Toys To Life

Toys To Life is a 2020 film produced by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios. It will be released on August 27, 2020 with the voices of Owen Laramore, Jenny Slate, Jimmy Fallon, Will Arnett, Idina Menzel, Catherine O'Hara, Nick Frost, Drew Barrymore, James Corden, Sarah Vowell, Lane Styles, and Ellen Page. The film has a score by James Newton Howard. The plot follows John and his troopers find a new exhibit and save the Toytown Museum.

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 putting Murray in 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, but 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 "Live Let Live", and with the camera zooming out to the view of Toytown.

Main Cast
Owen Laramore as John

Jenny Slate as Snake

Jimmy Fallon as Murray

Will Arnett as Ian

Idina Menzel as Tina

Catherine O'Hara as Ouch

Nick Frost as Rage, Cage, Age, and Page

Drew Barrymore as Ribbit

James Corden as Robone

Sarah Vowell as Mousey

Ellen Page as Mamo

Lane Styles as Little Spence

Warwick Davis as Ken the Color Worm

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Red Monkey Leader

Paige O' Hara as Unicorn Duck

Campbell Scott as White the PEZ Bunny

Adam Scott as Alien 1#

Vanessa Williams as Alien 2#

Martin Short as Alien 3#

Jay Leno as Alien 4#

Rupert Everett as Diver

Elle Fanning as Tress the Plane

Janelle Monae as Dr. Hippo

John DiMaggio as Matt the construction worker

Chris Wedge as a real cat

Lori Forte as Pillow Dragon

Tim Nordquist as Dragon and Vacuum Truck

Michael Thurmeier as Plush Dog

John C. Donkin as Bouncy Shark

Carlos Alazraqui, Billy West, Carlos Saldanha, and Jeff Bennett as Red Monkeys

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 James Newton Howard. 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. On June 12, 2019, 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.

Outtakes
Three days before the film's release, producer Lori Forte planned outtakes that will play during the end credits. Three weeks after the film's debut, the filmmakers included a second set because of how popular they were.

Soundtrack
"Never Gonna Give You Up" - Owen Laramore

"Dancing to Myself" - Billy Idol

"Shake Shake Senora" - Owen Laramore and the Toytown Museum chorus

"Live Let Live" - 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" - James Newton Howard

"Cat" - James Newton Howard

"Murray's Death" - James Newton Howard

"The New Exhibit" - James Newton Howard

"Take Off" - James Newton Howard

"Cross The Street" - James Newton Howard

"John Returns" - James Newton Howard

"Exile" - James Newton Howard

"Ken The Color Worm" - James Newton Howard

"John The Murderer" - James Newton Howard

"Sad John" - James Newton Howard

"The Angry Mob" - James Newton Howard

"Trash Shredder" - James Newton Howard

"Furnace" - James Newton Howard

"King John" - James Newton Howard