Toy Story 3 is our final episode in the re-watch portion of our Pixar Series. Now we’re officially ready to take in Toy Story 4, and we couldn’t ask for a better prequel to set us up. Woody, Buzz, & the gang have one of the most harrowing adventures EVER, never mind in an animated film.

A Special MMO Thank You - 2:00

What is a Pixar Re-Watch Episode? - 3:10

NON-SPOILER SECTION

Cast and Crew - 4:55

How Pixar Got Here - 10:31

Production Nuggets - 14:10

Movie Specs - 15:17

Plot Premises/Expectations - 21:42

Production Values:

Sight - 23:57

Sound - 28:20

Performances - 30:15

Script Thoughts/Oscars Discussion - 35:12

Spoiler Warning - 39:17

SPOILER-FILLED SECTION

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Screenwriting No. 20 - 40:47

(Is it Sid? - 43:31)

Scenes of Heartbreak + Heart Warming- 48:40

(Including the World’s Cruelest Prank - 51:40)

Happy Pills + Highlights - 56:05

Issues and Lowlights (Sorta) - 59:46

Our Socials/Your Homework - 1:02:24

What’s Next/Words of Wisdom - 1:03:01

Toy Story 3 is one of the best films we’ve ever reviewed on the podcast. But we don’t just gush over it’s many strengths. This is a study, it’s a deep dive, and we break things down. There’s a History of the Pixar Company segment where we discuss how Pixar freed itself up to make the sequel it wanted. Then we also dissect the 22 Rules of Storytelling according to Pixar, and how the film embraced and triumphantly fulfilled so many structural fundamentals of screenwriting. The result? It was Quentin Tarantino’s favorite film of that year, as well as a 5 time Oscar Nominee & 2 time winner for Best Animated Feature & Original Song.

As usual, we have a ton of anecdotes on the making of the film worked into the review, even after we discuss some of the production backstory in the opening segments. In our non-spoiler section, we share our thoughts on the performances, script, & production values, and of course, we discuss them in terms of an Oscar Lens. Then in spoilers, we begin with an examination of Rule 20 of the 22 Rules of Pixar Storytelling, and we follow that up with a quick explanation on how the fits some of the hallmarks of the Hero’s Journey & other screenwriting paradigms. To finish up, we dive into the great many scenes of heartbreak & happiness, highlighting our many bests and so few worsts that proves Toy Story 3 to be one of our favorites in this or any franchise.

If you enjoyed this episode, it’s now our 18th episode posted in our The Films Of Pixar playlist on Soundcloud, and it’s technically our 15th installment in this new series. Though as a few bonus shows, we’ve also done two Best Original Song category reviews covering Coco’s win in 2017/18 for “Remember Me,” and Toy Story’s tough loss in 1995/96 for “You’ve Got A Friend In Me,” and we also included our Oscars Sprint Profile for The Incredibles 2 from last year. But we’re not done yet. The main event is almost here as we’ll have a Toy Story 4 review for you by this weekend, and we’ll also put a bow on the series with a re-rank episode of some kind. Heck, we might even do a Pixar Awards Show to highlight our favorite episodes of the series.

As always, we want to know what you think of Toy Story 3. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & listen to us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you listen to podcasts. When reality sucks, keep watching movies with us. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar!