A video uploaded this week provided a new tragic but possibly legitimate theory about “Toy Story” to make fans weep. Did Andy’s father die shortly before the tale began and pass all his toys to his only son?
Toy Story” co-writer Andrew Stanton took to the internet to debunk that story, calling it “complete and utter fake news” on Twitter.
“Nothing to see here, folks,” he wrote. “#Iwasthere”
https://twitter.com/andrewstanton/status/878729189540728832
According to the video below featuring a long interview with Mike Mozart, a toy collector and reviewer on YouTube, Pixar’s Head Writer Joe Ranft revealed the secrets about Andy’s father’s whereabouts. Mozart said he was a consultant on the first “Toy Story” and that Ranft was his friend.
Ranft died in 2005 at the age of 45 after a car he was in lost control, so this story unfortunately can’t be corroborated.
The theory goes like this: Andy’s father was also named Andy and was the original owner of Woody.
The reason Woody is so rare (as evidenced by “Toy Story 2″) is that Andy Sr. received it as a promotion from a cereal company but because the show it was based on got canceled, it was never mass produced.
Anyway, Andy Sr. contracted polio so all of his toys were destroyed except for three: Woody, Mr. Potato Head and Slinky. He recovered and later went on to marry Andy Jr.’s mom but unfortunately died later from Post-Polio Syndrome, passing down the toys to his son.
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In the first film, the family is still living in Andy Sr.’s childhood home. That’s why when you see the photos hanging above the stairs, you see a child that looks a lot like Andy but with glasses. That isn’t the Andy we know, but his father.
The “Toy Story” franchise is full of these tragic story theories. Another one postulates that Andy’s mom — who’s never given a name — is actually Emily, the original owner of Jessie who grew up and discarded her. This theory is evidenced by how Andy’s cowboy hat isn’t actually a Woody hat, but a Jessie one.
Whatever you think of these theories and how they might actually relate to the franchise, you can admit that most of them — the reasonable ones anyway — have the evidence to back it up.