Sheriff Woody Pride is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Toy Story franchise created by Pixar. He is voiced by Tom Hanks in all of the feature-length and short films and by Jim Hanks in video games and shorts. He is portrayed as a stuffed cowboy who leads the other toys on adventures in the movies. His facial features are based on Tone Thyne, a former Disney animator.
Appearances
Toy Story
In the first film of the franchise, Woody is depicted as being Andy's favorite toy and the leader of Andy's room, including all the other toys in his possession. However, his position is jeopardized by the arrival of Buzz Lightyear, an astronaut action figure given as a birthday present to Andy, who is convinced that he is an actual space ranger. Jealous, Woody uses Buzz's belief that he is a space ranger against him to try to knock him out of sight, in hopes of retaining his status as Andy's favorite toy; Buzz instead falls out the open window and Mr. Potato Head and the other toys accuse Woody of getting rid of Buzz on purpose, despite his attempt to convince them it was just an accident.
Woody's plan initially proves effective, as Andy brings him on the car ride to the pizza establishment "Pizza Planet"; however, he encounters the antagonized Buzz, who had climbed onto the bumper while the van was pulling out of the driveway and entered through the open sunroof while it stopped at a gas station, Buzz then pushes Woody out of the van in order to get revenge for what Woody had done to him and then they fight. As a result, they both wind up getting left behind, but hitch a ride to Pizza Planet aboard a delivery truck. While Woody tries to reunite himself and Buzz with Andy, Buzz wanders off toward a rocket shaped claw machine much to Woody's dismay. They both wind up as prizes inside the machine and are snatched by Andy's malicious neighbor Sid, who is notorious for abusing, destroying, and generally mistreating toys. With Andy's family about to move to a new house, Woody is frantic to plan an escape and encounters all of the toys monstrously reconstructed by Sid, where he discovers that they actually prove quite friendly and hospitable. As the movie carries on, Woody and Buzz gradually form a bond, Buzz making the realization that he is an action figure and nothing more. When Sid plans to blow Buzz to bits using a firework rocket, Woody devises a rescue mission enlisting assistance from the toys, effectively petrifying Sid by coming to life in front of him. Buzz and Woody manage to return to Andy's car en route to their new house. Buzz and Woody reconcile afterward, and Woody is re-accepted amongst the other toys, sharing the status as Andy's favorite with Buzz.
A running gag is that throughout the movie Woody intentionally mispronounces Buzz's last name to mock him and Buzz fails to notice, such as "Light-beer" and "Light-snack".
Toy Story 2
In Toy Story 2, Woody is preparing to go with Andy to Cowboy Camp, but his arm is accidentally ripped and Andy decides not to take him to camp. Woody is shelved and fears the worst for his fate. A squeaky toy Penguin named Wheezy is also on the shelf with a broken squeaker. Andy's Mom holds a yard sale and marks Wheezy to be sold for 25 cents. Woody saves Wheezy with help from Andy's new puppy, Buster. Woody, however, gets stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al. At his apartment, Woody discovers his forgotten past and legacy as the star of a 1950s Western children's show "Woody's Roundup", but learns that he will be shipped to Japan to be displayed in a toy museum. Even worse, one of the toys from the franchise, Stinky Pete the Prospector, is intent to make sure that Woody and the rest of the "Roundup" toys get to Japan. It is revealed that Stinky Pete was never sold and had never experienced the love of a child for decades. Al then calls a restoration expert to fix Woody's right arm. After that Stinky Pete convinces Woody to go along with the plan after Buzz and a few of the toys from the first film arrive to rescue Woody, who has a change of heart after watching an episode of Woody's Roundup in which he sings "You've Got a Friend in Me". Stinky Pete is able to prevent Woody from leaving by replacing the bolts on the air vent grille through which Buzz and the others managed to get into Al's apartment.
Woody and the other members of the Roundup gang are packed for shipping to Japan. However, the other toys catch up to Al at the airport and follow Al's luggage into the baggage handling area and then into the plane's cargo hold. Woody's tear reopens mainly due to Stinky Pete cutting it with his pickaxe but Buzz rescues Woody, along with Jessie and Bullseye. As they are taxiing down the runway Stinky Pete is stuffed into a backpack of a little girl who loves to apply make up on her toys, so that Stinky Pete will get the love of a child he needed for decades. Woody and Jessie escape through the landing gear before it retracts, and Buzz rescues them while riding Bullseye. Jessie and Bullseye are brought back to Andy's room by Woody and Buzz, and it's shown that the only evidence of their adventure in the city is when two neighbors walk outside to find an airport luggage carrier, which the toys used to get home in time for Andy's return, parked in their yard wondering how it got there. In the ending, Woody is fixed by Andy, and is welcomed back home with Wheezy, whose squeaker has been fixed, singing "You've got a friend in me".
Toy Story 3
In Toy Story 3, Andy is now nearly 17 years old, and preparing to leave for college. Andy chooses to take Woody with him, and puts the rest of the toys in a garbage bag to be stored in the attic, but Andy's mother mistakes them for garbage, and the toys just manage to escape a garbage truck. Woody tries to convince them that Andy did not intend to throw them away, but they refuse to believe him. When the toys find themselves at a daycare and choose to stay, Woody attempts to return to Andy, but is taken home by a little girl named Bonnie instead, where he became friends with her toys. Later, Woody returns to the daycare, where Andy's toys have been imprisoned by the daycare toys' bitter leader, Lots-O-Huggin' Bear. Woody helps them to escape, but in a confrontation with Lotso is dragged into a dumpster with a garbage truck approaching, forcing the rest of Andy's toys to go along as well. They are brought to a dump, where despite their attempts to change his heart, Lotso abandons them to their deaths on a conveyor belt headed into an incinerator. Resigned to their fate, they are rescued at the last minute by the Squeeze Toy Aliens. Back at Andy's, Woody contrives for all of them to be brought to Bonnie's house, where Andy passes them on to enjoy life with a new owner. As Andy drives away to college, Woody says an emotional and final farewell to him, saying "So long, partner".
Toy Story 4
Woody will return in Toy Story 4, where Bonnie's other toys will help him reunite with Bo Peep.
Other appearances
Woody made a cameo in the outtakes of Pixar's 1998 film A Bug's Life as a crew member, clapping the upside-down clapperboard. Then he appeared in the Andy's room sequence of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins where he was voiced by Jim Hanks (Tom Hanks' Brother), and the Andy's room intro of the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command television series as a cameo. Later, he appeared in the end credit epilogue of Pixar's 2006 movie Cars as a toy station wagon, along with Buzz and Hamm. He also appeared in the theatrical shorts, Hawaiian Vacation (released with the 2011 Pixar film Cars 2), Small Fry (released with The Muppets), and Partysaurus Rex (released with the 3D re-release of Pixar's 2003 film Finding Nemo). He also appears in Toy Story of Terror! and Toy Story That Time Forgot. Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) has appeared and presented at the 68th, the 72nd, and 88th Academy Awards. Woody appeared in the 2017 Family Guy episode The Finer Strings in a cutaway gag set up by Stewie Griffin. The gag involves him walking in on Buzz and Bo Peep making out. Woody also appeared in the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons along with Jessie and Bullseye. He is slated to appear in the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III.
Characteristics
Woody is a passionate guy who throws himself into every action. As soon as he has an instinctive thought like "I have to help them," or "I have to run away," he does it with 100-percent commitment. You gotta love that about anybody. What's great is that I get credit for the way the character and the humor come off. I have kids that are now in college come up to me and say, "when you told that neighbor kid to play nice, that really meant a lot to me".
Woody is an old-fashioned pull-string cowboy doll. The voice-box that is activated by the pull-string says many simple phrases such as "Reach for the sky!", "You're my favorite deputy!", "There's a snake in my boots!", and "Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!". As mentioned in Toy Story 2, his construction includes an "original hand-painted face, natural dyed-blanket stitched vest, and hand-stitched poly-vinyl hat." Woody wears an empty gun holster at his belt. He is Andy's favorite toy since kindergarten, with a special spot on the bed, and is the leader of the toys in Andy's room. In Toy Story 2, it is revealed that he is based on the main character from a popular 1950s TV show, Woody's Roundup. When Al is bargaining with Andy's mom in an attempt to take Woody, Andy's mom declines Al's bargain, stating that Woody is "an old family toy." Stinky Pete also directly refers to him as a "hand-me-down cowboy doll" later in the movie, and when Woody finds a record player in Al's apartment room, he states "I haven't seen one of these in ages!", again supporting that he has been around longer than Andy. In fact, when introducing the 2009 set of Toy Story collectibles, John Lasseter said "We always imagined he was a hand-me-down to Andy from his father." He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films and by his brother Jim Hanks on other occasions.
In the three films, Woody makes two strong friendships with Buzz and Jessie. At first, when Buzz temporarily becomes Andy's favorite toy, Woody tries to push him off the dresser but accidentally knocks him out the window. When found and taken by neighborhood bully Sid, however, Woody and Buzz work together to escape. From this point on, he and Buzz are very close. As for fellow "Roundup Gang" member, cowgirl Jessie, though Woody and Jessie argue with each other sometimes, they are still very close friends.
In the mock outtakes of Toy Story 2, Woody is shown to have a cheekier side towards Buzz, pulling pranks including hiding in a Buzz Lightyear cardboard box to make faces as Buzz walks past the hundreds of Buzz Lightyear toys on the shelves, drawing on Buzz's helmet, and using Buzz's wings as advertising space for rent when they suddenly pop open.
It was revealed in August 2009 by Lee Unkrich that Woody's official last name is "Pride". Unkrich stated in his Twitter feed that "Woody's actual full name is "Woody Pride", and has been since the earliest days of developing the original Toy Story."
Pullstring quotes
- "Reach for the sky!"
- "This town ain't big enough for the two of us!"
- "You're my favorite Deputy!"
- "Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!"
- "There's a snake in my boot!"
- "Yee-haw! Giddyup, partner! We've gotta get this wagon train a-movin'!"
- "I'd like to join your posse, boys, but first I'm gonna sing a little song."
"There's a snake in my boot!" is an old reference to alcoholic hallucination that was commonly used during the Wild West era; the concept is akin to seeing pink elephants, a later euphemism from the early 20th century. The euphemism, owing to the franchise's family-friendly approach, was left as an unexplained inside joke, and Woody is never seen drunk.
Lego sets
In late 2009, Lego released a Woody's Roundup! playset as one of the first released playsets, consisting of minifigures Woody, Bullseye, Jessie and Stinky Pete, and buildings Sheriff, Jail and a gold mine. The set has a trap in between Jail and Sheriff that flings the minifigures, a safe, Lego money, a play that falls off the Jail and Lego pieces that fall through the top of the gold mine, specifically to land on Stinky Pete's head.
In early 2010, Lego released Woody and Buzz to the Rescue, a playset including a pull-back RC the car, Woody minifigure, and Buzz minifigure with a removable rocket attached to his back.
In late April 2010, Lego released a line based on Toy Story 3. This included Trash Compactor Escape, Western Train Chase, Trash Truck Escape and Lotso's Dump Truck.
Reception
Tom Hanks's vocal performance as Sheriff Woody was received positively by film critics. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today approved of the selection of Hanks for the lead role of Woody. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated that Tom Hanks "brings an invaluable heft and believability to Woody." In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named Woody one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.
Presenter Ryan Tubridy dressed up as Woody for The Late Late Toy Show in 2011.
References
External links
- Official character page
- Sheriff Woody on IMDb
