Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2 is a 1999 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by John Lasseter. Co-directed by Lee Unkrich and Ash Brannon, the film is the sequel to Toy Story. In the film, Woody is stolen by a toy collector, prompting Buzz Lightyear and his friends vowing to rescue him. However, Woody finds the idea of immortality in a museum tempting. The film returns many of the original characters and voices from Toy Story and introduces several new characters, including Jessie, Barbie, and Mrs. Potato Head. It is the last Toy Story film in which Jim Varney provides Slinky Dog's voice before he died in 2000.

Disney initially envisioned the film as a direct-to-video sequel and Toy Story 2 began production in a building separated from Pixar and was much smaller scale, with most of the main Pixar staff working on A Bug's Life (1998). When story reels proved promising, Disney upgraded the film to theatrical release, but Pixar was unhappy with the film's quality. Lasseter and the story team re-developed the entire plot in one weekend. Although most Pixar features take years to develop, the established release date could not be moved and the production schedule for Toy Story 2 was compressed into nine months.

Despite production struggles, Toy Story 2 opened in November 1999 to wildly successful box office numbers, eventually grossing over $485 million, and highly positive critical reviews. Toy Story 2 has been considered by critics and audiences alike to be one of few sequels that outshine the original, and it continues to be featured frequently on lists of the greatest animated films ever. The film has seen multiple home media releases and a 3-D re-release in 2009. The film's success led to the production of Toy Story 3 in 2010, which was also highly successful.

Plot
The film begins with scenes of a Buzz Lightyear adventure, which turns out to be a video game that Rex is playing. The game ends with him being destroyed by Evil Emperor Zurg, much to Rex's dismay. Some time after the events of the first Toy Story, presumably about 2 years later, Andy is preparing to leave for Cowboy Camp with Woody.

While playing with Woody and Buzz, Andy accidentally rips Woody's arm, leaving him unable to take his doll to the camp. Woody is placed on the shelf, where he finds another broken toy, Wheezy the Penguin, and begins to fear he'll soon be thrown away. When Wheezy is set out for a yard sale, Woody manages to rescue him, but ends up in the yard sale himself. He is seen by Al, an obsessive toy collector and proprietor of Al's Toy Barn. He tries to buy Woody from Andy's mother, but she refuses to sell him. After failing to negotiate a sale, Al creates a distraction and steals Woody, causing Buzz to take action. He slides down the gutter into the yard sale, and sees Al getting into his car after packing Woody in the trunk. Buzz manages to get to the car as Al is driving away, but by the time he opens the trunk, Buzz loses his grip from the car and Al escapes.

However, a clue is presented to Buzz as the car speeds away: a feather from Al's trunk lands in front of him. When Buzz informs the bad news to the toys, the toys try to investigate the culprit. However, Buzz is trying to type the license plate number that he briefly saw on Al's car to track it and whoever he was, and the rest of the toys, including Etch, were having problems doing an identity portrait of Al. When Mr. Potato Head gets fed up with Buzz trying to investigate the number with Mr. Spell and irritably tells the others to "leave Buzz with his toys", the word "toys" caused Buzz to decipher what the license plate said: "Al's Toy Barn" and consequently tell Etch to draw the man in the chicken suit. They then had to try and locate an Al's Toy Barn commercial to trace a map to the shop. He encourages the other toys to launch a rescue mission using the clue as a basis for their search.

Woody is taken to Al's apartment, where he is greeted by a yodeling cowgirl named Jessie, an affectionate steed named Bullseye, and the Prospector, an unsold toy still in its original box. They reveal to Woody that he is a vintage Sheriff Woody collectible doll and the star of a forgotten children's TV show, Woody's Roundup. Now that Al has a Woody doll, he has a complete collection and intends to sell the toys to a museum in Japan. Woody refuses to go to Japan and abandon Andy. Later, Al arrives and rips off Woody's torn arm by accident, making Woody attempt to recover his arm and then return to Andy which he fails. Al then gets a repairman who fixes Woody's arm. After that, a suddenly depressed Jessie tearfully tells Woody of how she once had an owner that loved her, but eventually outgrew and abandoned Jessie at a charity toy drive. The Prospector warns Woody that he faces the same fate as Andy ages. Woody agrees to go with the "Roundup Gang" to the museum. Buzz and his friends search for Al at Al's Toy Barn. After Buzz orders his friends to spilt and look for Al. He discovers a aisle full of newer Buzz Lightyear and gets in a scuffle with a new Buzz Lightyear, who, like Buzz in the first movie, does not realize he is a toy. The real Buzz then ends up being tied up and repackaged in a box and set on the shelf for sell by the Deluded Buzz who then sets off with the other toys for Al's apartment, genuinely believing that he is attempting to rescue a hostage from his arch-enemy, Emperor Zurg.

The original Buzz frees himself and follows them to the apartment, but while exiting the store, he accidentally frees an Emperor Zurg toy, who follows to destroy him.When the toys reach the apartment, Woody tells them he does not want to be rescued and intends to go with his new friends to Japan, since he is now a "collector's item". After the original Buzz arrives, in an ironic reversal of a scene from the first movie, he reminds Woody "you're a child's plaything. You... are... a TOY!". Woody (figuratively and literally) turns his back on Buzz, and Buzz's group leaves without him.

However, Woody soon has a change of heart and, after calling Buzz and the group back, invites the "Roundup Gang" to come home to Andy with him. Jessie and Bullseye agree, but the Prospector locks them in the room, saying that the museum trip is his first chance (since he was never sold) and won't have Woody mess it up for him. Al returns and packs the Roundup Gang, and the rest of the toys give chase, but are interrupted by the sudden appearance of the Emperor Zurg toy. The second Buzz battles him, and in a showdown mimicking a similar scene from The Empire Strikes Back, Zurg reveals himself to be Buzz's father, shortly before his defeat at Rex's hands. The other toys resume the rescue mission and find an unattended vehicle (a Pizza Planet delivery truck) and drive it to the airport. The second Buzz remains behind with Zurg, playing father and son games.

After arriving at the airport, Buzz and his group manage to free Woody and Bullseye from the suitcase. The Prospector has other plans though and he re-tears Woody's arm, even though it still works. However, Buzz and his group come to Woody's rescue, and stick the Prospector in a little girl's backpack so he can "learn the true meaning of play-time". The Prospector is terrified to learn that the little girl likes to draw on all of her toys. Jessie, however, finds herself in trouble and remains trapped in the suitcase. Woody and Buzz ride Bullseye in order to rescue her from being taken to the museum on her own.

Woody manages to find Jessie inside the plane, but just when they're about to escape, the door closes and the plane heads for the runway. Woody finds another way out of the plane, through a small hatch which leads down to the landing gear wheel, and as they are doing so, he slips on tar, but Jessie catches him. When the plane is at the main runway, Woody knows that time is running out. In true "Woody's Roundup" style, he uses his pull string to swing him and Jessie down to safety on Bullseye's back - just seconds before the plane takes off. Their mission accomplished, the toys now make their way home.

At home, Jessie (with whom Buzz becomes a bit smitten) and Bullseye are adopted into Andy's toy family. Woody's ripped arm is repaired by Andy himself. The events of the airplane's cargo hold have a terrible (and hilarious) consequence for Al. After Hamm fails at the Buzz Lightyear video game, he flips through the channels and sees Al in an Al's Toy Barn commercial, crying since he lost his precious luggage and the money he was going to get for it, which is why in the commercial he is selling everything for as Al says in the chicken suit, "For a Buck, Buck, Buck". While Al is crying, Hamm says a somewhat humorous remark about Al and his scheme ("Well, I guess crime doesn't pay."). Meanwhile, a fixed Wheezy sings "You've Got A Friend In Me", and Buzz asks Woody if he was still worried about Andy giving him up. Woody replies that he isn't worried anymore, and that when it is all over, he will have Buzz to keep him company, for "infinity and beyond".

Foreshadowing
Stinky Pete's words foreshadow various things that happen in the next film. His last words, "Children destroy toys. You'll be forgotten, spending eternity rotting in some landfill" happen to almost come true because the young children at Sunnyside Daycare do nearly destroy the toys and the toys are thrown into a landfill (from which they escape) at the end of Toy Story 3. However, it could be noted that Stinky Pete didn't think Andy would take Woody to college, but it is shown in Toy Story 3 that he planned to.

Cast

 * Tom Hanks as Woody
 * Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear/Utility Belt Buzz Lightyear
 * Joan Cusack as Jessie
 * Kelsey Grammer as Stinky Pete the Prospector
 * Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head
 * Wallace Shawn as Rex
 * Jim Varney as Slinky Dog
 * John Ratzenberger as Hamm
 * Wayne Knight as Al McWhiggin
 * Annie Potts as Bo Peep
 * Estelle Harris as Mrs. Potato Head
 * John Morris as Andy Davis
 * Joe Ranft as Wheezy (speaking voice)/Heimlich the Caterpillar (outtakes)
 * Robert Goulet as Wheezy (singing voice)
 * Hannah Unkrich as Molly
 * Jodi Benson as Barbie
 * Andrew Stanton as Emperor Zurg
 * Laurie Metcalf as Andy's Mom
 * Jonathan Harris as Geri
 * Jeff Pidgeon as Squeeze Toy Aliens
 * Dave Foley as Flik (outtakes/uncredited)
 * Mary Kay Bergman as Jessie (yodeling)
 * Andi Peters as Luggage Handler and Male Baggage handler 2

Goofs

 * RC's eyes are blue. However, in this movie, they're black.
 * Utility Belt Buzz is seen missing his utility belt for a brief moment (mistakenly making him regular Buzz) right before the toys find Woody in the air vents.
 * When Mrs. Potato Head put Mr. Potato Head's angry eyes in his back compartment the eyes are connected. You can tell if you look in the back while Mrs. Potato Head is holding them, the stem's are slanted than straight. This was definitely an animation mistake because Mr. Potato Head's angry eyes are later seen in the movie and aren't connected.
 * Towards the end, when the toys are in the dog crate at the airport, Mr. Potato Head's angry eyes no longer look angry after they spill out of his hatch, along with his spare feet.
 * When Buster sniffs Roly Poly Clown and the Toddle Tots fire truck, RC can be seen at the Lincoln log house but when Buster runs over there, RC is not seen.

Development
Talk of a sequel to Toy Story began around a month after the film's opening, in December 1995. A few days after the original film's release, Lasseter was traveling with his family and found a young boy clutching a Woody doll at an airport. Lasseter described the boy's excitement to show it to his father as touching him deeply. Lasseter then realized that his character no longer belonged to him only, it belonged to others as well. The memory was a defining factor in the production of Toy Story 2, with Lasseter moved to create a great film for that child and for everyone who loved the characters. Ed Catmull, Lasseter, and Ralph Guggenheim visited Joe Roth, successor to recently-ousted Jeffery Katzenberg as chairman of Walt Disney Studios, shortly afterward. Roth was pleased and embraced the idea. Disney had recently begun making direct-to-video sequels to its successful features, and Roth wanted to handle the Toy Story sequel this way, as well. Prior releases, such as 1994's Aladdin sequel, The Return of Jafar, had returned an estimated hundred million dollars in profits.

Initially, everything regarding the sequel was uncertain at first: whether stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen would be available and affordable, what the story premise would be, and even whether the film would be computer-animated at Pixar or traditionally at Disney. Lasseter regarded the project as a chance to groom new directing talent, but top choices were already immersed in other projects (Andrew Stanton in A Bug's Life and Pete Docter in early development work for a film about monsters). Instead, Lasseter turned to Ash Brannon, a young directing animator on Toy Story whose work he admired. Brannon, a CalArts graduate, joined the Toy Story team in 1993. Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studios officially announced the sequel in a press release on March 12, 1997.

Story
Lasseter's intention with a sequel was to respect the original film and create that world again. The story originated with Lasseter pondering what a toy would find upsetting. Lasseter wondered how a toy would feel if they were not played with by a child or, worse, a child growing out of a toy. Brannon suggested the idea of a yard sale where the collector recognizes Woody as a rare artifact. The concept of Woody as a collectible set came from the draft story of A Tin Toy Christmas, an original half-hour special pitched by Pixar to Disney in 1990. The obsessive toy collector known as Al McWhiggin, who had appeared in a draft of Toy Story but was later expunged, was inserted into the film. Lasseter claimed that Al was inspired by himself. The story of Toy Story 2 is based a lot on my own experience. I'm a big toy collector and a lot of them are like antiques, or one-of-a-kind toys, or prototypes the toy makers have given me. Well I have five sons, and when they were little and they loved to come to daddy's work, and come in into daddy's office and they just want to touch and play with everything. And I sitting there saying 'Oh no, thats uh, you can't play with that one, oh no play with this one, oh no....' and I found myself just sitting there looking at my self and laughing. Because toys are manufactured, put on this earth, to be played with by a child. That is the core essence of Toy Story. And so I started wondering, what was it like from a toy's point of view to be collected.

Secondary characters in Woody's set emerged from viewings of 1950s cowboy shows for children, such as Howdy Doody and Hopalong Cassidy. The development of Jessie was kindled by Lasseter's wife, Nancy, who pressed him to include a strong female character in the sequel, one with more substance than Bo Peep.

The scope for the original Toy Story was very basic and only consisted over two residential homes, whereas Toy Story 2 has been described by Unkrich as "all over the map."

To make the project ready for theaters, Lasseter would need to add twelve minutes or so of material and strengthen what was already there. The extra material would be a challenge, since it could not be mere padding; it would have to feel as if it had always been there, an organic part of the film.

With the scheduled delivery date less than a year away, Lasseter called Stanton, Docter, Joe Ranft, and some Disney story people to his house for a weekend. There, he hosted a "story summit," as he called it - a crash exercise that would yield a finished story in just two days. Back at the office that Monday, Lasseter assembled the company in a screening room and pitched the revised version of Toy Story 2 from beginning to end.

Story elements were recycled from the original drafts of Toy Story. The original film's original opening sequence featured a Buzz Lightyear cartoon playing on television, which evolved into the Buzz Lightyear video game that would open Toy Story 2. A deleted scene from Toy Story, featuring Woody having a nightmare involving him being thrown into a trash can, was incorporated in a milder form for showing Woody's fear of losing Andy. The idea of a squeak-toy penguin with a broken squeaker also resurfaced from an early version of Toy Story.

Animation
As the story approached the production stage in early 1997, it was unclear whether Pixar would produce the film, as the entire team of 300 was busy working on A Bug's Life for a 1998 release. The Interactive Products Group, with a staff of 95, had its own animators, art department, and engineers. Under intense time pressure, they had put out two successful CD-ROM titles the previous year: The Toy Story Animated StoryBook and The Toy Story Activity Center. Between the two products, the group had created as much original animation as there was in Toy Story itself. Steve Jobs made the decision to shut down the computer games operation and the staff became the initial core of the Toy Story 2 production team.

Before the switch from direct-to-video to feature film, the Toy Story 2 crew had been on its own, placed in a new building that was well-separated from the rest of the company by railroad tracks. "We were just the small film and we were off playing in our sandbox," co-producer Karen Jackson said. Lasseter looked closely at every shot that had already been animated and called for tweaks throughout. The film reused digital elements from Toy Story but, true to the company's "prevailing culture of perfectionism, […] it reused less of Toy Story than might be expected." Character models received major upgrades internally and shaders went through revisions to bring about subtle improvements. The team did, however, freely borrow models from other productions, such as Geri from Pixar's 1997 short Geri's Game, who became the Cleaner in Toy Story 2. Supervising animator Glenn McQueen inspired the animators to do spectacular work in the short amount of time given, assigning different shots to suit each animators' strengths.

Whilst producing Toy Story, the crew was very careful in creating new locations due to technology at that time. By production on Toy Story 2, technology had advanced farther to allow more complicated camera shots than were possible in the first film. In making the sequel, the team at Pixar didn't want to stray too far from the first film's look, but the company had developed a lot of new software since the first feature had been completed. To achieve the dust visible after Woody is placed on top of a shelf, the crew was faced with the challenge of animating dust, an incredibly difficult task. After much experimentation, a tiny particle of dust was animated and the computer distributed that image throughout the entire shelf. Over two million dust particles are in place on the shelf in the completed film.

Controversy and troubled production
"When we went from a direct-to-video to a feature film and we had limited time in which to finish that feature film, the pressure really amped up. Forget seeing your family, forget doing anything. Once we made that decision [on the schedule], it was like, 'Okay, you have a release date. You're going to make that release date. You're going to make these screenings.'" — Karen Jackson, co-producer of Toy Story 2.

Production problems were evident from the beginning. Disney soon became unhappy with the pace of the work on the film and demanded in June 1997 that Guggenheim be replaced as producer, and Pixar complied. As a result, Karen Jackson and Helene Plotkin, associate producers, moved up to the role of co-producers. Lasseter would remain fully preoccupied with A Bug's Life until it wrapped in the fall. Once available, he took over directing duties and added Lee Unkrich as co-director. Unkrich, also fresh from supervising editor duties on A Bug's Life, would focus on layout and cinematography while Brannon would be credited as co-director.

In November 1997, Disney executives Roth and Peter Schneider viewed the film's story reels, with some finished animation, in a screening room at Pixar. They were impressed with the quality of work and became interested in releasing Toy Story 2 in theaters. In addition to the unexpected artistic caliber, there were other reasons that made the case for a theatrical release more compelling. The economics of a direct-to-video Pixar release weren't working as well as hoped thanks to higher salaries of the crew. After negotiations, Jobs and Roth agreed that the split of costs and profits for Toy Story 2 would follow the model of a newly-created five-film deal - but Toy Story 2 would not count as one of the five films. Disney had bargained in the contract for five original features, not sequels, thus assuring five sets of new characters for its theme parks and merchandise. Jobs gathered the crew and announced the change in plans for the film on February 5, 1998.

However, many of the creative staff at Pixar were not happy with how the sequel was turning out. Lasseter, upon returning from European promotion of A Bug's Life, watched the development reels and agreed that it wasn't working. Pixar met with Disney, telling them that the film would have to be redone. Disney, however, disagreed, and noted that Pixar did not have enough time to remake the film before its established release date. Pixar decided that they simply could not allow the film to be released in its existing state, and asked Lasseter to take over the production. Lasseter agreed, and recruited the first film's creative team to redevelop the story. However, in order to meet Disney's deadline, Pixar had to complete the entire film in nine months. Unkrich, concerned with the dwindling amount of time left, asked Jobs whether the release date could be pushed back. Jobs explained that there was no choice, presumably in reference to the film's licensees and marketing partners, who were getting toys and promotions ready. Brannon focused on development, story and animation, Lasseter was in charge of art, modeling and lighting, and Unkrich oversaw editorial and layout. Since they met daily to discuss their progress with each other (they wanted to make sure they were all going in the same direction), the boundaries of their responsibilities overlapped.

As common with Pixar features, the production became difficult as delivery dates loomed and hours inevitably became longer. Still, Toy Story 2, with its highly compressed production schedule, was especially trying. While hard work and long hours were common to the team by that point (especially so to Lasseter), running flat-out on Toy Story 2 for month after month began to take a toll. The overwork spun out into carpal tunnel syndrome for some animators, and repetitive strain injuries for others. Pixar did not encourage long hours, and, in fact, set limits on how many hours employees could work by approving or disapproving overtime. An employee's self-imposed compulsion to excel, however, often trumped any other constraints, and was especially common to younger employees. In one instance, an animator had forgotten to drop his child off at day care one morning and, in a mental haze, forgotten the baby in the backseat of his car in the parking lot. "Although quick action by rescue workers headed off the worst, the incident became a horrible indicator that some on the crew were working too hard," wrote David Price in his 2008 book The Pixar Touch.

Release
Pixar showed the completed film at CalArts on November 12, 1999, in recognition of the school's ties with Lasseter and more than forty other alumni who worked on the film; the students were captivated. The film held its official premiere the next day at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles - the same venue as Toy Story ' s - and released across the United States on November 24.

Box office
The film was no less successful than its predecessor in a commercial perspective; it became 1999's highest-grossing animated film, earning $245 million domestically and $485 million worldwide - beating both of Pixar's previous releases by a significant margin. It was the second highest-grossing animated film of all-time for a time, behind Disney's The Lion King (1994). Toy Story 2 opened over the Thanksgiving Day weekend at #1 to a three-day tally of $57,388,839 from 3,236 theaters averaging $17,734 per theater over three days, making $80,102,784 since its Wednesday launch, and staying at #1 for the next two weekends. By New Year's Day, it had made more than $200 million in the U.S. alone, and it eventually made $245,852,179 domestically and $239,163,000 overseas for a total worldwide gross of $485,015,179, becoming 1999's third highest grossing film, and far surpassing the original.

Video games
Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue, a video game for the PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast, was released. The game featured original cast voices and clips from the film as introductions to levels. Once earned, these clips could be viewed at the player's discretion. Another game was released for the Game Boy Color.

Home media
Toy Story 2 was released on VHS and DVD and as a DVD two-pack with Toy Story on October 17, 2000. That same day an "Ultimate Toy Box" set was released containing both films and a third disc of bonus materials. The standard VHS and DVD and the DVD two-pack and "Ultimate Toy Box" sets returned to the vault on May 1, 2003. On December 26, 2005, it was again re-released as a "2-Disc Special Edition" alongside the first film's 10th Anniversary Edition, which came out on September 6. Both editions returned to the vault on January 31, 2009.

The film was available on Blu-ray Disc for the first time in a Special Edition Combo Pack that was released on March 23, 2010, along with the first film. There was a DVD-only re-release on May 11, 2010.

On November 1, 2011, along with the DVD and Blu-ray release of Cars 2, Toy Story 2 and the other two films were released on each Blu-ray/Blu-ray 3D/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack (4 discs each for the first two films, and 5 for the third film). They will also be released on Blu-ray 3D in a complete trilogy box set.

Re-releases
In 2009, Toy Story 2, alongside its predecessor, was converted to 3D for a two-week limited theatrical re-release. The film was released with Toy Story as a double feature for a two-week run which was extended due to its success. In addition, the film's sequel, Toy Story 3, was also released in the 3D format. Lasseter commented on the new 3D re-release: "The Toy Story films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we're so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way thanks to the latest in 3-D technology. With Toy Story 3 shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way."

Translating the films into 3D involved revisiting the original computer data and virtually placing a second camera into each scene, creating left-eye and right-eye views needed to achieve the perception of depth. Unique to computer animation, Lasseter referred to this process as "digital archaeology." The lead stereographer Bob Whitehill oversaw this process and sought to achieve an effect that impacted the film's emotional storytelling. It took four months to resurrect the old data and get it in working order. Then, adding 3D to each of the films took six months per film.

Unlike other countries, the U.K. and Argentina received the films in 3D as separate releases. Toy Story 2 was instead released January 22, 2010, in the U.K., and February 18, 2010, in Argentina. The double feature was opened in 1,745 theaters on October 2, 2009, and made $12,491,789 in its opening weekend, coming in third place at the box office. The feature(s) closed on November 5, 2009, with a worldwide gross of $32,284,600.

Television broadcasts
On June 12, 2010, in its broadcast on Disney Channel, the film received 7.479 million viewers, making the number one show or film of the week.

Critical response
Toy Story 2 was universally acclaimed by critics. Reviewers found the film to be a sequel that managed to equal or even outshine the original. "Toy Story 2 does what few sequels ever do," The Hollywood Reporter proclaimed. "Instead of essentially remaking an earlier film and deeming it a sequel, the creative team, led by director John Lasseter, delves deeper into their characters while retaining the fun spirit of the original film."

Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 161 reviews, with an average score of 8.6/10. The film is currently #1 on Rotten Tomatoes' list of best rated films. Rotten Tomatoes summarizes the critical consensus thus: "Toy Story 2 employs inventive storytelling, gorgeous animation, and a top notch voice cast to deliver another rich moviegoing experience for all ages, one that's arguably even better than its predecessor." Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 are all Pixar's highest-rated films to date. It currently holds a 100% approval from critics, and 92% from the community, while the original holds a 96% community rating and the best rated animated film. The film also holds an 88 out of 100 on Metacritic. It joins the rare number of sequels judged to be "as good as or better than the original." Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and said in his print review "I forgot something about toys a long time ago, and Toy Story 2 reminded me." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said "Toy Story 2 may not have the most original title, but everything else about it is, well, mint in the box." Entertainment Weekly said "It's a great, IQ-flattering entertainment both wonderful and wise."

American Film Institute

 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
 * Buzz Lightyear – Nominated Hero
 * AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
 * "When She Loved Me" – Nominated
 * AFI's 10 Top 10 – Nominated Animated Film

Legacy
Unkrich regarded the film with pride while remembering the difficulty of meeting its due date. "Even though Toy Story 2 really killed us in a lot of ways - it was really, really hard - I probably look back on that film the most fondly in terms of how we all came together and did this impossible thing."

General

 * Rex was playing Buzz Lightyear: Attack on Zurg on a Super Nintendo Entertainment System, which is probably a reference to how the first Toy Story video game was released on it.
 * In some US prints, when Buzz gives his speech, it had the US flag, with "Star-Spangled Banner" playing in the background. In some non-US prints, it had a globe with fireworks, with "Star-Spangled Banner" replaced with a generic fanfare. In the Blu-Ray version, the flag is now always replaced with the globe, but "Star-Spangled Banner" is still played in the background.
 * The toy car that Jessie rides to help Buster is the same as her previous owner Emily's as seen in her flashback, sans the wood side paneling.
 * The car that Andy's toys ride to navigate Al's Toy Barn is seen earlier as a Hotwheels-sized car being pulled out of Andy's toy box by the Green Army Men in their search for Woody's hat.
 * It turns out Zurg is Buzz's father, a parody on the relationship between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.
 * Zurg's robots that appear in Buzz Lightyear: Attack on Zurg have the well known cylon scanner from Battlestar Galactica.
 * During Woody's nightmare, when he's thrown into a trash, some of the severed arms belong to Rocky Gibraltar, Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, Emperor Zurg, Mr. Potato Head, a baby doll, and a robot.
 * For some reason, like the first film, this film was shown only in widescreen for all of its home releases despite A Bug's Life introducing the reframed fullscreen viewing format.

References to Toy Story

 * The Buzz Lightyear: Attack on Zurg opening states that Buzz is in the Gamma Quadrant of Sector 4, which is where Buzz said he was stationed when Potato Head asked him where he was from. Also, after Buzz lands, he looks around exactly the same way he did when he "landed" on Andy's bed (breathing included) and has almost the same dialogue when talking into his wrist communicator.
 * Toy Story 2 intentionally reuses scenes from the original Toy Story, with many of Buzz and Woody's roles switched. The prime example of this being when Buzz is trying to convince Woody he's not a collector's item by saying "You are a TOY!" as Woody did at the Dinoco gas station.
 * Woody's "oof" when he falls off of Buster is the same sound he makes when the bowling ball from the closet falls on his head in the first Toy Story.
 * A red toolbox identical to the one Sid owned in Toy Story (minus the Binford logo) appears at the yard sale.
 * Woody losing his arm is similar to when Buzz lost his (although Buzz lost his left, and Woody lost his right).
 * Buzz inspecting the Utility Belt Buzz is done in the same fashion as when Woody first inspected Buzz in the first film.
 * When Zurg is fighting Utility Belt Buzz and smashing the buttons on his chest, it's done in the same way Woody was fighting Buzz, skipping the line "Buzz... Buzz... Buzz Lightyear to the rescue."
 * When Jessie was fighting Woody, she had him in the same position Buzz had him when they fought at the gas station.
 * The Pizza Planet delivery truck Woody and Buzz hitched a ride on in Toy Story was used again in Toy Story 2 by Buzz and the rest of Andy's toys to get to the airport to save Woody (Pizza Planet's trademark aliens where also seen in the car).
 * When Andy's toys are leaving, Buzz gives Utility Belt Buzz the same Vulcan salute he gave Woody.
 * Buzz opens the helmet of Utility Belt Buzz, who gasps for air, similar to when Woody opened Buzz's helmet in the first film.
 * Utility Belt Buzz also tackles Woody and says "Watch Yourself!" after entering Al's room much like Buzz did when he first met Woody and noticed the other toys coming.
 * When Mr. Potato Head tries to open the window and falls out his arms is a nod to Toy Story when he tries to lift a "weight" his arms fall off.
 * Both films end with a final dialogue between Woody and Buzz if they are worried about something.

Cameos

 * Early in the movie when everyone is looking for Woody's hat, Mr. Potato Head finds Mrs. Potato Head's ear. The scene cuts to Mrs. Potato Head reading a book version of A Bug's Life.
 * The ball from Luxo, Jr. is shown in the Al's Toy Barn TV commercial. It can also be seen when Buzz Lightyear and the toys enter the toy store, and a container of those balls can be seen to the left of the door when exiting.
 * As Hamm flips through the TV channels looking for the Al's Toy Barn commercial, frames from several Pixar projects go by including Tin Toy, Knick Knack, Red's Dream, Luxo, Jr., Pixar's Listerine commercial and their old logo from the 1980s.
 * Flik and Heimlich from A Bug's Life can be seen close-up in one of the outtakes, returning the favor, after Woody made a cameo in in one of the outtakes for A Bug's Life.
 * Heimlich can also be seen in the actual movie, when he is crawling on a branch just before Buzz Lightyear cuts through.
 * Also in the same scene, the bug bar from A Bug's Life is also visible.
 * The Cleaner who comes in to clean up Woody is also Geri from the short film Geri's Game. In one of his drawers, his chess pieces can be seen.
 * Some merchandise from A Bug's Life can be seen in Al's Toy Barn before Buzz discovers the Buzz Lightyear aisle.
 * Toy versions of characters from The Lion King are seen when Buzz escapes Al's Toy Barn.
 * A113 appears on Andy's mother's number plate on her car like Toy Story.

Recycled animation

 * The tree in Jessie's flashback is the same as that from A Bug's Life.
 * The canyon from A Bug's Life is re-used for Zurg's planet. Note: the floating rocks in the canyon were inserted by accident, but John Lasseter liked how it looked, so it was used in the final version of the film.
 * Wheezy has the same feet as the Aliens.

Miscellaneous

 * The dust in the scene where Woody meets Wheezy set a record for number of particles animated for a movie by computer.
 * This is the first sequel for both Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.
 * During the bloopers reel in the end credits, a few characters mentioned the existence of Toy Story 3. It came true 11 years later after Toy Story 2.
 * Toy Story 2 is the only Toy Story movie to utilize outtakes.
 * According to Pixar's Studio Stories: The Movie Vanishes, Oren Jacob and Galyn Susman tell the story of when someone entered a "/bin/rm -rf *" command on the Unix server that Toy Story 2 was on. This command deletes everything "as fast as it can." It made all the data disappear in front of their eyes. 20 to 30 people who worked for a really LONG time had their work erased in 20 seconds. The machine was unplugged and plugged back in. This stopped the deletion, but still, most of the film was gone. Fortunately Galyn had a copy of the movie on her home computer. The computer was carefully driven to the Pixar office and restored to the servers.
 * When the Barbie backpack containing Stinky Pete arrives on the conveyor belt, the announcer in the background announces the arrival of a flight named LassetAir Flight A113. The LassetAir part is a reference to director John Lasseter, and A113 is the easter egg that has appeared in several Pixar films to date. However, in the DVD version, the part is misinterpreted by the subtitles as Atlantic Air Flight 810.
 * In the scene where Hamm is threatening Stinky Pete with his kung fu, Pork Chop is the only dialogue exchanged directly between actors John Ratzenberger (Hamm) and Kelsey Grammer (Pete), both of which are most well known for playing Cliff Clavin and Frasier Crane, respectively, on the 80s TV Series Cheers. Another main character of Cheers was Woody Boyd, played by Woody Harrelson. Ironically, in A Bug's Life, Ratzenberger (as P.T. Flea) exchanged much more dialogue with David Hyde Pierce] (as Slim) who plays Frasier Crane's brother, Niles, in Frasier's spin-off series. In the Season 9 episode of Frasier, "Cheerful Goodbyes", several actors from Cheers reprise their roles, which results in all three of them together for the majority of the episode.
 * In the Cheers episode "One Hugs, the Other Doesn't", Frasier's first wife, Nanny G., is played by Emma Thompson, but 12 years later in the Frasier episode "Caught in the Act" she is played by Laurie Metcalf since Thompson had been cast as Nanny McPhee.
 * In the Frasier episodes "Momma Mia" and "Don Juan In Hell: Part Two", Frasier and Niles' mother and a look-a-like of their mother are played by Rita Wilson, Tom Hanks' wife.
 * When the toys fall into the luggage room on the conveyor belt, Slink pulls off a label that says LHR, which are the airport initials for London Heathrow, an airport in London, England.

Godzilla Rex
This is another way of getting Woody into the yard sale box. It shows some of the characters getting in position for Godzilla Rex (Who is played by Rex) to come. When Godzilla Rex appears the Green Army Men "shoot" with their guns but it doesn't work. Everyone runs away from him except Buzz Lightyear has a plunge and shoots it at Godzilla Rex causing Godzilla Rex to go on a Hot Wheel car and knock over some things until he holds on to a chair making it fall on the Toddle Tots Fire Truck which Woody is on and makes Woody fly off the fire truck and goes into a window and slides his way from the roof into the box. They deleted this scene because they thought it was too coincidental. It's likely that this scene was animated during the film's direct-to-video production since in the original storyline, Woody falls into the yard sale in a much similar way.

Changed Scenes

 * The original animation had Al not only steal Woody but also restore and repair him on his own. However, as the story went on, it became clear that this couldn't be possible and the decision was taken to add a another character, hence the use of Geri from Geri's Game.
 * In the film's climax when Woody and Jessie escape from the plane via the wheel hatch, the first animation shot had Jessie slip and Woody catching her from falling. Joan Cusack, who provided the voice for Jessie, came up with the idea of having it being switched around and that Jessie saved Woody from falling off.

Trailers
One Pixar tradition is to create trailers for their films that do not contain footage from the released film.{ In one trailer for Toy Story 2 (released theatrically with A Bug's Life, Doug's 1st Movie, and Tarzan), the aliens watch the metal claw they worship coming down. The claw first brings down the words Toy Story, and the aliens react with their trademark "Oooooh." The claw next brings down the number '2'; in reaction, the aliens turn to face the camera and parody themselves with a "Twoooo." Then Woody appears, saying "Hey howdy hey, folks! It's good to be back." He is swiftly disappointed when Buzz shows up as well, and expresses his annoyance that the Space Ranger is also in the sequel. Buzz retorts, "Excuse me, Pullstring Boy, what would Toy Story 2 be without Buzz Lightyear?" "A good movie," counters Woody.

Another trailer (released theatrically with Muppets from Space and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland) shows shots from the film that are featured.

Attached short film
The film's initial theatrical and video releases include Luxo Jr., Pixar's first short film released in 1986, starring Pixar's titular mascot. Before Luxo Jr., a message states: "In 1986 Pixar Animation Studios produced their first film. This is why we have a hopping lamp in our logo".

Allusions

 * In the bloopers, Flik and Heimlich are seen talking about A Bug's Life2 on leaf. Heimlich replies with its a 2 movie but not A Bug's Life Movie. They then get pushed by Buzz who moves the leaf to the side.