What TOY STORY Got Right About Friendship 

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!

“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!!

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

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.

"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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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!

IMO: I love that the first 3 movies were about holding on to what you love and fighting for it, but I also love that in the 4th movie it touches on it’s also okay to let go too and move onto another chapter and the people that love you will support you. I feel like it takes the “toxic positivity” out of the story and gives it a real life feel that shows sometimes, you have to let go and you don’t always get to keep everything and that’s okay. I do think the 3rd movie ended beautifully and it would have been perfect there but the addition felt like another layer/perspective.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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. 💜

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~

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. 😂

"the best of times, the worst of times" I once phrased it as "loving someone isn't just loving them when it's EASY... it's loving them even though it may be the hardest thing to do in that moment" when talking to a pair that were good friends of mine, that had been having domestic issues and asked for my help...so I found a therapist for them. It worked, even if they separated later it was not because of those particular issues... and I still remember what the therapist said to me when I first approached him "it shows how much you love them, to go this far out of your way to help them" after losing my mother and a partner of 15 years in the span of 6 months... I became pretty hard to love... I've been negligent to my own health, self destructive...bitter... to the point I ended up in the ICU for reasons none of us have yet to figure out (partly because I have a total blackout of the 36 hours prior to my hospitalization, but evidence suggests I accidentally poisoned myself through said reckless behavior) My friends have all stayed by me... they want me to be better, to get better... and they know from experience that I've been there for them, so they know it's not a one way street... The joke is "real friends will help you hide the body" but the truth is... "real friends will help you, because they love you"

Good video! I agree with Alan on this one. I see John's point, and it makes sense that sometimes you just pivot to other things, but to me it didn't feel like a pivot ever happened. Bonnie is clearly the same age as TS3, so very little time has passed, and it's like Woody's entire set of values are just different from the start (not opposite, just clearly "moved over a few steps" if that makes sense). One other thing to note, and I'm sure you both recall, Buzz is just dumb in TS4. He wasn't the most logical in the first three, but he was very tactile and quick witted, and then suddenly in TS4 he can never think of solutions. He just presses his buttons and acts like it's a magic 8 ball. There are some other issues too, like most of the original cast being sidelined for us to spend time with new characters. Not all bad, but the first three did that better in my opinion. Still not a 'bad' movie, but definitely my least favorite. Thank you for all the content, I'm a big fan.

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.

Can't believe you guys didn't go deeper in that incinerator scene. THAT is the best example on how to support a friend: no cliché words or empty conversations... Your silence and presence 100% can be extremely powerful when you want to support a friend.

Toy Story 3 was deeply personal to me. It came out the same year I was starting college and I felt it was a story about how we have to leave childdhood behind and grow up. Then I found that even as an adult, it's okay to enjoy things from your childhood by finding a few people who still played Yu-Gi-Oh!

After binge watching the movies a couple months ago, I talked about it with my sister and we agreed that the fourth movie was about Woody's arc of putting himself first, because all throughout the first three movies, despite everything he goes through, Woody puts Andy first to the point were he doesn't get along with the other toys because of it (it's more evident in the third movie). And then the fourth movie gives Woody his own liberty of doing what he wants instead of what his kid wants because Bonnie didn't value him the same way with the other toys I do think its inconsistent that Bonnie didn't value him in the fourth movie the same way in the third movie, but then again, she's a kid and so was Andy, and Andy did kind of put Woody on the backburner to make room for Buzz in the first movie.

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.

My mom passed away last week surrounded by friends and family as we watched her take her final breath and her heart stop. The incinerator scene from Toy Story 3 always made me emotional and cry but now in a whole new way. I’m glad she wasn’t alone in her final moments and I hope she felt loved, safe and at peace.

I was the friend who couldn't be helped, and still kind of am. I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, one that I will not get better from, and I will be in pain for the foreseeable future. There's nothing anyone can do to fix that, and nothing anyone can do to make me feel better. It took a while for the people close to me to get to the point that they could do the trash compactor scene. They wanted to help so bad that they didn't realize that they just needed to be there. I just needed someone to hold my hand and breathe with me.

Toy story 3 is my fav for that hellfire scene alone. To show friends stay together no matter what even through hell itself.

I agree with Alan about Toy Story 4. It's not that I don't like it, but it does feel like a totally different movie than the others. Kind of like the last few Pirates movies. At World's End just seemed to tie the trilogy up so well, it felt odd for the others to continue on and they just didn't have the same magic.

"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.

Friendships ending tends to hurt a lot more than romantic because 90% of the time, it's a slow burn death that is never actually defined, In romantic breakups, it's a "we're over" or divorce. With friendships, there's none of that as you slowly watch a person you once would give the world for becomes someone you distantly know from memory You watch them slowly replace you with someone else, prioritizing them over you. They start getting irrationally angry or annoyed at you for no apparent reason. You make plans with them only for them to "forget" on the day or blow you off for something else last minute. Visits, gifts, calls, texts, they all slowly decrease until you one day send it and they don't return the favor. You bend over backwards to help them at the snap of a finger, but they blow you off when you ask for help in return. You talk with them, try to make up, but they're disinterested and/or promise to change but nothing happens. You want to keep going because of your history with them and you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, to be a good friend, because it hurts to think that they're distancing themselves from you

Unfortunately, I've never had good luck with friends. They act promising and endearing at first, but every single time, someone new comes along and that "friend" leaves me for a more interesting person. I've only had one great friendship in my life. I aspire to be the friend only one person has been to me. To never leave, no matter what. You two touch my heart! 😭

Toy Story is probably one of my most anticipated movies for Cinema Therapy to look into. This and HTTYD feels like the best portrayal of what friendship is, and it is a topic that i wish Cinema Therapy would analyse cuz everyone experiences friendships, one way or the other.

Can we all agree that Sarah McLaughlin's song in TS2 about Jessie is ABSOLUTELY heartbreaking? Music can and will work in animation, but it really needs to hit the right tone. Sarah did that.

I think Toy Story 4 really exemplified Woody’s growth. In the first one, he is so terrified of being a lost toy that he weeps in the parking lot, so to get to the point where he becomes a lost toy and decides to use that selflessly is huge.

22:30 Its funny, the parts where Jonathan and Alan talked about their deep friendship actually hit me a lot harder than the Toy Story scenes got Alan. I wish I had a friend who I could go through happy, but also sad/hard times through. Like to be there for each other like that, throughout tough and good things, thats something we all strive to have. Its fine to have more superficial buddies and at this point in time it’d be nice if I had any friends, but still that sort of friendship sounds pretty amazing to have, even if it means having the arguments and difficulties along with the good. I think last time I had a meaningful relationship like that was about 7 or so years ago when i was still in late middle-school, whereas now im leaving uni, and had hoped to find something like that here.

I remember watching Toy Story 3 in theaters and I still remember so many people gasping at the trash incinerator scene. When Pixar wants you to feel, they know exactly what buttons to push! Also, I agree with Alan on Toy Story 4. Visually, it’s incredible. But story wise, it just feels like a repeat.

I wanna see a video on Wolf Children. It has a ton of stuff in it to cover from grief, growing up different, choosing your path in life that's different from what your family wanted, accepting those differences and that people want different things in life that may seem unorthodox. At the very least you'll cry like children. Edit: Also read the lyrics to the ending song for added cry factor.

Thanks so much for this episode everyone involved! And particular thanks to Jon for sharing your experience regarding the passing of your mom. I lost two friends very close to me in a car accident in October and I’ve felt kinda trying to explain to people that line of when I do/don’t tell people about it. But it helps to know that it’s a normal thing, and to hear others honest experiences with losing a loved one. My heart aches a little bit watching this video and knowing that I’ve had such close friends and they’re not here any more, but it also healed a little bit. Thank you all so much for that, and for all that you do! I’ve learned so much about film, and the human condition, these last few years because of you guys!!

I am a teacher, and I love to use Disney and Pixar movies for the specific emotional needs of my students. I cracked out Balto during the pandemic, The Lion King and James and the Giant Peach when one of my students had lost their dad, Hercules for persistence and humility, Mulan just because it's my favorite lol. I'm happy to add Toy Storys to the list for friendships.

Jesse might be a good character to talk about if you guys ever tackle abandonment!

One thing I disliked about the fourth movie is that it didn't seem right to separate Buzz from Woody. They'd been through so much together, and it seemed a little out of character to split them up indefinitely.

I love toy story, as a lot of people do, I remember watching toy story three in theaters when I was like 6. I remember the exact moment I saw that they were making a fourth toy story. I loved three and totally agree with Alan, when I walked out of theaters after three I was amazed it felt like the end to an amazing story. When I walked out of theaters after watching four I was underwhelmed. While I understand why four was important for woody’s ark I just felt that the fourth movie was completely unnecessary. When I saw the ad my older self immediately thought “What? Why another one!” The ending didn’t hit as hard because I had already thought that it was over

I felt that Toy Story 4 told a different type of story on what makes life relevant to an individual. It was a journey for Woody to find relevance again after he lost being the leader of the toys. He discovered that being a toy to children in the playground who might not always have toys fulfilled a need he didn't realize he had. He discovered it wasn't being the leader that gave him purpose but bringing joy to the children. I think that this made the loss of the friends more poignant at the end because it was a separation, but also that Woody knew they understood and were happy for him.

Have you ever thought about doing gamora and nebula they have sibling rivalry’s and bad parents making them worse

I totally agree with Alan that the fourth one was totally unnecessary and even undid stuff from the third one! That was exactly how i felt after watching the fourth movie. Also, I 100% agree with Jonathan that the second one was the best. I’ve never felt so validated before 😂

I remember seeing the trailer for the first Toy Story when I was around 5 or 6. My jaw was on the floor because I'd never seen anything like it. Looking back, it's easy to see how basic the first film looks in comparison to Pixar's later films, but everytime I watch Buzz first say 'To infinity and beyond!' before 'falling with style,' I'm instantly transported back to that moment in time where my child mind was blown away.

I'm on Alan's side wrt Toy Story 4. It's gorgeously animated and has great moments, but it didn't feel necessary. It also minimized the rest of the toys and I've heard theories that part of this was to make additional movies easier with a smaller cast (and being able to cut out Tim Allen)

Toy Story 2 is my fave too. The action, the drama, the heartfelt story of Jessy (Jesse?), and I could really follow Woody's decision to go to Japan with them without it feeling out of character. Really an amazing sequel.

Toy Story 4 feels more like a separate art piece to me, Almost like a really well written tech demo in a sense. Almost in a way to show just how far we've come, and doing it with characters we know and love. It almost feels like a love letter to the Toy Story franchise if that makes sense. You can tell a lot of love and passion went into making this simply stunning movie, and I think that's what counts the most

I loved Toy Story 4, but I will admit I did see it before I saw Toy Story 3. The reason why I loved it was because Buzz clearly saw what Woody needed and let his friend go because that was what his friend needed. It was such a beautiful example of friendship. I think it helped that at the time my daughter had classmates that were examples of bad friends - possessive and jealous. I got to use this movie as an example of how a friend will be happy for you when you are happy, even if it means being separated.

The relationships and attachments in the Toy Story movies are really quite unique in storytelling. The idea that as we grow, we change and our attachments to things like Toys or the nostalgia we have for them as adults can really impact how we relate to people in our lives. Although the latter part is mostly only touched upon. TS 2 is definitely my favourite. Jessie's story of being abandoned by her closest friend/human was something that many of us have to deal with: how we learn to move on from a friendship/relationship, especially when there is no closure to be had. It was really amazing to see that portrayed in such a delicate, elegant way in a child's movie. It's why even as an adult, I still come back to these movies.

Can I just say, on the topic of friendships, that Jon and Alan's relationship is just one of the best things ever to me? I know very VERY few people who get to experience the kind of friendship they have. They're so good for eachother and compliment eachother so perfectly. It makes me both jealous and really happy for them. Lol

Oh you guys NEED to talk about Rogue One. I'd love to hear your take on it.

My bestfriend & I watched this together at work. And the way you explained and expressed what a friendship should be.. we just kept looking at each other and nodding.

Alan: "Aw, you're doing THIS to me? Why are you doing this to me?" Jono: "Because the fans demand your tears as a sacrifice." True friendship right there XD The fourth movie gives me mixed feelings. I really liked the humor and overall dialogue in it, especially the bits with Forky (who was just a little too relatable). And visually it was probably the best of the movies. But I still think that Toy Story was best as its original trilogy. Like Alan said, the ending was very, very clearly the ending. And it was the perfect ending. It was beautiful, left whole theatres in tears thinking about the fate of their favorite childhood toys, and then brought it around full circle again. So yeah, while I appreciate the fourth on its own, I think the trilogy would have done just fine without it too.

I really like Johnathan's point about TS4 showing an ending to an era or a pivot from what you identified as. I'm a retired Marine, I have been out for about 5 years now and I've had to make the transformation into something new and different for me and my life. I had to let go of an identity that was a part of me for so long and make a new one for myself. It hasn't been easy and it is still a work in progress but I've found myself again. I've fallen in love with myself again. I think that TS4 shows that that is okay to do and I thin it is important for kids to see and learn about so that they don't have to struggle with it when it happens to them.

Really felt the "your sucess doesn't mean I'm failing." I've been so jealous of my disabled cousin because she lives in her own apartment on disability and doesn't have to work. While I have to live with roommates and carpool just to afford my bills because I make less a month at a full time job than she does on disability. I've resented her because I work so hard and still feel like I'm not any closer to being where I want to be. This year, I've stopped resenting her because I've matured, and while I still have roommates and carpool to work and only keep about two hundred of my 1k a month money, I am in a better headspace than I was a year ago. I have the ability to do things my cousin never will, and while her life may seem easy to me, I understand now that her life isn't easier, it's just different. Now I'm on my way to saving up for a car and an apartment of my own, on top of trying to start a family. I'm moving on in my life in ways my cousin will never be able to. She can't drive or have a family because of her mental handcap and disabilities. She lives on her own, but she still has to have her mom and sisters take care of her, buy her groceries and take her to doctor appointments. I respect my cousin's choice to feel independent in the only way she can, and I don't envy or resent her for being so independent. I've learned to praise her for it.

god when you mentioned that principles of couples therapy also work in friendships? that kinda got me. i had a 'best friend' for over 15 years and I never really examined how much that friendship messed me up until my therapist flat out told me to view it as an abusive relationship minus the romantic aspect. i feel like it's really common for people to consider friendship less important than romance and it is not true. both positively and negatively.

Regarding my thoughts on Toy Story 4, I felt that the rewarding thing at the end for Woody is not only that he gets to be with Bo, but they're spending their days helping other toys find a child to be loved by. They started that with Gabby Gabby, and they've been doing it with other toys that have been lost or sitting on the shelves in fairgrounds forever (because fairground games are practically designed to be unbeatable, so the toys remain unsold). I don't see it as ABANDONING the philosophy of "Life only worth being if being loved by a child", so much as it is a challenge of that philosophy for Woody to discover a new purpose AND he extends that philosophy to other toys that haven't gotten that same opportunity.

With having adored Toy Story 1 and 2 as a kid, them being a big part of my formative years, Toy Story 3 was my own closure because I was Andy. These were my childhood and the finale of 3 was about passing these experiences and joys on to a new generation. So I put off seeing 4 for years because I already had my closure. 4 is a good story, but not my Toy Story.

"There are buddies and there are friends" describes is so perfectly--I definitely have my buddies for hanging out, but I have my friends, and they're the ones who are there through it all

honestly, toy story four is my favorite one. I didn't even know it until you guys started talking about it but I see it in the way jono does. unlearning the things that make you and realizing that you can be anything. I thought that was beautiful

My least favorite thing about Toy Story 4 was actually the upsetting lack of closure in the fact that the whole plot revolves around the fact that Bonnie did not value Woody like Andy did. Woody was Andy’s toy. He was *the* toy that mattered to Andy. Giving him away to Bonnie was HUGE. He wanted Bonnie to have that comfort that he had. But we see her throw him in the closet and never look at him again. All the other toy story’s were about Andy panicking that Woody wasn’t there, and now the closure they want us to hold on to is that Woody is now unwanted and taking his own wanderer path? It’s upsetting to say the least

In Toy Story 3, Andy (and his mom really) had already gotten rid of almost all of his toys anyway. They were either thrown away or sold at a garage sale or donated. They had been losing friends for a long time. I think the Toy Story movies are beautiful because of how they mirror life in that nothing ever stays the same. Most movies have convoluted plots and events that jump start the whole show and none of the events would've happened without the arbitrary (and often extraordinary) precipitating event, but in Toy Story every single plot feels like it is something that could've reasonably happened without an alignment of the stars occurring. In the first, Andy gets a new toy. Totally reasonable, hes still a kid and still gets into new things and gets toys based on those franchises. Makes sense. Toy Story 2, a vintage toy collector goes to yard sales looking to buy something valuable for cheap then mark it up for resale. This is actually extaordinarily common. There are countless people who frequent yard sales and flea markets, always on the prowl for something that is actually very valuable that someone wants to sell for very little just to get rid of it without knowing its real worth or how to capitalize on it. And Toy Story 3 was Andy's mom trying to get rid of his childhood toys to save space because hes a teenager/borderline adult going off to college and he doesn't play with them anymore. That is also reasonable. I had a million toys when I was a kid and I had almost none left by the time I moved out of my parent's house because my mom kind of strategically removed them bit by bit without my noticing over the years when she saw I didn't play with certain toys anymore. Its a very real thing, especially if they want to turn his old bedroom into another room they can use for personal use now that its no longer needed as a personal bedroom. All of it felt very plausible. And the way you lose friends and family over time, while also gaining new ones over time, it all felt very real and very reflective of the human experience. I think Toy Story 4 was a good final movie for the series rather than Toy Story 3 because 3 ended in more of a kid's fantasy story ending that kind of alludes to things like "nothing ever REALLY changes, whats important is still there" or "just stick together and everything will be fine" and things like that, which is how children's movies often end, but it isn't true of the real world. Toy Story 4's ending felt much more genuine to me because sometimes, even when people care about each other, you have to leave each other anyway. It's not always a case of "stay with the group if you are loyal and care about the group" because life is more complicated than that. Sometimes you get pulled apart from other people, sometimes you have to make hard choices that send you down different paths, etc. It is an even more bittersweet ending than 3, but felt real to me. Woody was so loyal and worked so incredibly hard in service to his kid and his kid's other toys for his entire existence. I'd hate to imagine ANYONE having to work that hard and under such stress for eternity until you finally break down to the point of no longer being alive. I am glad that Woody served Andy so loyally and brought him so much happiness, and i'm glad he went to the new kid and made her happy for a while as well. But I feel like Woody earned his retirement. Everything that he had been through, all the struggles and trials of his life, etc, and then he COMPLETED his job. He served his purpose. Andy grew up happy, in part, because of him. Now he could have kept going with another kid and maybe another kid after that and so on, but I think he really earned his rest. He deserves to make that next chapter of his life about him and what he wants and living with the woman he has loved all along and was separated from due to his loyalty to his kid overriding his own desires. He owed it to Andy to stay with him instead of running off with Bo then and there, but after Andy grew up, he is a free man and deserves his own happiness derived from his own goals and wishes rather than being forced to seek validation from an owner. I liked Toy Story 4 and it's message and it's ending. I think it is the best ending for all toys because they can't be played with forever. They're going to slowly break down, get lost, etc over time and just won't last forever. It's better to think at some point they just retire and go off to seek their own adventures and live their own lives.

watching this as I prepare to leave town for one of my dearest friends weddings, as someone who didn't grow up with any real friends, this is making me so thankful for the real friendships I have as an adult. As far as looks, alan is the Woody & Jonathan is the Buzz.

Omg, como persona hispanohablante, no saben cómo adoro que existan los subtitulos en Español en sus vídeos, me hace sentir afortunada de poder entender sus charlas. Esto es tan fresco y bonito, como se meten en el guión, las bromas, el como son tan abiertos con la audiencia... Muchas gracias

I love how Buzz's arc in the first movie teaches us that a small, deep impact makes for just as valuable a life as a wide ranging one. One of the major themes of the series is how you don't have to be a hero to many. Being a hero to a few can be just as fulfilling.

I literally grew up with Toy Story. Andy was depicted as the same age throughout the films as I was. I cried like a baby when I saw TS3. Still stands as my 2nd favorite animated franchise of all time.

I’ve gotta say, I’m with Alan on Toy Story 4. True friendship is filled with love and I think it’s wonderful to see it showcased in this way. I didn’t fully appreciate Toy Story 3 when I first saw it (granted, I was 8-9), but it truly is a beautiful display of the human experience. I’d love to see more on friendship. I often find difficulty in developing them and with communication. Also, I’d love to see something on Mr. Holland’s Opus. There are so many things to examine there and it makes me cry every time. Thanks for another beautiful video!

I like that in toystory 4, it shows the kid's needs and wants. She loved her toys, but did not bond with woody like andy did. And, woody struggled with that. But he found his place where he belonged. Which was the last place he expected it to be. He always assumed he was there for the kids. And now he has a new path.

I actually loved TS4 because I've always felt the "Toy" thing was super applicable to some parents coping with the realization that their kid has outgrown the early, profoundly bonded phase of the relationship when they haven't. What it feels like to be left behind when the kid goes to school, forgotten when they make friends and plans, replaced by mentors, and even to face the golden years. TS3 was about letting the kid move on with their lives, TS4 says it's okay to move onto a new phase in YOUR life. To do something for yourself. Make new friends, find love, start over. Kind of a mid-life crisis-y thing. That beats "the beginning mirrors the end because pattern recognition" any day.

I think both the takes on Toy Story 4 are fair and reasonable. When I heard that another toy story was coming out, I pretty much went in feeling the same way about it "undoing" a lot of what the third movie did. For me it felt like such a perfect ending with the right amount of closure. But when I actually watched TS4, I was overwhelmed with emotion (because Pixar makes sure you're in your feelings by the end). With Toy Story being released in '95, a lot of the people who watched it for the first time are now well into adulthood. And it gave such a powerful message that I felt I needed to hear. Sometimes you really do dedicate most of your life to something and for a while it is what you're "meant" to do. But overtime it's possible for your life, your desires, and your "purpose" to change, which can be extremely scary because you know in order to pursue this new thing, you'll be leaving something else in the process (friends, family, job, etc) . Not sure if you can tell but TS4 won me over pretty hard 😅

I think what's most profound or beautiful about toy story 3 is that choice to not struggle. They were all scared, staring down death, but we always have the choice how we face the inevitable. By holding hands they said, I'm here for you, you don't have to struggle alone, we are in this together. Truly a beautiful moment

13:09 Honestly, one of the lines I love the most from any of the Toy Story movies is Mr. Potato Head's response to Buzz talking about them throwing Woody out the back of the moving truck. "Oh you had to bring that up..." Just that understood feeling of "please don't bring up my past mistakes. I feel bad enough about them without you pointing them out."

It's so good to hear you guys talk about how valuable friendship/platonic love is Lately I've felt like people weren't valuing platonic love anymore, simply because I got oversaturated on seeing romantic love and shipping in media and fandoms, etc and saw some backlash over the idea that a fictional person might not be into romance As someone who isn't into romance at all myself, seeing people get upset that a relationship might be "only" platonic hurt and nearly made me spiral into thinking that maybe people who do experience romantic feelings wouldn't value a friendship with me at all, simply because I wouldn't want anything romantic Wanting to "be MORE than friends" started sounding to me like "What we have is worthless unless you let me kiss you on the mouth" and even though I luckily don't have anyone who'd be interested in a romantic relationship with me rn, thinking about this possibly being how most people felt about platonic vs romantic relationships put me in a bit of a funk That's why I'm so happy to see this video now talking about how important good, platonic friendships are and what it actually means to have a good, platonic friendship

I think it would be really cool to explore Sherlock Holmes and John Watson’s relationship in the “Sherlock” TV show. Their friendship goes through some pretty big rough patches and the way they get through it is very interesting and different from a lot of mainstream friendships. There’s also a lot to talk about both Sherlock’s high functioning sociopathic functioning and John Watsons psyche being affected by his time in the military. I’d love to see what you guys have to say about them :)

Toy story 4... I haven't cried that much in a decade. I love this movie to no ends!

I agree with his stance on the fourth movie, but I'd like to give a little nugget of opinion on *HOW* it could have been redeemed! Okay so first, I'm completely understanding of Alan's statement that the fourth film felt like they undid a lot of things that the third wrapped up beautifully. That being said, Woody leaving with Bo Peep *could* have very easily been satisfying if we were given the proper buildup for this. We've watched as Woody has grown as a character, leading his fellow toys to take care of children who need them, so it makes sense that his new role could be helping toys in need find the children who need them in turn, but I think him handing off as lead toy in a different way could have really made this so much better. I'll come out and say it. He should have made Jesse lead toy! We even see in the movie he's being played with less in favor of her, she's clearly got a leader personality, and Buzz already respects and follows her lead! Her going from a supporting character role to the main would have been SUCH a satisfying handoff! Also, I am one of many folks who believe that the way this film handled Buzz was absolutely devastating. I don't know what the character did to recieve the amount of hate and butt-off-the-joke treatment from the writers, but it completely ruined his entire impact in the final film. Buzz is smart, capable, charming, daring, and loyal! He isn't a dimwhitted meathead like they make him out to be in the last movie! TLDR; The last movie had potential, but it felt more like a spinoff straight to DVD film than a finale to an era.

I’m definitely with Alan about Toy Story 4. It’s a good movie and the story beats it covers are very interesting, but it does feel like it undoes a lot of what the first three movies established. I think the biggest culprit was Woody contemplating leaving Andy during the opening scene, planting the idea that post-movie 2, Woody already had the temptation not to be a toy anymore, leave his friends behind, and just stay with his girlfriend. And this just doesn’t align with anything that happens in TS3. If that scene had been handled differently, showing Woody still wholly devoted to Andy, which will shift once he’s not with Andy anymore, then it wouldn’t have felt so jarring, imo. Also, Toy Story 2 is definitely the best of them, in my opinion. The characters go through different arcs, we see Buzz taking charge and offering Woody the sage advice this time; Woody brings his new friends along rather than leaving them alone again. And Stinky Pete works well as an antagonistic force that you might not see coming at first, but you see so many hints on rewatch. It’s really well done.

My favorite Woody and Buzz moment was in the second movie when Buzz is trying to get Woody to go back with them, even directly quoting him. His line of, "Somewhere in that stuffing is a toy that told me that life's not worth living if you're not loved by a kid. And I came all this way to save that toy because I BELIEVED him" has so much kick because it was delivered with a fairly straight tone but you can tell he's at his most desperate. And BUZZ calling him out on that was what made Woody snap out of it. Because we all have that person who...we know we screwed up if they're disappointed in us. A friend, family member, a partner, their opinion means the world to us and the worst thing that could happen is feeling like we let them down.

You guys are just like me and my sister. She works in medicine and I'm an artist and writer, so we view things and compare things from a scientific perspective and an artistic perspective, respectively, and it's always different but complementary. And then we start singing the same wrong words to the same exact song, just like you two and A Whole New Jonno. It's beautiful. I love you guys. Thanks, Internet Bros!!!

Who else KNEW the incinerated scene would be here? That’s literally all I can say. That scene is, without question, one of the greatest moments Pixar has ever put on screen. Acceptance of death, together. It’s not happy, it’s not uplifting, but it’s genuine and true and powerful. I remember seeing that in theatres and just… there were no words.

Truthfully, I love how each of you have/embody/cherish components of both characters and I think that helps a lot with maintaining your friendship. Someone knows when they need to be Buzz in a regard and the other needs to be Woody and the other way around. I think that is a huge strength and why you'll continue to have such a strong friendship for a long, long time to come. :)

My longest friendship is also 17 years, and I'm 29, one of my most trusted friendships is a decade old, I am grateful for both.

I saw Toy Story 4 as the story of what it's like to become an adult, or, perhaps, what it's like to be a parent whose children have grown up and no longer depend on you so thoroughly as they once did. Woody put so much of himself into being a great toy for the children in his life. But...who is he *besides* a surrogate parent? What does *he* want out of life, for himself? These are questions I feel like he'd never really considered until finding Bo Peep again. The overarching question this movie asks is "what happens after the task you poured your heart and soul into is complete?" As someone who has recently been estranged from a family that no longer has any use for me, Toy Story 4 hit me really hard. I very much am a lost toy. Sometimes it's scary and painful and harrowing to figure out who I am without the thing/people who dominated so much of my existence. But...there's also a beautiful sort of freedom in it. Not all who wander are lost.

Seeing that Alan was not afraid to cry during the incinerator scene made me admire him even more than I already did.

David Sant deserves a pay rise after the "or is it" joke. Well done to everyone involved in Cinema Therapy, thanks Jonno and Alan for being such funny internet dads.

I would love to see them watch and talk about Avatar: The Last Airbender. It’s an amazing show and it talks about a lot of heavy and difficult topics.

I heard that there was a tear jerking bit in 3. They're all about to die and I'm all like, "I that it!"...then Andy goes to College and gives his toys - his childhood - away... For a generation who were in College when the first film came out, now sending our own children off into adulthood, that was a tear jerking moment. Toy Story 4 was all like, "Meh, watch once".

It's your friendship that made me cry. You're so beautiful together. 😭

With Toy Story 4, I feel like there was this whole trend with realism and friendships growing apart, etc in family films. It happened in How to Train your Dragon, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and this film. I definitely feel like a bittersweet ending to such exciting and happy films just kind of ruins the escapism that people show up to these films for. EDIT: This was also done in Frozen 2.

I was very opposed to Toy Story 4 when it was originally announced becuase the ending of 3 felt so perfect, but once it came out it was a lot of fun and I really loved the message. Its not a perfect film and there are elements I wish got more or less attention (I do really wish there was more Buzz and Woody for example), but I loved Woodys journey and I loved the ending. Like the end of Monsters University, I love stories where characters find happiness and fulfilment and get what they want/need in ways or places they didn't expect, I feel that's a message that is always worth repeating. So I'm glad it was made! I would also absolutely love a reunion film where they get to hang out for a while, though I have no idea what kind of story it would tell 😆

My take on Toy Story 4: wonderful and incredibly additive to the overall story, but structurally uncommon as a piece of a greater series. TS3 is, as Alan pointed out, clearly the fulfillment of the arc of Andy and his toys, and it's the end of a traditional trilogy of films. TS4 totally breaks our cultural norm of multi-movie series coming in threes, which is definitely weird-it admittedly becomes even weirder when you consider how tightly TS3 wraps up the structure of the first 3 films. However, I think both TS3 and TS4 are necessary for the full completion of the story, because TS3 completes the arc of the toys with Andy, but TS4 completes Woody's arc in a way its predecessor just doesn't. Woody's able, at the end of TS3, to let go of being Andy's toy, but he's not able to let go of being a caretaker yet, which is all he has left to define himself by after being passed to Bonnie. Until seeing TS4, I didn't realize he still had to grow out of that, and that's what that movie does.

Thinking about it now knowing that Toy Story was the first feature length fully 3D animated movie and the legacy Pixar would go on to leave, "To Infinity And Beyond" really was a mission statement for the studio.

I'm Iranian and back when I was a kid, VCRs were illegal until CDs came and everything became legal more than 20 years ago. I have missed watching a couple of movies because of that but this movie along with Neverending story made my childhood magical. ♥️✨ I'm glad children can watch whatever they want now

Jonothan, thank you for sharing how you still have to work on your marriage. As someone who is trying to be a good father and husband, It's encouraging to know that even the "brightest examples" i look to for inspiration have to work hard to be the people they want to be for the ones they love. =)

I wanna hug him so hard every time he cries....💗💗💗💗 you are such a precious person Allan we love you

I'll admit Toy Story 4 feels slightly tacked on, but not necessarily in a bad way. I loved finding out what happened to Bo Peep, who was always my favorite, and I've always related a lot to Forky, especially when the movie came out. Also, as an art nerd who wanted to be an animator at one point, the detailing is INSANE in this movie.

As a romantic, I LOVED where Toy Story 4 went with the story. I think the end where where Woody decides to stay with Bo Peep is powerful and very well done. The look on Bo Peep's face when she realizes that the man she loves is choosing her is spot on. I felt my heart swell when I saw the look on her face as I know that will be the look on my face someday. She's tough, strong, independent and smart, but that doesn't mean she doesn't desire love. It's like you guys said, everybody wants love. Everybody needs it. Forget Twilight folks, this is a REAL love story! So many amazing points to be made and not enough room to type them...