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Toy Story – By Disney Toy Story is a 1995 American computer animated comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney. It was the first feature length computer animated film film and the first film produced by Pixar. Toy Story follows a group of anthropomorphic toys who pretend to be lifeless whenever humans are present, and focuses on Woody, a pull-string cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear, an astronaut action figure. Woody feels threatened and jealous when Buzz becomes Andy’s favorite toy in the room. The film was written by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow.

John Lasseter John Lasseter was born on January 12, 1957. He is an American animator, film director and the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, and currently the principal creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering Lasseter's first job was with The Walt Disney Company, where he became an animator. He then joined Lucasfilm, where he worked with CGI animation. After the graphics group of the computer division of Lucasfilm was sold to Steve Jobs and became Pixar, Lasseter oversaw all of their films and associated projects as executive producer. He has won two Academy Awards, for animated short film, for Tin Toy, as well as a special achievement award for Toy Story.



Andrew Stanton Andrew Stanton was born on December 3, 1965. He is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and voice actor based at Pixar Animation Studios. His work includes writing and directing Pixar's A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo and WALL-E, and John Carter, Monsters, Inc. and the Toy Story franchise. Finding Nemo and WALL-E earned him two Academy Awards for best animated feature. He was also nominated for three Academy Awards for best original screenplay for Toy Story, and for an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay for Toy Story 3.



Joel Cohen Joel Cohen is an American film writer who has worked on movies such as Cheaper by the Dozen, Toy Story, & Toy Story 2, and Garfield: The Movie. He frequently works with Alec Sokolow In 1995 he was nominated for the Academy Award for best writing (original screenplay) for his work on Toy Story, along with the other writers.



Alec Sokolow Alec Sokolow is an American film writer who has worked on many projects such as Cheaper by the Dozen, Toy Story, as well as its sequel Toy Story 2, and Garfield: The Movie. He frequently works with Joel Cohen. Along with the other writers for Toy Story, Sokolow was nominated in 1995 for the Academy Award for best writing (original screenplay) for his work on Toy Story.

What culture/historical period was Toy Story written in? Toy Story was written in 1995, a cultural period similar to todays. There were many significant events some of which including, a mass-terrorist bomb plot in the Philippines, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Japan killing over 6000, O.J. Simpson was found not guilty in his murder trial, the movie Forest Gump won an Oscar, ten people were convicted in the World Trade Center bombing trial, the first African-American man walked in space, and much more. However, aside from all these events, there appear to be no notable cultural influences on the creation of Toy Story.

What does Toy Story mean to me? Toy story was my all-time favorite text when I was young. I remember watching it at least once every week. I related to the characters, and I enjoyed watching the friendship between all the toys, the happy ending, the funny story-line and the cuteness in general. Toy story is a great representation of my childhood, something that was very significant and that I spent a lot of my time involved with. I definitely remember watching and reading Toy Story as one of my fondest childhood memories. This text is important to me now because of its values and meaning hidden in the story line such as accepting who you are, developing friendship and trust, working together, accepting other people’s differences and so on.

What are the messages/meanings in Toy Story? Toy story carries a lot of meanings and messages to young children, which is what makes it a great text, some of which include; - Finding your identity as Buzz finds out he is a toy - Accepting yourself as Buzz can accept he is a toy and can’t fly - The importance of friendship as Buzz & Woody learn to work together & accept each other - The importance of trust as Buzz & Woody learn to rely on each other to escape Sid - The importance of team work as the toys all work together to save Buzz & Woody from Sid - Accepting everyone’s differences as the toys can all accept each other to become friends - Never giving up hope as no matter how bad things get Buzz & Woody never give up - Always being positive as Woody assures everyone that no one is being replaced - The importance of being welcoming as Woody and the others welcome Buzz - To never let anyone put you down as Buzz continues to believe he is a space ranger - To overcome Jealousy as Woody adjusts to accept Buzz

What are the visual and language features and how do they work? The visual features of the book that are used to convey the messages include the use of bright colours to attract and entertain the young children as well as the different characters which are well-known toys that children can relate to playing with, that also help spread important messages. The language features used in the book to convey messages and meanings include third-person talking which is as the narrator tells us what is happening and the characters occasionally talking in first person to tell the story.