FROM THE ARCHIVES: Toy Story 3: Cowboy Down

Originally published December 9, 2005.  This is not what will actually be happening in Toy Story 3 (pretty clearly, I think).  I wrote this after I snapped this picture when Laurel dropped her Woody doll in the snow outside our house.  At the time, Disney and Pixar were going through the contentious battle which saw Disney threatening to make Toy Story 3 without Pixar — I think luckily for all of us, that original plan was scrapped once The Mouse officially acquired them.  Now, though, feel free to go check out the official Toy Story 3 teaser trailer, and look out here for more Pixar-related content this week, including my review of Up.  (Spoiler alert:  I liked it.)

  The Walt Disney Company today revealed that the plot of Toy Story 3 – a movie the studio is making without longtime partner Pixar, who produced the first two Toy Story features — would surround the mysterious death of Woody at the hands of a “cereal (toy) killer” and the other toys’ quest for revenge. Speculation has it that Disney’s willing to kill off the beloved cowboy sheriff because Tom Hanks was reluctant to lend his voice talent to the project; given Tim Allen‘s career of late, he’s expected to return to the role of Buzz Lightyear. No word on whether Slinky Dog (voiced by Jim Varney, who died in 2000) would also meet his grisly end in the flick.