Toy Story – A Lifetime of Memories

This post is in collaboration with Best Buy. All opinions are my own.

Do you remember when Toy Story debuted in 1995? When was the first time you saw it? I have lots of memories from the initial movie.

Throughout my childhood, our Thanksgiving was spent with my mom’s extended family. We would meet at a school gymnasium where there would be a huge potluck meal followed by games and fellowship. In 1995, our Thanksgiving plans were unique from all the Thanksgivings prior and there hasn’t been one like it since. Because the Thanksgiving of 1995, my family went to go see Toy Story.

As I started to write this post, more memories of the day are taking shape. I distinctly remember walking from the car into the theater (yes, I can tell you exactly which theater we saw it at). The weather was overcast and a bit drizzly (although that is pretty common for November in Seattle).

After watching Toy Story, we headed to my dad’s cousin’s house for our Thanksgiving Day meal.

My memories of the original Toy Story don’t end with seeing it on that Thanksgiving Day. The Sunday after Thanksgiving was when we would traditionally cut down our Christmas tree. After church and a quick lunch we would drive up to Stanwood to hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. On our way up there in 1995, we stopped at a certain burger chain for lunch. The kid’s meal toy was a mini Woody toy (although no sound effects).

My brother and I each got our own Woody toys and had a great time playing with them on our drive to and from the Tree Farm. That meal was also memorable for other reasons, but they are a giant tangent to this story so I’ll bring it out of the rat hole. Anyways, after picking out or tree and heading home, Wes and I both decided that our Woody toys needed to help decorate the tree. We had a great time filling the tree with lights and just about all the ornaments out of the storage container.

Christmas day of 1995, my Toy Story memories continue when I open my gift from my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Jim. Under the wrapping, I find my very own Toy Story Soundtrack CD. Most of the afternoon, while the adults chatted between lunch and dessert, I hung out in my bedroom listening to the Toy Story Soundtrack.

In February of 1996, my brother and I got to experience our very first trip to Disneyland. My elementary school was moving campuses and we had a couple weeks off when every single other school was still in session. This allowed us to basically do the unthinkable – visit Disneyland when it is basically empty. The Toy Story memories continue into this trip as well because the Toy Story Funhouse was set-up in Tomorrowland. Surprisingly, I don’t remember much about the Funhouse other than the obstacle course where everybody became a green army man.

So, needless to say, I have quite an attachment to Toy Story.

I am so excited for Toy Story 4 to release on Friday! I’m hoping that Brad and I have a chance to get away from the remodel for a couple hours to head out to the theater and watch it.

Are you headed to the theaters this weekend to watch it? If you have time before seeing it, why not catch up on the entire story? Right now, all of the Toy Story movies are available via SteelBook at Best Buy. The art for the covers are absolutely adorable and perfect representations of the story.

Not only does Best Buy offer all the movies, they also have expanded their toy selection, just in time for Toy Story 4 to release. It may seem a bit early, but don’t these look like the perfect Christmas Stocking Stuffers?