Toy Story Fangirl

Cars 3 premieres this week, and with it has come a steady stream of promotional ads, new merchandise, special events, and of course trailers and television commercials.  The advertising campaign for a new Pixar movie is always exciting, especially when the characters and setting allow for a little extra creativity in commercials.  A couple years ago, the Inside Out cast popped up in all sorts of television ads, from the Super Bowl in January through the movie’s theatrical release in June.  Dory and her aquatic friends weren’t quite as conducive to interacting with people in a commercial setting, nor were dinosaurs, so I don’t recall seeing quite as many for those films.  But I do remember lots of commercials during the months surrounding Toy Story 3‘s release, and thought it would be fun to look back at them in a throwback post.

Of course, ads promoting the movie itself were everywhere, and it was exciting to catch a new one with some little detail you hadn’t noticed before.  This compilation of early commercials for the film, posted by Pixar on their official Toy Story You Tube channel, asks you to choose your favorite…

… my favorite, however, began airing after the movie was already showing in theaters.  I can still remember hearing, “Just go with it, Buzz,” and looking up to see Jessie and Buzz on the television screen, with a big grin on my face.

Even though the film promos were fun, the biggest treat was getting commercials with new animation, not just repurposed clips from the movies.

I think the Visa commercial was my favorite of them all.  Buzz’s face is the best.

Jessie saving the day with all those carts?  Love it.

Even though Woody experiencing the craziness of the caterpillar room is inconsistent with the film, it doesn’t matter.  Maybe they visited Barbie and Ken for the day.

Who else gets the reference of Hamm dressed like a USPS mail carrier?  And who else remembers all the Toy Story 3 decorations and postal supplies in post offices during the summer of 2010?  I still have a Toy Story mailing pouch that I’ll never use.

There was no new animation or vocals in the Google ad, but it was still creative.

Even though I live in America, and only have a memory of those commercials at the time, several international ads can be found on You Tube as well…

Woody and his hat.  I can totally see that happening in the Toy Story world.

This one’s super short, but still worth including.  Poor Rex.

Do you remember any Toy Story 3-related commercials that I missed?  Are there any other international ones you’ve seen?  Share in the comments!

Credit goes to @thepixarist for a Twitter convo that left us reminiscing about these old commercials, and for suggesting some that I hadn’t seen before, like the Peugeot one.  It’s been a while, sorry it’s taken me so long to get it posted!  

All images and videos © Disney/Pixar.