Toy Story: The Black Friday Reel (The Butterfly Effect)

If you haven't seen or heard of Toy Story's Black Friday Reel, you're lucky. You haven't seen a side to Woody that was almost released to the public 24 years ago.

The Black Friday Reel is a sketched version of one of the beginning scenes to the original Toy Story movie, and it never made it to full computer animation because it was scrapped and rewritten. It takes place in the scene where the toys are all wondering whether Andy will take Woody or Buzz to Pizza Planet with him, as Buzz has now been making his way into Woody's spot as Andy's favorite toy. It's clear in the final version that Woody starts to show signs of jealousy, but not to the degree that's shown in the reel.

In the original version, Woody "accidentally" throws Buzz out the window, and all of the other toys witness it. He tries to play it off like it was an accident, but everyone can see right through Woody, and go straight to the window to see where Buzz landed. Woody lays down on the bed, looking like he doesn't have a care in the world. Bo Peep turns to him and says "Woody, you deliberately threw Buzz out the window!". When I heard this line, I knew that if it was included in the final cut, the Toy Story franchise would not have lasted as long as it has.

This particular line by Bo Peep could've started a butterfly effect - Woody would show more signs of not caring for Buzz, the toys would resent him further which would make it harder to forgive him at the end, the plot line for Toy Story 2 would not have been as strong as we wouldn't be rooting for Woody to get back to his family, same would go for Toy Story 3, and we would not have a Toy Story 4, as Bo Peep's role would have no significance in Woody's life anymore.

In the Black Friday Reel, Woody is shown throwing the army men into their bucket so they couldn't help Buzz, calling Mr.Potatohead "spuds for brains", and using many other names for the toys. Events like this would also call into question - how come Woody is in charge of Andy's room? Has this happened with all of the new toys that have come along over the years? Why do the toys look to him for leadership in the beginning when he can turn on everyone so quick? There would be way too much background information missing to make the movie satisfying.

Woody is shown threatening all of the toys, and in the end, the toys band together and throw Woody out of the window too. This whole 3 minute scene would have such an impact on the story and the movies that follow, since Woody is painted as the villain, no one would be rooting for him nor want to forgive him in the end. This reel would have been a huge mistake not only for the franchise but also for computer animation in general; Toy Story was the first ever computer animated feature film, and if it ended up having a bad reputation after just the first installment, who knows what the future of animation and Disney Pixar could have been.