"Toy Story" Celebrates 30 Years of Cinematic History with Screening at Academy Museum

The screening will also include appearances from key creatives at Pixar Animation Studios

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first full-length computer animated feature film, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will be screening Pixar’s Toy Story next month.

What’s Happening:

  • The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles is set to mark the 30th anniversary of the iconic Pixar Animation Studios film, Toy Story, with a special screening.
  • On hand for the screening, which will take place later next month, will be Toy Story producer Bonnie Arnold and co-writer Pete Docter. These two are not only monumental to the film, but to the artform as well, as their careers have since grown to continue to push the possibilities of animation. Arnold served as producer on the animated How to Train Your Dragon franchise, and Docter, now Chief Creative Officer at Pixar, has directed Monsters, Inc. (2001), Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), and Soul (2020).
  • The success of such popular shorts as Luxo Jr. (1986) and the Oscar-winning Tin Toy (1988) paved the way for Pixar Animation Studios to produce the first entirely computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, in 1995.
  • The witty, heartwarming movie changed the face of feature animation while setting a high mark of quality that the studio would reach again and again in the decades that followed. The tale of two toys competing for a young boy’s affection - the old-fashioned cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks) and the high-tech spaceman Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) - was the first animated feature to be nominated for a writing Oscar, with other nominations including Randy Newman’s energetic score and his popular “You’ve Got A Friend In Me."
  • The movie spawned three hit sequels as well as the spin-off of sorts, Lightyear, which debuted in 2022. A fifth entry into the franchise is expected next year.
  • As part of the screening, audiences will be encouraged to join in for a special sing-along of “You’ve Got A Friend In Me."
  • The screening will take place on Sunday, September 21st 2025 at 2:00 PM PT, in the museum’s David Geffen theater. The program will be preceded by a Family Workshop with Pixar production designer Bob Pauley from 12:30–1:30pm. Admission starts at $5.00 and tickets can be purchased at the official website, here.

Another Museum Treasure:

  • The Academy Museum also serves as the current home to another Toy Story wonder, a 3D zoetrope featuring many of the characters from the franchise.
  • The Pixar Toy Story 3D Zoetrope is presented at the museum alongside another highlight of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’s outstanding pre-cinema collection: a historical “Wheel of Life" zoetrope from the 19th century, along with the historical image sets that accompanied it.
  • The zoetrope might be familiar to fans of the Disneyland Resort, as it was once on display at Disney California Adventure, inside the Disney Animation experience in the Hollywood Land section of that park.
  • Numerous sculpts rotate very quickly while a flashing light occurs to create the illusion of life and movement, tricking the eye to form one continuously moving image.

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Tony Betti
Originally from California where he studied a dying artform (hand-drawn animation), Tony has spent most of his adult life in the theme parks of Orlando. When he’s not writing for LP, he’s usually watching and studying something animated or arguing about “the good ole’ days” at the parks.
View all articles by Tony Betti