Tin Toy (1988)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Lasseter

Writer:

John Lasseter (story)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Family

Plot:

A tin one-man-band toy tries to escape a destructive baby.

Plot Keywords:

Toy | Baby | Surprise After End Credits | Chase | Anthropomorphic Toy

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins

Directed by
John Lasseter

Writing credits
John Lasseter		(story)

Produced by
William Reeves	....	producer

Sound Department
Gary Rydstrom	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Anthony A. Apodaca	....	renderman team (as Tony Apodaca)
Don Conway	....	output scanning (as Cosmic Don Conway)
Craig Good	....	modeler
Ralph Guggenheim	....	output scanning
Pat Hanrahan	....	renderman team
Jeff Hilgert	....	renderman team
Ken Huey	....	systems support
John Lasseter	....	modeler
Jim Lawson	....	renderman team
Sam Leffler	....	renderman team
Jeffrey Mock	....	renderman team
Eben Ostby	....	modeler
Darwyn Peachey	....	renderman team
William Reeves	....	modeler
Steven Sequeira	....	systems support
Carson L. Silkey	....	systems support
Scott Taylor	....	systems support

Camera and Electrical Department
Anthony A. Apodaca	....	best boy (as Tony Apodaca)

Animation Department
Craig Good	....	additional animator
John Lasseter	....	animator
Eben Ostby	....	additional animator
William Reeves	....	additional animator

Editorial Department
Craig Good	....	post-production coordinator

Music Department
Forrest Patten	....	music consultant

Other crew
Susan Anderson	....	production coordinator
Loren Carpenter	....	elf
Ed Catmull	....	elf
Ralph Guggenheim	....	elf
Ralph Guggenheim	....	production coordinator
David Haddick	....	film recording consultant
Mark Leather	....	elf
Eben Ostby	....	technical director
Flip Phillips	....	elf
William Reeves	....	technical director
David Salesin	....	dynamics
Deirdre Warin	....	production coordinator

Thanks
Bill Adams	....	very special thanks
Neftalí Álvarez 'El Magnífico'	....	special thanks (as Neftali 'El Magnifico' Alvarez)
Ed Catmull	....	very special thanks
Steve Jobs	....	very very special thanks
Nancy Kemper	....	special thanks
Alvy Ray Smith	....	very special thanks
James K. Wilson	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Pixar Animation Studios

Distributors

• Buena Vista Pictures
• Walt Disney Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Home Video (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Evans & Sutherland  PS350 Display System
• Kaleidosound  music consulting
• Matrix Instruments  film recorder
• Polhemus Navigation Sciences  3-Space Digitizer
• Satellite Imaging  35mm animation camera
• Sprocket Systems  sound recording

Runtime:

5 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:All | Australia:G | Argentina:Unrated | UK:U

Company:

Pixar Animation Studios

Trivia:

The shopping bag the toy came in (visible at the very beginning, and played with by the baby at the very end) has a square insigna on one corner. This is Pixar's original logo.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The number of panes in the reflection of the window from Tin Toy is inconsistent with the number of panes in the shadow cast on the wooden floor. This was deliberate by the 3D modelers as they wanted a cartoon 'bubble'-like feel to the reflection on Tin Toy and not a realistic one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lifted (2006)

One of the earlier, but definitely not one of the best, Pixar animation shorts.

It's wonderful to watch a short animated film like Tin Toy and then watch one like Geri's Game or For The Birds, because you can really see how far Pixar has come over the years. In Toy Story, one of the things that they never got quite right was the look of human faces, but it is clear after watching Tin Toy that they have really improved in that area as well. What you have in Tin Toy is an extremely simple story of a new toy that is at first fascinated but soon understandably horrified by the hideously misshapen baby that he sees terrorizing toys all around him. Besides foreshadowing a huge amount of the plot of the later Toy Story, this short film also contains a lot of symbolism and adheres to a story structure that dates back to medieval literature.

This baby is the representation of the horrible monster that can be found in stories around the world, holding people in horrible fear under its control, waiting for some hero to come along and rescue them. The heroic tin toy spends a few minutes fleeing from the horrifying baby (whose approach is far more fearful than ANY Tyranosaurus Rex), but then when the massive baby falls and begins to cry, the toy realizes his purpose and goes out to amuse the baby ("You're a cool toy!"). Okay, this part never really happened in any of the classic romances where people are held captive by a huge monster, but this is where the film turns from the classic story structure and begins to concentrate on the reality of modern children.

One of the more appealing things about this short film is the closeness with which it portrays real children (although they were horribly far off on the physical appearance). Even the child's momentary pause before sneezing is surprisingly realistic, but there are also behavioral things that are captured here, such as the notorious habit of children becoming more interested in the box that their toy came in than they are in the toy itself. Pixar clearly started off early depicting the interests and behaviors of children on screen, and their films have progressed enormously from short films like this one. Tin Toy is not terribly remarkable compared to the later films from Pixar, but from shorts like Tin Toy it can be seen that they have always worked very closely within this particular genre, which is likely a good reason why they are now making children's films that easily rival even the classic Disney masterpieces.