A story about Andy's father from the Toy Story movies was revealed by Mike Martz, a toy collector and designer who worked at Pixar, in a 2017 interview. According to Mike, the story was told to him by Joe Ranft, a man who helped bring the first two Toy Story films to life. The story goes that Andy's father, also named Andy, was a sickly young boy who came from a poor family and was a fan of the show "Woody's Rodeo." He entered a contest to win a Woody doll but was unable to collect the required cereal lids due to his family's financial situation. A secretary involved in the promotion decided to send him the doll anyway, which became a prized possession. However, Andy's father fell ill with polio and had to give away his toys, including the Woody doll, to prevent them from being incinerated. He later recovered and had a son, Andy, but his health deteriorated again due to post-polio syndrome. Before he died, he gave his son a key to a trunk in the attic containing his old toys, including the Woody doll. The toys, including Woody, Slinky, and Mr. Potato Head, were found by Andy after his father's death and became his own. This story provides a possible explanation for why Andy's father is not present in the Toy Story movies and adds depth to the characters and their relationships.
Here are the key facts from the text:
1. Andy's father is never shown or mentioned in the original Toy Story trilogy.
2. Joe Ranft, a Pixar employee, devised a backstory for Andy's father.
3. Joe Ranft shared this story with his friend Mike Martz before his death in 2005.
4. According to the story, Andy's father was a sickly young man who came from a poor family.
5. Andy's father was a fan of the show "Woody's Rodeo" and entered a contest to win a Woody doll.
6. The contest was canceled due to the launch of the Sputnik satellite and the subsequent shift in media focus to the space race.
7. A secretary involved in the promotion rescued a single prototype Woody doll and sent it to Andy's father.
8. Andy's father fell ill with polio and his belongings were incinerated to prevent the spread of the disease.
9. Andy's father managed to rescue three of his most prized toys: Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, and the Woody doll.
10. Andy's father sent the toys to his grandparents' house, where they were stored in a trunk.
11. Before his death, Andy's father gave his son a key to the trunk, which Andy used to open it and discover the toys.
12. The story was revealed by Mike Martz in an interview in 2017.
13. The Toy Story scriptwriters, including Andrew Stanton, have not confirmed the story as canon.
14. The director and producer of Toy Story 4 have suggested that Andy's father may be alive, but this is not confirmed.