How Pixar Sold Tom Hanks On The Idea For Toy Story

In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Tom Hanks spoke about the development of the first “Toy Story” film and how seeing his voice paired with a rough animatic gave him faith in the project:

“They took a line from a movie I made for Disney called ‘Turner and Hooch’ in which I was yelling at a dog and they animated Woody to that line, and it was on a loop, they did it again and again.”

Seeing your voice bring a CG animated character alive must be a surreal experience. Seeing the potential in using this newly burgeoning style of animation to tell a story convinced Tom Hanks to join “Toy Story.” Hanks continued:

“There were two things about it. One: it was like, I’m not sure what this is. The computer-generated animation itself had a look that was hyperreal, you know, but then also the marriage of the outraged voice of mine inside this outraged body of a toy was – I mean, it was just undeniably great. So I was in from the get-go. They invited me over to sort of explain this odd unknown quantity of something that may or may not work. And I said, ‘Well, it looks fine to me. Let’s do it!’ And thus it began.”