In the Toy Story movies, we all see how to toys come to life whenever humans aren’t around. My question is, what exactly constitutes as a toy? What characteristics establish the distinction between objects that can come to life, and just ordinary inanimate objects? Buzz and Woody and all our other favorite characters can think, feel, and communicate, yet why can’t Andy’s skateboard, the pair of scissors that Woody grabs at the beginning of TS3, and the red Luxo lamp?
According to Wikipedia, “A toy is anything that can be used in play.” Going with this definition, couldn’t most objects technically be considered toys, and therefore have life? I’m pretty sure that board games are toys, yet the board games in Andy’s room never come to life. Gadgets can also be considered as toys, does that mean that Ipods and cellphones are alive? What about kids that make their own toys? You could easily make a rubber band ball, or a robot or puppet with some craft supplies or spare parts, and a lot of kids do that. Does that mean that life can be created in the Toy Story world? Or perhaps not all toys can come to life.
Sorry if I sound crazy or rambling, this was just a random idea that popped into my head a few minutes ago! I actually think that it’s pretty interesting. What do you guys think?
Gnomes are also alive as mentioned in toy story 2, and I don’t see how those are anywhere near being called toys. Also the hotwheels car in the Toy Story is shown going down the track about 2 or 3 times in the scenes before the staff meeting, so the hotwheels car might be alive as well. Sid’s toys are a bit custom, so handmade toys seem to come to life as well. Of course they’re mostly made out of existing toys, buy things like Baby head’s body is more custom.
Lego people in Toy story 3 seem to be alive as well, even though they are made of different pieces. Even the duplo blocks put together are alive. I don’t think there in no definite answer to what comes to life or not.
haha that seriously made me laugh! I was wondering about that in [spoil] the incinorator scene…what where they thinking? Do toys go to Heaven? Is there toy heaven in the pixar universe?[/spoil]
I guess it’s anything that was designed to have a child play with it, though of course that doesn’t explain why garden gnomes, for example, come to life in the Toy Story universe. Then again, it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine a garden gnome coming to life, so perhaps it’s something to do with people’s imaginations as well? Not just children’s, but generally if anyone makes up little stories in their heads and imagines a particular object coming to life, perhaps then that’s what gives them that life?
I don’t know, probably just rambling here and I’m sure that doesn’t apply to everything, but it’s just an idea.
My hypothesis, this is a secret government experiment to determine how artificial intelligences act when dealing with human emotions such as love. Toys were the easiest means to have a human love a robot and study how the robots respond to the peaks and valleys of emotion. The government programmed in simple rules, such as that toys cannot be seen moving by humans, that can only be disobeyed in extraneous circumstances. The government was trying to determine how the A.I. personalities developed and if any antagonistic programs surfaced.
The next stage is the Cognizant Automobile Research Study. However, the Earth was overrun by garbage before any extended observation could be completed and the C.A.R.S. project had to be abandoned . The A.I. was haphazardly stripped of the personality coding and used to create robots to clean up the mess and assist fleeing humans.
Heck, I started that jokingly but I think it became what could be a valid explanation
I think that makes a lot of sense although it still doesn’t explain why the knomes game alive…I guess its just one of those things thats left up to the viewer to determine.
The gnomes are like Bo Peep, because she was just another household object as well. I guess they might count as a toy, since they COULD be played with.
Maybe the action of being played with gives them life, and the kid across the street plays with the lawn gnome outside, lol. But that would bring things like Andy’s moving boxes to life. Maybe they were alive, but with no appendages or faces, you just can;t tell
But the boxes were supposed to be buildings anyways, so there’s not much to prove there. But still, you bring up a good point. I don’t think a poorly drawn paper figure would have the ability to become a toy. Plus, I’m not even sure things just “become” toys.
