‘Toy Story 3’: Woody, Buzz face abandonment issues

March 22, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS

Playtime is over for Woody the cowboy, Buzz Lightyear and friends.

“Toy Story 3,” which was screened last week for theater owners attending their annual ShoWest convention, poses a new question for the gang from the 1995 hit that launched computer animation into the feature-film world: Is there life for a toy after your kid grows up?

“Come on, let’s see how much we’re going for on eBay,” laments John Ratzenberger’s Hamm the Piggy Bank as he and the other toys ponder a lonely future, with their owner, Andy, heading to college and leaving them behind.

Though the film is not yet finished, with much of the animation still in rough form, the screening provided a sneak peek for one of summer’s most anticipated releases.

“The youngest kids who saw ‘Toy Story’ and ‘Toy Story 2’ when they first came out are now kind of heading off to college. That’s the position Andy’s in, so it’s very strange and nostalgic for people to see this character that is part of their childhood kind of growing up with them and facing the same life changes,” said “Toy Story 3” director Lee Unkrich, who was a film editor on “Toy Story” and co-director on “Toy Story 2.”

“For anyone who’s had a transition in their life — heading off to college, parents sending their kids off to college, people getting out of college and heading off into the work force. Those are major transitions. Our characters in their own way are dealing with similar transitions,” Unkrich said in an interview after the screening.

For Andy’s favorite playthings, Woody and Buzz (voiced again by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen), the transition threatens to end their long partnership as the toys argue over what steps would be best for their future.

Due in theaters June 18, “Toy Story 3” also features returning voice-cast members including Joan Cusack, Don Rickles and Wallace Shawn. Among new voice co-stars are Whoopi Goldberg, Ned Beatty, Timothy Dalton and Michael Keaton.

Their ranks thinned over the years as some of their friends were thrown away, donated or “yard-saled,” Andy’s toys face their own mortality — that moment when they ask themselves what reason they have to exist without a child to play with them.