16 Rejected Titles for Toy Story
08.24.11Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich recently took to his Twitter account, and, on a rare break from vivid descriptions of dumps he just took (TMI, Unkrich! God!), shared some of the titles that got thrown around at Pixar before they eventually settled on Toy Story. He said there had been an open call to studio employees, eventually amassing more than 200 suggestions. Here are 16 of the rejects Unkrich says he selected at random:
- The New Toy
- Made in Taiwan
- Moving Buddies
- To Infinity and Beyond
- Wind-Up Heroes
- The Cowboy & The Spaceman
- Spurs & Rockets
- Bring Me The Arm of Buzz Lightyear
- Wind the Frog
- Rex’s First Movie
- For the Love of Peep
- Toyz in the Hood
- Each Sold Separately
- Wings & Pullstrings
- Some Assembly Required
- The Favorite
Out of these, I’d say “To Infinity and Beyond” isn’t bad, and “The Favorite” makes sense, though it isn’t very evocative. Toy Story certainly seems like the correct choice. If Bruckheimer was producing, it definitely would’ve been “Toyz in the Hood.” It makes you wonder if other titles, like, say, “Knight and Day” also beat out 199 other suggestions. And if so, what could’ve been worse than Knight and Day? Root Canals and Child Porn? Crazy ‘Bout Hitler? Discuss.


Batshit and Insufferable would’ve been a very accurate title for Knight and Day.
‘TOO MANY JEWS’ was the working title for KNOCKED UP.
Wings and Pullstrings sounds like the title of an Always feminine hygiene commercial.
I worked at Sega when they were developing the game ‘Ecco: the Dolphin’, and they had a similar ask-the-employees name search. My rejected entries were:
- A Porpoise with a Purpose
- Does This Tuna Taste Funny to You?
‘Knight and Day’ was almost called ‘Mrs. and Mrs. Smith’
Root Canals and Child Porn? Summertime! Summertime!
I always like to imagine Jessie the cowgirl finding Andy’s mom’s vibrator and riding it like Slim Pickens from Dr. Stranglove.
That kid on the right looks just like a white Kenan Thompson.
I’d just assumed Knight and Day was a remake of Turner and Hooch.
The whole list sound like metaphors for something else. Moving Buddies sounds like gay porn.
If you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta go wind the frog.
Miniman & Skeletor