If you’re a fan of Toy Story, you may have wondered where exactly Andy’s dad was. While fan theories exist about basically everything in the Pixar universe, we have yet to see any confirmation on anything unknown from the super popular world of Buzz and Woody. Earlier this month, however, an artist named Mike Mozart claimed that not only does he know the origin story of Woody from Toy Story, but that it was told to him by one of the co-writers of the original film. His backstory makes the move 100 percent more depressing, so be warned that once you read this theory, the movie will never be the same.
Appearing on a popular YouTube show, Mozart says he was given the backstory by his friend and writer Joe Ranft. According to Mozart, Andy’s dad was also named Andy. As a child, his family was very poor and he saved cereal box tops in order to win a Woody toy sweepstakes. The contest was unpopular, and Andy Sr. sent in as many box tops as he had. The cereal company’s secretary felt badly for the child and sent the only Woody doll in existence. After Andy Sr. received the toy, he fell ill with Polio, not being able to have the vaccine in time. He survived, and his Woody doll was all that remained of his childhood. After growing up and having a family of his own, Andy Sr. got ill again and died, leaving Woody with his young son.
Talk about depressing AF.
This backstory would make sense as to why Woody means so much to Andy, why Woody has no idea about who or what he is as a toy, and why the toy collector in Toy Story 2 is so very obsessed with Woody. Since writer Ranft passed away in 2006, he can’t confirm or deny the story, but other Pixar creatives are denying this is the truth, including his co-writer, Andrew Stanton, who calls this version of Woody’s backstory “fake news.”
With four writers on the movie, each person may have had their own backstories in mind when creating the Toy Story universe, so at the very least, this version is plausible, even if it’s not official Toy Story cannon.
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(h/t Teen Vogue; photo via Pixar)