.

The frog with Lotso on the truck looks kind of like Cartman's Clyde Frog.

The garbageman later gave Lotso to Floyd Hebert

Lotso later then becomes the plaything of a certain Trevor Philips...

Woody

Bonnie eventually gets a Mira Nova action figure and Woody will hook up with it.

Buzz hooked up with the girl toy from Woody's show, it only makes sense that Woody hooks up with the girl toy with Buzz's show.

• Nonononono. It will turn out that Bo Peep's lamp was sold to Bonnie's mom, and she was placed at a part of her house that Woody didn't visit before.
• Or perhaps he hooks up with Dolly... Nah, the above comment makes the most CMOH sense.
• The Mira Nova theory makes lots of sense. Cracky, but makes sense. This troper would love it if it happened canonically, since it would be like a Pair the Spares situation. I admit that I think Woody/Mira would be kinda cute.
• Well, Buzz fell for Jessie because she was an Action Girl(He expresses certain interest first, and is completely taken when Jessie pulls a stunt) while Woody's ideal girl was a more "traditional" girl. A Girly girl Closer to Earth, if Mira Nova enters the picture, it's more probable a Love Triangle between Buzz, Jessie and Mira would happen. Plus, if we get Bo Peep back, we'll get a much deserved CMOH, plus, we will be able to see how Jessie and her interact.
• Jossed. The plot for Toy Story 4 involves a love story between Woody and Bo Peep.

Unless Woody reunites with Bo Peep somehow, he and Dolly will become more than friends.

• Woody is romantically lonely because Bo Peep isn't in his life anymore. Dolly doesn't seem to have any romantic relations with Bonnie's other toys - in fact, from what we see, she seems to be the leader/Team Mom of the group, much like Woody is with Andy's other toys. And they're both dolls.
  • WooDolly!
    • Unfortunately, wouldn't that mean Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action? Squick.
    • ...let's not get into that.

Woody has no fear of being stored in the attic for a long time — perhaps until Andy has his children — because he's done it before.

He belonged to Andy's father ("an old family toy"), his owner stored him the attic when he grew up, and passed him down to his son years later. All the other toys, save Jessie, never belonged to anyone else except Andy, which is why it takes Woody awhile to sell them on the idea of this being a Best Case Scenario.

Other

Chatter Telephone will go into telemarketing.

Well, what else can we expect from a toy telephone? Plus, with his oh-so-cool Film Noir voice, who wouldn't want to buy anything from him?

Some of the daycare kids are kids from other Pixar movies

Or at least they greatly resemble kids from other Pixar movies. This◊ little girl for example looks a lot like Boo◊ from Monsters, Inc.. And this◊ little girl looks a lot like Dee◊, seen briefly in Up.

• I like those ideas, but unfortunately Lee said that the first girl isn't Boo. And the second girl doesn't look like Dee. (Dee has a Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear in her bedroom, by the way.)
  • Aw, that's too bad about Boo. But I still like to think the second girl is Dee. The humans in Up are more cartoonish/stylized than the humans in the Toy Story universe, which is why their faces look different. I also like to think that the Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear in her room is the same one from Toy Story 3, who somehow got off that garbage truck and ended up with her, but that's another fan theory entirely.

Buzz's Spanish translator took a few liberties with the localisation.

For some reason or other, they decided to turn Buzz into a delightfully stereotypical Latin Lover etc in spaaaaaace, which reflects on the personality of the toys on the Spanish language setting.

Toys for very young children, especially the very durable kind, are the strongest toys when animate.

The most dangerous and powerful toys in the series, particularly Big Baby, are baby toys that are designed to survive the kind of abuse that day care kids can dish out- thus, they can pose a violent threat to other toys being strong and hard to hurt, hence why Big Baby is the enforcer. Buzz Lightyear is also pretty tough and well designed, since when Brainwashed and Crazy he could beat down all the other toys in ten seconds flat.

On the other hand, toys with particular articulation and humanoid designs, like Buzz and Woody, are much faster and more agile than most. (Woody seems to engage in Offscreen Teleportation several times, he's less a cowboy, more a ninja) And other unusual toys, such as the Potato Heads, seem to have their own useful abilities. Seems an irony that the more complex, sophisticated and fragile toys, such as model kits and replicas favoured by older kids and nerds, are probably among the most fragile and least capable toys of the lot.

• Yeah, but you just know that the 300-piece scale Gundam model with 22 points of artuclation is going to be one nimble toy.
  • True, and army men don't have real weapons or strength, but they have numbers.

Toy Story 3 will signal the end of the cartoon CG film trend.

Just as Toy Story 1 started the craze of producing cartoon feature films in CGI, the last film encapsulates it. This is the very end of the series, so it is only fitting that it will metaphysically have some affect on the industry as well. People are nowhere near as dazzled by CG as they used to be. It will be a few years before we see the effects, but it could happen. CG will still be used in live-action hybrids (Avatar, as an example), but cartoons will slowly be made in other mediums. In a few decades, Pixar will be the LAST studio to produce the LAST cartoon CG film!

• Ultra-Jossed, There is literally no signs of CGI films ending, especially since Pixar THEMSELVES are still making CGI movies. How did you even think this?

The barbies share a Hive Mind.

Think about it: Toy Story 3 Barbie should have no way of knowing what a democracy is like, and yet shows that knowledge. However, there exists a President Barbie, who would know these things. The explanation, therefore, is that all Barbie's collective knowledge and memories are pooled together, then extracted and uploaded to the specific doll as needed.

• Why wouldn't Great Shape Barbie have any idea what Democracy is? Aerobics Instructor = bad at history? Barbie in the Barbie canon has always been smart (except for that "Math is tough" thing in 1992. But clearly she got over it) Girlie does not equal dumb.

• I don't think is a "Hive Mind" as much as "New models have the knowledge of previous ones", so, while the first Barbie would have only her knowledge, the next ones in the line would haver her own personality and the previous ones. Alternatively, Molly is interested in politics.
• Molly might have taken her Barbie to play with other girls and their toys, and met other Barbies (but by sheer coincidence no Kens) to chat with.

Pixar will create a short that shows how the Aliens got to the crane in 3 and put it on the DVD release.

It will be, like many things Pixar's had a hand in, awe-inspiring and hilarious.

The Janitor in Toy Story 3 is either Scruffy the Janitor from Futurama or an ancestor of Scruffy.

• That Janitor has the same type of mustache as Scruffy and when I look at that guy, I think of Scruffy. Maybe Scruffy of Toy Story 3 is an ancestor/great-great-(and so on) grandfather of the Scruffy we know and love on Futurama. Or the Janitor went into a cryogenic tube after this movie and came out sometime before the events of Futurama started.

My heart belongs to Daisy literarly means Daisy owns my heart.

Having the locket destroyed was painful but ultimateltely gave Big Baby ownership of his own heart allowing him to move on, find a new family, and actually have his heart heal. Daisy was what connected Lotso and Big Baby and with that connection destroyed Big Baby was able to hear Lotso's words for what they really were a bunch of trash.

Unlike the other toys Buzz believed Woody about the attik it was besides the point for him.

He is calm after they escape and doesn't think it makes sence. He is not angry at Andy, or Woody. I believe Buzz just doesn't think the other toys will want to wait in the attic for Andy have kids of his own collecting dust. His main problem with leaving was abandoning Woody from the start. Since he sees the toys will indeed be happy at day care he chooses day care.

Most of the toys who left Sunnyside were rescued and fixed by Sids toys.