What TOY STORY Got Right About Friendship

How can you build friendships that last to infinity and beyond?

Licensed therapist Jonathan Decker and filmmaker Alan Seawright talk about the characteristics of strong friendships as shown by the characters in Pixar's Toy Story franchise, especially Woody and Buzz. These characters show what it's like to maintain friendship even when you disagree or face hard times. It's about supporting each other (even when you're having an existential crisis when you realize you're a toy), being real with each other (like telling your friend he's not a space ranger), caring for one another, and having awesome catchphrases.

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Cinema Therapy is:
Written by: Megan Seawright, Jonathan Decker, and Alan Seawright
Produced by: Jonathan Decker, Megan Seawright, and Alan Seawright
Edited by: David Sant
Director of Photography: Bradley Olsen
English Transcription by: Anna Preis
Spanish Transcription by: Juan Willems

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[mydogisoscarthegrouch]

We always hear about romantic breakups, but friend breakups are the real kicker in life. Friendships are so incredibly important throughout life, and these movies are a great showcase of that in a different universe!

[trinaq]

"Woody once risked his life to save mine, and I couldn't call myself his friend if I wasn't willing to do the same." My favourite Buzz quote of all time, and it perfectly sums up Buzz and Woody's friendship, and how they learned to trust each other after spending most of the first movie at loggerheads.

[estebangabrielcolmanvalenz]

“True friendship says, Your success doesn’t mean I’m failing; it means we are in different places right now.” Just to have it written somewhere. Thanks Jonathan for this!!

[metalheartsrejik]

gotta agree with alan on this one about the movie, they had a perfect ending on 3, and completely threw it away for 4. i think something that especially bugged me was that andy asked bonnie to take extra care of woody because he meant a lot to him, and lo and behold she stopped playing with him and when he was lost, i dont think she looked for him :0

[ggpt]

Jonathan is Buzz, Alan is Woody.


Jonathan being an inspirational existence, and Alan, probably from Jonathan, went from unlicensed to pro filmmaker, much like how Woody grew after Buzz came.

[aliyahstinard]

I remember being 8 years old when I saw Toy Story 3 in theaters. I remember being terrified for the crew and realizing what would happen in the trash incinerator scene. I understood what the look in their eyes meant.
For Pixar to portray the imminence of death and sorrow in a way that an 8-year-old can understand, not through words or dialogue, but simply through animation and music is an amazing feat.
This scene still terrifies me and brings tears to my eyes to this day.

[PetWessman]

Obviously, I love Cinema Therapy for the life advice, the movie analysis, the quips, the brilliant editing jokes, and the insight that Alan and Jono offers. But I have GOT to give a shout out to the incredibly non-toxic masculinity and exemplary male-to-male friendship that these two men display. I hope every single person on earth can have role models like these in their lives,

[FrancisBonnefoy]

Honestly, I appreciated the correction of "family friendly" from "kid's" film because I'm so tired of underhandedly denying that people over the age of 13 or whatever can't thoroughly enjoy and love these movies. They were made for everyone, animation doesn't automatically mean it's for children. Thank you for that~

[icegoddesslexra]

The trash scene in Toy Story 3 always gets to me deeply for a very personal reason. My brother, who has Autism, loves these movies. Toy Story 1 and 2 are his jam, they're movies he watches frequently, and the Little Green Men are his favorite. Their scene inside the Pizza Planet with the claw game is his favorite scene, to the point that my mother has a tattoo of three Little Green Men with Woody and Buzz, and without fail every time my brother sees the tattoo he'll repeat some line from that scene.

To have the Little Green Men be the saviors, with a claw, in Toy Story 3 in such a dark moment for the characters, resonates with me so deeply; because we've had a lot of tragedy in our family. But throughout it all, my brother often brings moments of light during these dark moments, he brings forth these moments of love. And that scene always makes me think of him and how deeply loved he is by our family.

[LinkOfLegendOfZelda]

My friend from college and I didn't talk for 5 years after we graduated. We did not grew apart or had an argument, we just started building up our lives are were busy. And now after all those years, we finally reconnected this month and it felt so good. It was like the past 5 years where never there. We talked for 3 hours straight about everything that happened and it felt so warm and natural. That's true friendship.

[SlyJMan]

What I just realized is that the relationship between Buzz and Woody can really apply to older and younger siblings. Woody the older brother growing bitter towards his new younger brother Buzz who’s getting all the attention. By the end though, they’re as thick as thieves. Good sibling relationships without overtly being siblings is great!

[fudgethestuffeddog]

The look on Jono’s face when Alan asks him what “buttcrack poor” is… I can see he was just dying to be asked to define that. 😂

[SirWade]

As a character animator, I agree with Alan! That's exactly what made me sad about Toy Story 4's story and why I wouldn't be upset about a Toy Story 5 buddy-reunion.

[oneimperfectsong]

Some of my favorite things in life:

- Petting my dogs
- Eating Cookie Dough Ice Cream
- Crying with Alan Seawright as we watch movie clips

Keep it up, love you guys as always. 💜

[dracone]

I suggested this in the comments of the Disney Romance rankings, Cinema Friendship Rankings. So, basically, friendships ranked from Outright Toxic to Genuinely Healthy. And I still think that could be a potentially interesting episode.

One of the biggest things about the Toy Story movies is that many of us were in Andy's age range when the first Toy Story came out, then as we grew older, so did Andy in the movies, but it was more than that, as those of us who watched the Toy Story movies grew up and (hopefully) matured, we got to see all the characters in the series grow up and mature with us, even giving us goals to shoot for in our relationships with others.

[callistocharon]

As a person on the aro-ace spectrum, I really appreciate when stories treat platonic relationships as equally important and defining as romantic or sexual ones, as well as stories that portray characters as complete and fulfilled even if they do not have a romantic or sexual partner or are not seeking one.

[squallloire]

"Laughter through tears"
So true. I remember a quote from Whedon that was something along the lines of "Make it dark, make it tragic, make it hurt, but for god's sake tell a joke afterwards", and I think that's such a valuable lesson for filmmakers. Absolutely right that Pixar nails this in everything they produce.

[emilyleslie]

What really gets me in "that" scene is you are forced to watch each one of the characters separately realise that they are going to die and all of their friends are going to die too. Going from panic and looking for a way out to just utter disbelief that this is the end and not really knowing how to react so just holding on and waiting for it to end. It breaks me every time I see it!

[VenomQuill]

I love friendships. They're so underrated. As an aro/ace, finding great friendship/family arcs is very difficult but _so rewarding._ Romance is so freaking overdone, it's a staple of any "good story" and you need to shove one in somewhere. Media exploring a friendship first and foremost is amazing. I loved Woody and Buzz's relationship. It's just amazing. Pure and simple.

My opinion on 4? I've been burned so hard by sequels. 3 was perfect, I didn't even _look_ at 4. I wiped its existence from my memory. Instead of doing that, I watched some video essays that included Toy Story 4 plot threads and characters and inferred what happened. I understand that friends will drift apart--sometimes literally. But another gosh darn romance plot? On top of basically him leaving because of a romance? It's not just me not understanding, it's genuinely frustrating because it happens so often and so unnecessarily. Character A chooses Love Interest over Character B, who has been their best friend/sibling/whatever for a very long time because they're the Love Interest.
Yes, I'm also targeting mega hate to a certain other franchise that took BFFs apart because one found a girlfriend and the other thought it prudent they all leave.

[ThyFloorestFloor]

Who could tell that a bunch of toys holding hands while in an incinerator would get me scared. And then seeing the owner of those toys giving them up to a little girl would make cry.