The Toy Story series is one of the few film franchises that has universal appeal. Each and every film creates immense feelings of joy and nostalgia in those viewing it as they watch the adventures of some anthropomorphic toys as they bop around in their colorful, bright world.
However, just like every animation in the world, the Toy Story franchise is filled to the brim with continuity errors. The human element isn’t there to keep everything in line, so there are various examples of animation mistakes or inconsistencies, here are ten.
Woody’s Burn Mark
During Toy Story 1, Woody gets a large and noticable burn mark on his head. While he looks like and acts like a human, Woody doesn’t have real skin, so he does not have the ability to just form a scar and heal the wound.
As such, we find it rather confusing that the scar disappears so quickly after. It’s completely gone in all of the following films as well, though perhaps these make a little more sense as he could have been fixed up during the gap between films.
The Lasso Light Changes Length
The lasso of lights basically has no consistency in terms of length at any point in the first Toy Story film. At first, it’s about as long as Woody himself. Later on, it seems to have shrunk to a size that allows Woody to carry it over his shoulder.
However, there are also two times when it becomes incredibly long. Woody is able to hide in it by wrapping himself up when Hannah is on her way, and then, later on, they’re able to use it as a sort of tightrope between Andy and Sid’s bedroom windows.
Woody And Buzz Voice Switch
This particular error in continuity may be specific to an early VHS version of the film because it doesn’t seem to appear on later DVDs. When Woody and Buzz are in Pizza Planet observing from a gap in the wall, there is a short exchange in which Tim Allen (the voice of Buzz) reads Woody’s line through Woody’s mouth, and then Tom Hanks (the voice of Woody) responds, by reading Buzz’s line, through Buzz’s mouth.
We are truly surprised that this error made the final cut of the film, but it did and its really interesting to see when you can finally find it.
Magic 8 Ball Is Really Magic
Woody seems to trust the science behind magic 8 balls a little too much, but if this continuity error is anything to go by, then they must be pretty magical already.
When Andy puts Woody and Buzz on the table in his room, Woody immediately turns to use the magic 8 ball sitting next to him. The only problem with this is that the ball in question wasn’t actually there a couple of seconds ago when Andy first placed the toys on his desk.
Where Did RC’s Remote Come From?
Back in Toy Story 1, we saw RC’s remote being dropped in the street when Buzz is controlling him. When the shot changes, the remote is nowhere to be seen and RC is remote-less.
By the time Toy Story 2 comes around, Andy is controlling RC using this very same remote, despite it having never been recovered from the first time. Maybe they went out into the road and recovered it?
Woody’s Arm Rip
There are a couple of things about Woody’s all-important arm rip that don’t quite add up. Firstly, when he peers out of Al’s bag, he uses both arms to pull the bag open. As Woody’s ripped arm acts a bit like a broken human arm, opening the bag like this shouldn’t really have been possible.
His arm rip also seems to disappear and reappear when he is running after Jessie under the plane, suggesting that they forgot to keep this particular animation consistent.
One-Eyed Bart Isn’t One-Eyed
At the very start of the film, Andy is playing with a version of Mr. Potato Head called One-Eyed Bart, presumably because he had one eye. When Andy says, “run for your lives”, Mr. Potato Head is back to having his standard two eyes.
This is continued in the real world after the game is over, as Mr. Potato Head has his left eye removed. A couple of seconds later when Andy’s mum enters, both of his eyes are firmly back in place.
Changing Button Functions
We had been introduced to the buttons of Buzz Lightyear way back in Toy Story 1, where he (despite thinking he was real) had access to a number of buttons that played little clips of his voice.
When he is forced back into demo mode during Toy Story 3, he starts using these buttons again. In order to call Star Command, he opens the flap on his left arm and talks into it, which doesn’t add up to the first film, where the red button on his chest was normally the one he used to do this.
Bonnie's Reaction Change
For some reason, they decided to reanimate the opening scene of Toy Story 4 (despite it being technically the same scene as the ending of Toy Story 3). Because of this, Bonnie’s reaction to being given the toys is completely different from her original reaction.
The odd choice to reanimate this clip created a continuity issue that could have been avoided if they had simply recycled the previous films' ending.
Forky’s Moving Arms
Arguably the best thing to come out of Toy Story 4 was Forky and his clueless, yet charming humor. He didn’t want to be a toy, he wasn’t supposed to be a toy, and he would do anything to avoid being a toy. This includes jumping out of the RV and forcing Woody to chase him down and stop him from leaving.
When the two are talking, each shot of Forky shows his arms in a different place. They start by his head, before moving back down to a pretty normal mid-body position, and then make their way up to his head once more.