Being there for a child is the most noble thing a toy can do.
– Woody (Tom Hanks)
Contains mild spoilers.
On the way out of a densely packed theatre, in the early evening on a Sunday night, surrounded by the excited chatter of men, women and children of all ages, families and couples, one man’s voice rose above the rest. He had a rough beard and a large frame but a strikingly solemn tone, with a streak of sadness in it as he turned to his children and said, “It’s sad you know. It’s like the end of a generation.” It surprised me at first to see such a big guy being so affected by such a film but, in a way, he couldn’t be closer to the truth.
The Toy Story series has transcended boundaries, crossed generations while simultaneously linking them all together: the sheer range of ages and backgrounds of those attending this screening being a testament to such. Definitely for me, and almost certainly for you, Toy Story was an integral aspect of my upbringing, it was one of those films that comes to define your childhood, along with Finding Nemo and the other Disney classics that we all grew up on.
So, perhaps, that’s why this is so emotionally affecting, so powerful to say goodbye to these characters that we have grown up alongside, coming of age as they themselves mature and develop over the course of the cinematic narrative. Indeed, the ‘coming of age’ of Woody and the other toys are a perfect allegory for life. In the way that we see him give physical parts of himself away, to better others, in his parenting of ‘Forky’ and his eventual departure, we see our own lives and the lives of those around us reflected. From our parents who have given so much of themselves to better us, to those older brothers and sisters who we know must leave home one day to the strangers who do kind deeds to simply make the world a better place. And although this is the fitting conclusion to this ‘generation’, it’s not the end. Not really. Because all around the world, there are millions of ‘toy stories’ waiting to happen, built upon the same limitless childlike imagination that these fantasy worlds have been created; so, while the journey is over and although they are static, frozen in time, in the end, the legacy that has been created will continue to transcend further and further, continuing to inspire and fuel imaginations, old and young, for years to come.
And to that I say,
To infinity and beyond!
G A Z E 