The Art and Making of Toy Story 1, 2, & 3 by Charles Solomon

The Art of Toy Story

by Charles Solomon

Imagination. It's an innate quality that every child seems to possess in immeasurable quantities. Imagination allows children to create wonderful worlds in which to relate to their friends, envision their futures, and, of course, play with their toys. More often than not, imagination is a quality that diminishes with age, as fantasy worlds are replaced by "the real world" and inquiring young minds are forced to grow up. But there are those among us, who, like Peter Pan and the Lost Boys, never stop using their imaginations, envisioning their futures, and, most importantly in this context, playing with their toys. A select group of these individuals-and their unfettered imaginations-are the reason that the Toy Story films came to be.

The Toy Story An Animated Journey tells the tale of the incredibly talented visionaries who conceived, developed, and ultimately shared Woody, Buzz, and the rest of Andy's toys with the entire world. Their story is recounted within these pages through candid interviews with the animators, directors, and voice actors who brought the films to life; artwork that inspired, grew into, or became a part of the iconic movies; and untold details of the growth and development of one of the most lucrative and artistically significant film series ever. It serves as a lesson to us all that we are never too old to use our imagination-and play with our toys.

Genres: Art

Hardcover

First published August 7, 2012

Reviews

[kezzie ʚ♡ɞ · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this as a kid & am now reading with my little brother <3

[Parka · Rating 4 out of 5]

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(More pictures on my blog)

Whether The Toy Story Films is a rehash or a new book will depend on what Pixar books you have or have read.

I was skeptical when this book was coming out. I wasn't sure how much new content they could pack when there are already books such as Toy Story The Art and Making of the Film , To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios and The Art of Toy Story 3 . Much of this book is a rehash of those three books, and from snippets from other books (mentioned in the bibliography).

There was a sense of deja vu after I read the book. The story is one of Pixar in the early years. John Lasseter was busy animating his short films before Toy Story. Pixar animators were working on commercials to keep the company afloat. Then came the deal with Disney, the story of how they had to rewrite the whole script last minute following the Black Friday disaster of a story pitch. After Toy Story, John Lasseter had to continue working non-stop on Toy Story 2 after helping out A Bug's Life. Pixar's seven film deal with Disney was over and Disney wanted to produce their own version of Toy Story 3. Thanks to Michael Eisner being ousted out of Disney and the merger, Pixar regained control over Toy Story 3.

For many Pixar fans, I suspect the story above will sound familiar. Sure, there are additional insights, but probably not enough to come up with a whole new book. So if you already have the other books mentioned, then you might want to skip this book, unless you are a collector of all things Pixar.

If you don't have the earlier books, then this is a great buy. It's packed with lots of beautiful art, photos and screenshots. The stories are inspiring with many ups and downs, collected in a nice large hardcover.

[Angèle Dbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une lecture rapide pour un beau livre, je pense qu'il y avait moins de texte que pour celui de Retour vers le futur par exemple. J'ai appris des choses et ça m'a replongé dans cet univers que j'adore. On en apprend surtout sur les studios Pixar au fil des années, et sur le processus de création des personnages, et j'ai aimé la première partie qui aborde le début de l'aventure. J'aurais aimé en savoir plus mais c'est un super ouvrage quand même !