I was lucky enough to get the Toy Story Ultimate Toy Box Collection recently, and reading the first treatment posed for Toy Story in March of 1991 seemed almost surreal. Sure, Pixar is famous for reusing ideas, but this went a step above; the outline for all three of the Toy Story movies was all there, conceived almost two decades before the last film came out.
With Toy Story 2, many saw a suitable ending to the series. The toys had accepted their fate, so long as they stuck together. So Toy Story 3 seemed like it would be adding a story where it didn’t need to exist. Ironically, I’d say the elements of Toy Story 3 were one of the most overwhelming aspects of this original treatment.
In the beginning, the main character is given to a child as a birthday gift, and loved and cherished by that child. The toy then gets lost at a gas station, and wants to find a way back to a kid. The Toy Story 2 part comes in when the toys are sold at an auction to an obsessive collector. Wanting to be played with again, they escape through the garbage, are thrown into a dumpster, and taken away in a garbage truck (Toy Story 3). They are then brought to a yard sale (Toy Story 2) where they’re sold to a new family. Unfortunately, the family has a nasty dog (Scud), and the toys must escape and find salvation at the local kindergarten (Toy Story 3).
Many characters appear in their early stages, and it’s funny to see just where they started. Lotso indeed appears, described only as a worn Teddy Bear passed down through generations. Though here, he is good and resembles only the good Lotso seen at the beginning of Toy Story 3. Another character is a collectible Slinky Caterpillar, still mint in the box at the home of the collector. This character is oddly enough a combination of Slinky Dog and The Prospecter.
I could go into much further depth with this, however, I just wanted to prove the point that the Toy Story films literally have come full circle since the beginning. Bring on the Toy Story Shorts, but the movies should stay as a trilogy.