Mr. Potato Head is a plastic potato body with removable accessories (standing around 8" with footpieces and derby hat attached), and a prominent secondary character in the Toy Story films. He's first seen as a member of Andy's Toys, and continues with the main group all the way into Bonnie's possession.
The version seen in the film is not accurate to any particular single Mr. Potato Head design, though he appears to be mostly based off pieces included in Mr. Potato Head's Bucket of Parts, released in 1987, though none of his pieces appear exactly identical to that version, early concept art features them in a style much closer to the real toy. One notable deviance is the presence of two separate eyes and feet. On all versions of the toy manufactured in the modern age, the eyes and (save for the Toy Story Collection release of the character, in which the footpieces are separate but irremovable) feet are connected and feature a single peg to attach them to the potato, due to the potential choking hazard presented by the smaller, individual pieces. For the same reason, eyebrows are not commonly seen on the toy either, though there have been releases that featured a re-used mustache piece intended for use as eyebrows. He was voiced by the late Don Rickles.
Toy Story (1995)[]
Toy Story: Mr. Potato Head[]
Released in 1995 for a cross-promotion with the first Toy Story film, this version of the spud features many of the pieces from the Bucket of Parts that the toy in the film was based on, though it trades the accurate bendy arms for the singular, removable plastic arms used during the 1990s. Due to the numerous revamps Mr. Potato Head's design underwent during production of the film, however, this rendition of the character bears minimal resemblance to its film counterpart, with its eyes, moustache and body shape all markedly different.
In addition to the movie-styled parts, he also includes: Potato Head’s Body with 11 holes Black Bowler Hat Two Pairs of Blue Shoes aka Sneakers Two Pairs of Eyes Two Pairs of Bendy Arms Shape-Caped Mustache Orange Nose from Toy Story 4 Classic Mr Potato. Head Red lips with closed smile Two Pairs of Pink Ears Clay Eyebrows It’s a Movie Accurate Mr Potato Head This version of the toy was re-released in 1999 and 2010 for Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3, respectively. Versions of this toy over the year have occasionally featured additional parts irrelevant to those seen in the movies.
Toy Story 3 (2010)[]
Toy Story Collection: Animated Talking Mr. Potato Head[]
Released by Thinkway in 2010 for the second wave of the Toy Story Collection, Mr. Potato Head is, like the other toys in the toyline, advertised to be the most screen-accurate version of the film character ever released. It is a joint release by Hasbro and Thinkway. Standing around 8.2 inches high, he likewise scales semi-accurately with the other Toy Story characters contemporaneously released by Thinkway, although his visible legs render him slightly taller than the onscreen character. Unlike most other removable-parts Potato Head toys, he is electronic and animatronic and also features hexagonal ports for his parts, meaning that they are not cross-compatible with pieces from other Potato Heads. He comes with a plastic potato body with non-removable feet (sporting permanently-visible legs, unlike his film counterpart), and includes a derby hat, two film-styled pink ears, a pair of regular eyes (complete with film-styled eyebrows), a pair of angry eyes (an allusion to a running gag from Toy Story 2), two bendy (if not fully posable) arms, a nose, a mustache and two styles of mouthpiece (an open smile and a toothed frown) more closely matching the onscreen character's facial expressions than any other existing Potato Head toy. Conversely, this release (due to the space required for its elaborate electronics) lacks a back compartment for part storage, unlike either the onscreen character or the corresponding Playskool releases. The toy also features a voice-recognition system, speaks with Don Rickles' voice, and reacts to loud noises with by "popping" or expelling his parts from his body. In an interesting design choice, he features two separate holes and posts for his eyes, despite them still being conjoined like other Potato Heads, indicating prototype versions of the toy to have featured separate eyepieces accurate to the onscreen character.
Due to both the relative fragility of this release's electronics and alleged underwhelming sales, Thinkway discontinued the Collection Mr. Potato Head in 2011 and did not re-release him. Resultantly, this release has acquired noticeable collectability on the second-hand market, with unboxed functioning examples selling for over $100 and for over $450 mint in box.
Toy Story 4 (2019)[]
Toy Story 4: Mr. Potato Head[]
Released by Playskool to commemorate the fourth film's release, this version of Mr. Potato Head is noticeably more movie-accurate than previous Playskool releases of the character, featuring ovular, deep-lidded eyes (which, while still conjoined, are arguably more screen-accurate than those of the Collection Potato Head) and a nose, mouth and moustache very closely resembling the onscreen character's. Nonetheless, this release lacks any eyebrows, features a less film-accurate body shape, ears and arms than the Collection version, wields a single conjoined footpiece and is slightly smaller than his film counterpart at around 7 inches in height.
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