Toys To Life

Toys To Life is a 2020 computer-animated comedy drama film produced by Blue Sky Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under the 20th Century Fox banner. The film stars the voices of Owen Laramore, Will Arnett, Idina Menzel, Catherine O'Hara, Nick Frost, Drew Barrymore, and James Corden. John Powell, who composed his nine prior Blue Sky films, returned to compose his tenth. The plot follows John and his troopers find a new exhibit and save the Toytown Museum.

Released theatrically on August 27, 2020, the film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $903, million by the end of its initial theatrical run.

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 cat 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. Once 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 good, but he refuses, and Snake exiles him and his troopers out of Toytown never to come back.

Later, after encountering Ken the color worm, 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 and Mousey) 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. After they encounter Ken The Color Worm again, 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. John and his troopers are close to their fate and prepare for their deaths, but 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, and Ken the color worm 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 Welch, 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. Welch 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", Welch 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.

Lane Styles 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.

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.
 * Non-speaking characters include the cat that kills Murray, wooden planes, and Little People. The cat's meows and grunts were all provided by Frank Welker who was not credited in the film.

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, November 29, 2015, It was scheduled to be released on July 12, 2019. However, on March 8, 2016, it was pushed to January 21, 2020, but five weeks later, the release date was changed to August 27, 2020. In December 23, 2016, the plot focusing on John and his troopers saving the Toytown Museum was written by Michael Berg, Michael J. Wilson, and Peter Ackerman. John Debney originally was the composer, but he was replaced by John Powell. On September 2017, Laramore, Arnett, Menzel, Slate, Styles, Page, Fallon, Frost, Barrymore, Corden, Davis, and Levitt signed in for their roles the same time when production began. Vowell came and played a construction worker action figure who was later turned into a small Beanie Baby elephant named Mousey. On January 2018, Edie McClurg was sent to voice Ouch, but later dropped out and was replaced by Lucy Liu. Unfortunately, Liu left the film due to "creative differences". Liu was replaced by Catherine O' Hara. On December 25, 2018, Michael Thurmeier served to direct the film. In May 2019, Lori Forte and John C. Donkin became the producers. Just after 20th Century Fox's purchase by Disney, Tim Nordquist and William Reeves served as editors. On November 30, 2019, Laramore revealed to Blue Sky Studios that the film will be an story of adventure, romance, and harmony. In November 22, 2019, the first trailer was released, debuting with "Frozen 2". The second trailer was released on January 7, 2020. A final trailer was released on May 19, 2020.

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

Holiday Specials
Four holiday speicals, 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.

Soundtrack
All tracks by John Powell

"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, Paige O'Hara, and Campbell Scott

"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

MPAA Rating
The film was rated PG by the MPAA for some adventure action.