Toys To Life

Toys To Life is a 2020 American 3D computer animated comedy drama film produced by Blue Sky Studios, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film features the voices of Owen Laramore, Jenny Slate, Will Arnett, Idina Menzel, Catherine O'Hara, Nick Frost, Drew Barrymore, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Ella Anderson, Ellen Page, Sarah Vowell, Warwick Davis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jim Cummings, Benedict Wong, Chris Wedge, Dan Aykroyd and Annie Potts. The film was first intended as a 20th Century Fox distributed film, but after Disney's acquisition of Fox, Blue Sky decided to hire Walt Disney Pictures to do the final computer animation. John Powell, who composed his eight prior Blue Sky films, returned to compose his ninth. This was also the third and final film to be produced by former Disney CEO Bob Iger before his departure from Disney in 2021, respectively.

Though primarily an animated film, Toys To Life does feature live-action humans in the New Exhibit sequence. The film was released theatrically on July 12, 2020, and was a box-office success, becoming the first Blue Sky Studios film to gross $1 billion in global box-office earnings at the time of its theatrical run. It was the second Blue Sky film to be distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, after Spies In Disguise. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature. It  even won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film, but lost to Seatropilis.

It is the first installment in the Toys To Life franchise. Three sequels, Toys To Life 2, Toys To Life 3, and Toys To Life 4, were released on March 25, 2023, March 9, 2026, and March 17, 2029.

Plot
John is a fellow who is a director of the Toytown Museum. Every day, he would go to work at opening time. His troopers, Ian, Tina, Ouch, Age, Rage, Page, and Cage, Ribbit, and Robone are his assistants. His fans are Little Spence, Mousey, and Mamo. His best friend is Murray, who is king of Toytown. He knows John will be king one day. One day after work, a giant cat named Chalk attacks Toytown, seriously destroying one of the exhibits and killing Murray.

All of Toytown mourns for Murray's loss. At a restaurant, John and his troopers come up with a plan to replace the old exhibit with a new one. They take a plane to the human world to get one. Accompanied by an angel figurine named Anji, they return to Toytown, they celebrate the new exhibit, but John's enemy, Snake, interrupts the party and accuses John of causing the danger. Mamo begs John to quit museum work for his own safety. When John refuses, Snake firms her resolve and orders him to leave.

Later, after encountering a color worm named Ken who accompanies them, John gets a chance to get the king's crown, but bumps into Snake. They argue over Murray's death and the exhibit, and Snake leaves. The next thing he knows, when he tries to say he is about to become king, the Toytown citizens (except Little Spence, Mousey, and the Red Monkeys) refuse. Little Spence longs for John to come back, but Mamo holds her child back from him, saying that he is not allowed to be in Toytown anymore. Discouraged, John gives up, but his troopers tell him that being king of Toytown is important to him, restoring his confidence to become the new king in place of Murray and save Toytown. Snake spies on them and rounds up all the citizens of Toytown to fight John, saying that his actions will lead to death. They corner John and his troopers, saying that he can escape from being in trouble by renouncing the exhibit.

John confesses that he is trying to become king, turning the Toytown citizens against Snake by pushing her into the dumpster. They start to run away, but Snake quickly pulls John into the dumpster with her, resulting John's troopers to follow them, and they are all emptied into a trash compactor. Mousey, Mamo, and Little Spence follow the truck to rescue their friends.

At the Toytown Landfill, John and his troopers are headed toward a garbage shredder. John rescues Snake, but then they see a light (witch Ouch thinks is daylight), but the light is revealed to be an incinerator. Snake climbs to push the button, but changes her mind, and leaves them there. When John and his troopers come closer to the fire, Mamo, Little Spence, and Mousey rescue them. Snake is sent to prison, and John becomes the new king, saving Toytown. The film ends with John, Ian, Tina, Ouch, Age, Rage, Cage and Page, Ribbit, Robone, Mousey, Mamo, Little Spence, Unicorn Duck, PEZ Bunny, Ken, and Anji singing a parody of "Turkey In The Straw", and with the camera zooming out to the view of Toytown.

Main Cast
Owen Laramore as John, a toy human action figure who is the director of the Toytown Museum and king of Toytown. When looking for voice actors for John, the team listened to a Disney In The House episode with him as Mayor Broderick, and, according to Wedge, though it sounded pretty neat.

Jenny Slate as Snake, a Bionicle who is John's arch-nemesis. The plan to have Snake as male was cancelled and worked out better as a female for comedic effect by listening to the lends into Slate's voice.

Jimmy Fallon as Murray, John's late best friend who gets killed by a real life cat. Wedge met Fallon and asked if he would be interested in the voice of Murray. Fallon was delighted and signed on to the cast.

Will Arnett as Ian, a toy lion who is one of John's troopers. Leonardo DiCaprio was originally announced as the voice of the character, but dropped out due to being panned for his re-dubbed lines in the test screening, and was briefly replaced with Arnett.

Idina Menzel as Tina, a toy train who is one of John's troopers. When they heard her voice on Broadway "Let It Go" on Frozen, they asked her if she would be the voice of Tina. Menzel was very impressed and went on into the voice of her toy train character.

Catherine O'Hara as Ouch, a giant Tsum Tsum-like penguin plush who is one of John's troopers. Lucy Liu was considered for the role, but left the project, being replaced by O'Hara.

Nick Frost as Rage, Cage, Age, and Page, four yellow Let's Go Fishin' fishes who are part of John's team. Frost became the film's notable actor for the way he provided the voices for four fishes.

Drew Barrymore as Ribbit, a toy frog who is one of John's troopers. Sophie Turner, Dua Lipa, and Katherine McNamara were originally selected for the part, but their voices sounded a little too teenager-oriented, and Barrymore took over the role.

James Corden as Robone, a leaping toy robot dog who is one of John's troopers. In an interview of "The Late Late Show", Wedge knew that Corden's voice sounded pretty beautiful.

Sarah Vowell as Mousey, a small Ty beanie plush who is close neighbors with Mamo and Little Spence. Vowell's character was originally meant to be named Mini Worker, but that rumor was scrapped, and the character worked out better as a tiny TY Beanie baby elephant named Mousey for more comedic effect.

Ellen Page as Mamo, a toy Tonka truck who is Little Spence's mom.

Ella Anderson as Little Spence, a small toy Tonka truck who is Mamo's daughter.

Warwick Davis as Ken the Color Worm, a snake-like toy made of snap beads who is a citizen of Toytown. To record his lines, Davis recorded his snake-like voice of the character by providing real-life snake slithers.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Ronald, sergeant of his commando unit of four Red Monkeys.

Jim Cummings as Krasinski, one of Ronald's four Red Monkeys.

Benedict Wong as Brad, one of Ronald's four Red Monkeys.

Chris Wedge as Creeko, one of Ronald's four Red Monkeys.

Annie Potts as Anji, a angel figurine who accompanies John and his troopers.

Dan Aykroyd as Chalk, a giant cat and Anji's nemesis that kills Murray.

Paige O'Hara as Unicorn Duck, a citizen of Toytown.

Campbell Scott as White the PEZ Bunny, a citizen of Toytown. His name, "White", is never mentioned in the film.

Adam Scott as Alien 1#, one the Bendable Aliens.

Vanessa Williams as Alien 2#, one of the Bendable Aliens.

Martin Short as Alien 3#, one of the Bendable Aliens.

Jay Leno as Alien 4#, one of the Bendable Aliens.

Rupert Everett as Diver, a citizen of Toytown.

Janelle Monae as Dr. Hippo, a citizen of Toytown.

John DiMaggio as a construction worker who is a citizen of Toytown.

Rachel McAdams as Pillow Dragon, a citizen of Toytown.

Tony Cox as Dragon and Vacuum Truck, two citizens of Toytown.

Josh Dallas as Plush Dog, a citizen of Toytown.

Fred Tatasciore as Bouncy Shark, a citizen of Toytown

Bill Farmer as Orange Ninja, a citizen of Toytown.

Home Media
Toys To Life was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 2, 2020.

Production
In 2015, Blue Sky Studios had ideas about a movie about toys in a place called Toytown. On December 25, 2018, Chris Wedge served to direct the film, and after Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in March 2019, Blue Sky decided to hire Walt Disney Pictures to co-produce the film as well as complete the final computer animation. In May 2019, Bob Iger and John C. Donkin became the producers. Just after 20th Century Fox's purchase by Disney, William Reeves served as editor. On November 30, 2019, Laramore revealed to Blue Sky Studios that the film will be an story of adventure, romance, and harmony.

Writing
To design the cat that kills Murray, the animators had to design its fur, similar to how they design Scrat in the Ice Age films. Although primarily an animated film, it does have the human world as a live-action sequence. Also, there was an scrapped scene where two ladies get mad with him for Murray's death, and John says, "I'd like to see you dump a penny in this cup of water and see what happens." One lady just turns away and then the other kicks him in the groin. This was cancelled because it was not suitable for children and could have gotten the film a PG-13 rating. Other innuendos with John were also cut from the film.

Release
The film was scheduled for September 6, 2020, but was moved to July 12th of that same year due to being ahead of schedule.

Sequels
Three sequels, Toys To Life 2, Toys To Life 3, and Toys To Life 4 were released on March 25, 2023, March 9, 2026, and March 17, 2029, respectively.

Holiday Specials
Four holiday specials, Toys To Life: A Toytown Christmas, Toys To Life: Happy Easter, Toys To Life: Valentine's Day, and Toys To Life: Happy Halloween were released on December 19, 2020, April 27, 2021, February 1, 2022, and October 12, 2022.

Music
All tracks by John Powell. John Debney was originally going to compose, but Powell took over due to Debney going to score Stellaluna instead.

Soundtrack
"Dancing to Myself" - Billy Idol

"Jump In The Line" - Owen Laramore and the Toytown Museum chorus

"Turkey In The Straw" - Owen Laramore, Will Arnett, Idina Menzel, Catherine O'Hara, Nick Frost, Drew Barrymore, James Corden, Sarah Vowell, Lane Styles, Ellen Page, Warwick Davis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jim Cummings, Benedict Wong, and Chris Wedge

"Morning At The ToyTown Museum" - John Powell

"Cat" - John Powell

"Murray's Death" - John Powell

"The New Exhibit" - John Powell

"Take Off" - John Powell

"Cross The Street" - John Powell

"John Returns" - John Powell

"Exile" - John Powell

"Ken The Color Worm" - John Powell

"John The Murderer" - John Powell

"Sad John" - John Powell

"The Angry Mob" - John Powell

"Trash Shredder" - John Powell

"Furnace" - John Powell

"King John" - John Powell