Original 1995 Woody and Buzz Lightyear releases

In 1995, Thinkway Toys created the first pull-string Woody and talking Buzz Lightyear action figures prior to the first film's release. At first, Thinkway was hesitant about creating the toys, as the company believed that Toy Story would not be a popular movie, yet they proceeded in creating the toys and ended up not having enough figures to meet consumer demands. Both toys were created using digital 3D data from the film. The original designs were later acquired in 2003 by the Disney Store.

Prototypes

Sometime after February 1995, Thinkway Toys made prototype versions of the characters before making the actual toys to sell to the public. Very little information is known about them and there are hardly any pictures of them. In April 2020, an Instagram user, Harry_Tricks_3D, found a full photo of the original prototypes on the back of a coupon from the original Toy Story soundtrack. These prototypes even have some notable changes: for Woody he has a smaller pull string ring like the film as apposed to being bigger in the released version, and has a different head and hat sculpt. For Buzz, his fingertips and knuckles are painted purple as in the film. He also has a slightly different head, white wings instead of purple, and lacks stickers. It is unknown what happened to these prototypes, although they are rumored to be either in the possession of John Lasseter or the staff at Thinkway Toys, given away, lost, or destroyed.

Poseable Pull-String Talking Woody

Main article: Pull-String Talking Woody (1995 - 2003)

The Poseable Talking Woody was Thinkway's first attempt at a Woody doll that matched both the functionality and appearance of the doll seen in the film. This original release however, featured a wired armature that allowed the doll to be posed, a feature that was omitted in later releases.

4ft Tall Woody Doll

20181228 212152 — 1995 Poseable 4ft Tall Woody, used as advertisement displays for Toy Story in stores.

The 4ft tall Woody Doll, also known as the Frito Lay Woody or Giant Woody, was produced by Thinkway Toys for the release of the first two Toy Story films.

First Release

In 1995, Thinkway Toys created the 4ft tall Woody doll to promote the release of Toy Story on November 22nd. Thinkway used Pixar's computer generated files to produce this doll, as well as the Poseable Talking Woody and other releases. This doll is also known as the Frito Lay Woody because he was used to promote Frito Lay products in grocery store displays where their products were aligned with the movie.^[1] These dolls were never released to the general public as actual toys and were only made for store displays and promotions. They were produced in limited numbers but it is currently unknown how many of them were made, for years it was thought to be 150 in total, but in May 2021, this was proven false. The number 150 was actually referring to the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) number for some of the shipping boxes of the 4ft Woody.

This doll was possibly used in a parade^[2] as well but it is currently unknown what parade he was used in.

This version of the 4ft Woody is extremely rare since it was never released to the public. It is near impossible to find one in pristine condition and it is lucky to find one under $200.

He has a slim waist, is poseable ^[3], has a fragile hat made out of PVC, has head and hands made of heavy duty vinyl, clothes made of cloth, and the boots and badge made of leather.

Post-Promotion

After the promotion of Toy Story ended mid 1996, many of these dolls were given away or sold to collectors.

According to eBay seller, luvtim71, they claimed to have acquired three of them after the promotion ended at Frito Lay in 1996.

"I worked at Frito Lay at the time and about 6 months after the promotion, I was at the warehouse and my boss and I were talking and he said he wanted to know what was in the pallet at the top of the warehouse racks. We found 6 of these dolls that were never used, so we split them and I got 3 of them new in the box. I gave one to a relative and another was sold on eBay about 10 years ago (that one was opened and used...I got $1,700 for that one)."

A small number of these dolls have been accounted for online, it is unknown where the remaining number of dolls are.

It is speculated that they are either in private collections or have been destroyed.

Re-releases

Main article: Public Release Versions of the 4ft Tall Woody and 3ft Tall Buzz Lightyear (1997 - 1999)

Non-Poseable 4ft Tall Woody Doll (1997)
- This Woody doll was the same as the initial release, but was now Non-Poseable and was now available for public purchase through the Disney Catalog, the Disney Store, and as a Canadian Walmart exclusive.
Non-Poseable 4ft Tall Woody Doll (1998/99)
- The same exact doll as the re-release, but with a Toy Story 2 tag.

Adventure Buddy Woody Doll

The Adventure Buddy Woody doll was released in 1995 by Thinkway Toys. There were two versions of this doll, a Jumbo version, which had an almost identical design to the 4 foot tall Woody doll, with the exception of having plush hands, and a small version, which had an identical design to the Poseable Talking Woody, with the exception of having no voice box, plush hands, and a PVC hat.

Re-releases

Adventure Buddy Woody doll (Jumbo version) (1996)
- This Woody doll was the same exact one as the initial release, but with some slight changes such as, stamped in buttons, and slightly larger points on the corner of the badge.
Adventure Buddy Woody doll (Small version) (1996)
- This Woody doll was the same exact one as the initial release, but with some slight changes such as, stamped in buttons, slightly larger points on the corner of the badge, no spurs, and a plastic holster.

Talking Buzz Lightyear

Main article: Buzz Lightyear Ultimate Talking Action Figure

This Buzz Lightyear figure included a pulsating laser light, pop-out wings, some articulation, a voice simulator, and a retractable helmet. The figure also, like in the film, has glow in the dark paint. However, the wings on this Buzz figure are also very short in comparison to later Buzz Lightyear figures.

3ft Tall Buzz Lightyear Doll

Toy-story-giant-3-foot-buzz-lightyear-lifesize 1 d8e6f52a22e099c2b6330906d99ec98c — 1995 3ft Buzz Lightyear doll, originally used for promotional displays until they became publicly available in 1997 and later re-released in 1998/99 for the release of Toy Story 2.

Much like the 4ft Woody doll, the 3ft Tall Buzz Lightyear Doll was created to promote the release of the first two Toy Story films.

First Release

The original 1995 version of this doll was never released to the general public as actual toys and were only made for store displays and promotions. They were produced in limited numbers but it is currently unknown how many of them were made, for years it was thought to be 300 in total, but in May 2021, this was proven false. The number 300 was actually referring to the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) number for some of the shipping boxes of the 3ft Buzz Lightyear.

Re-releases

Main article: Public Release Versions of the 4ft Tall Woody and 3ft Tall Buzz Lightyear (1997 - 1999)

3ft Tall Buzz Lightyear Doll (1997)
- This Buzz Lightyear Doll was the same as the initial release, but was now available for public purchase through the Disney Catalog, the Disney Store, and as a Canadian Walmart exclusive.
Toy Story tag from the 1997 re-release of the 3ft Buzz Lightyear.

3ft Tall Buzz Lightyear Doll (1998/99)
- The same exact doll as the re-release, but with a Toy Story 2 tag.

Adventure Buddy Buzz Lightyear

The Adventure Buddy Buzz Lightyear was released in 1995 by Thinkway Toys. Much like the Adventure Buddy Woody, there were two versions of this doll, a Jumbo version and a small version. Both of these versions had a strikingly similar design to the 3 foot tall Buzz Lightyear.

Trivia

Apparently, these figures have been released in other languages, although it is extremely rare to find any of those toys in any other language outside of English.
Interestingly enough, an original ad for the Toy Story Collection Buzz Lightyear uses his original 1995 release in the box shown on the said picture (see here).
The reason why the figures are so inaccurate could likely be due to time and budgetary reasons.
Buzz Lightyear's suit design in the Toy Story the Musical is very similar this original release of him; he has his wings retracting from the sides as apposed to swinging out in the film, and the lack of a flapping wrist communicator (despite the actor pretending to have it).
- In addition, these original releases of Buzz and Woody would be used on stage when the physical actors of the toys are not performing on stage.