8 Biggest Plot Twists In The 'Toy Story' Franchise

WARNING! SPOILERS for Toy Story 5.

With the still rising box office numbers for Toy Story 5, the Toy Story is cementing it's place among the most successful ongoing franchises. One of the reasons for this success seems to be in the fact that the films are truly written to appeal to all ages. The paths the stories take are not always obvious or predictable.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest plot twists in the Toy Story films.

1. The Toys leave Woody with Sid (Toy Story)

In the first Toy Story film, Woody's leadership status among Andy's toys is threatened when Andy begins to favor Buzz. The other toys faith in Woody is initially shaken after he accidentally knocks Buzz out of the bedroom window, with Mr. Potatohead planting the seed that he may have done it on purpose. However, the true problem arises after a disastrous excursion to Pizza Planet leaves Buzz and Woody trapped in the bedroom of Andy's neighbour, Sid the Toy Destroyer.

Woody manages to contact Andy's toys through the window, but Buzz, struggling to accept his status as a toy, refuses to join Woody at the window to let the others know he is alright. With Woody left holding Buzz's detatched arm, the other toys wrongfully believe he harmed Buzz on purpose, and abandon Woody to his fate. A particularly dark twist considering what the toys know about Sid, but at least it finally forces Woody and Buzz to work together.

2. Stinky Pete betrays the Round-Up Gang (Toy Story 2)

Woody's relationship with Jessie, a fellow member of the vintage Woody's Round-Up toy collection, initially gets off on the wrong foot when he believes she switched on a television, thwarting his first attempt to escape from Toy Collector/Seller Al McWhiggin. Later, after bonding with Jessie, Woody convinces her and Bullseye to join him as toys for Andy, only for the previously unopened Stinky Pete to exit his box and re-lock the vent, keeping the rest of the Round-Up Gang from escaping with Buzz and the rest of Andy's Toys. It was always Stinky Pete, never Jessie, stopping Woody from leaving.

To adult audience members, this was probably a predictable outcome, but for children in the audience, this felt like quite a twist.

3. The Aliens save the day (Toy Story 3)

Rescued by Mr. Potatohead in Toy Story 2, the Aliens (or Little Green Men/LGMs to those who watched the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command animated series), initially appear to be mostly a recurring annoyance in Toy Story 3, often running off ahead of the group or otherwise getting themselves into trouble. In fact, they are seemingly lost relatively early in the climactic junkyard sequence when they are scooped up by a trash sweeper.

So, it comes as a surprise, albeit a very welcome one, when the Aliens use a huge mechanised claw to scoop the other toys out of the incinerator in the nick of time. As well as unexpectedly making the Aliens the biggest heroes in the film, the scene also acts as a fun throwback to the first film, where the aliens are claw machine prizes worshipping 'The Claw'.

4. Woody and the toys leave Andy (Toy Story 3)

For most of Toy Story 3, Woody's main goal is to get himself and the other toys back to the Davis House before Andy leaves for College. However, part way through the film, Woody gets an unexpected afternoon of play with four-year old Bonnie Anderson.

Eventually rethinking things, Woody forgoes the original plan of the other toys being stored in the attic while he goes to college with Andy in favour of setting things up so Andy donates he and the other toys to Bonnie. While leaving Andy was probably the right thing, the scene was still a tearjerker for many fans.

5. Harmony rejects Gabby Gabby (Toy Story 4)

Gabby Gabby is easily the most sympathetic villain in the Toy Story franchise so far. A doll made in the 50s around the same time as Woody, Gabby, residing in an antique store when we meet her in Toy Story 4, has spent her whole existence with a faulty pull-string voicebox, never knowing the love of a child. However, unlike earlier villains such as Stinky Pete or Lotso, Gabby does not resent the other toys for having received the love she missed out on. While Gabby Gabby technically keeps Forky hostage for most of the film, she never intends to harm him, precisely because he is important to a child. She only keeps him to lure Woody back to the store.

Gabby is convinced that replacing her faulty voicebox with Woody's working one will help her attract the attention and love of Harmony, the store owner's granddaughter. Woody, more sensitive to the plight of lost or unloved toys by the latter part of the film, eventually gives up his voicebox willingly.

As Gabby Gabby is such a genuinely sympathetic antagonist, many fans assumed the film was setting up for Gabby to get her happy ending with Harmony. So, it comes as a particularly heartwrenching twist when Gabby gets Harmony's attention, only for Harmony to reject and leave her behind.

Thankfully, Gabby does find the true right child for her before the film's end. Still, the initial rejection is a gut-punch moment.

6. Woody becomes a lost toy (Toy Story 4)

Woody's decision to join the other toys in being donated in Toy Story 3 has made in the interest of keeping the group together. So, even though Toy Story 4 opens with Woody clearly struggling with life in Bonnie's room and no longer being a favoured toy, it still came as a shock to many fans when, at the end of the film, Woody chooses to leave the toys and join Bo Peep as a 'Lost Toy', helping other lost toys.

Some dislike the ending so much that they argue Toy Story 4 should be removed from canon.

7. 'Jessie was here' (Toy Story 5)

Toy Story 5's first unexpected turn comes when Jessie and Bullseye accidentally end up at the former home of Jessie's original owner, Emily, now owned by the Manoukian family. However, the true twist comes later, after a troubled Bonnie rejects Jessie and Bullseye. Stinging from Bonnie's rejection, Jessie runs away to the tree where she had once played with Emily. She vows she is done with kids, as she can't handle another loss.

However, when Bullseye joins her, they find a note 'Jessie was here', carved into the tree, and eventually discover a Time Capsule buried beneath it. Through photos inside the capsule, Jessie realises that the adult Emily had named her daughter Jessie. Though their time together had ended, the memories still mattered. The reveal had Toy Story 2 fans in particular sobbing in the theatre.

8. Lilypad donates herself (Toy Story 5)

For most of Toy Story 5, Lilypad, a tablet intended for children, acts as an antagonist. She believes that the toys are past their use-by date, and she, as new technology, is better suited to helping Bonnie make friends. However, after discovering the Dance Class 'friends' she chose are bullying Bonnie, a guilt-stricken Lilypad realises she was wrong, and tossses herself onto a nearby Donation Truck. This would seem like a good thing for the toys, except they have just formed a plan to have Lily connect Bonnie with a true potential friend, Blaze Manoukian, and so must mount a rescue mission to retrieve the lost device.

While some anti-device parents expected that the film would take a hardline 'Screens are evil' approach and expressed disappointment at Lilypad's redemption arc, Toy Story 5's ultimate message is more nuanced and realistic to the way the world is. Tech has it's place, so long as real life connections are still being made alongside it.

Pixar filmmakers have expressed a wish for Bonnie to have a trilogy as Andy had a trilogy, meaning at least one more Toy Story film is likely on the way. Time will tell if this one also comes with a twist in the tale.