When I heard about The Toy Story Game or “Toy Story Funday Football” game a few weeks ago, I was excited. An NFL football game aired entirely from Andy’s room sounded like an awesome idea – maybe even the best idea Disney Plus had had in a LONG time. Don’t get me wrong, I love Ahsoka, all the MCU shows, and the Disney library. But this felt different, like a unifying event between product and platform – at the perfect time, 9:30AM EST/ 6:30 AM PST – a time when most kids are up and ready for Fruity Pebbles and many parents are still in a state of drowsiness. Could this be the unicorn, the lightning in a bottle idea tailored specifically for the streamer that would bring it back to the top – a streamer that is currently reeling and has taken some hits both in subs and in public image over the past few quarters?
But the idea also appeared as complicated as it was fun. The idea of the Toy Story Game would go way beyond the Nickelodeon playoff games of simulcasting the broadcast with added graphical touches like slime – and instead would merge the players and their actions on the field into CGI versions of themselves IN Andy’s bedroom, playing on his carpet. The announcers would also be turned into toy versions of themselves as the Toy Story characters would cheer on from the sideline. Meanwhile Duke Caboom would offer a stunt as the halftime show. And as a Disney fan and an NFL fan, I was excited but also kind of sweating. Was this a bad idea, was the technology just not there yet, would this be yet another black eye for Disney in a rocky 2023?
Nope. It worked (at least for the most part)! Yes it started out a little rough, more like a radio show than an actual broadcast for the first few series. Glitches seemed to take hold. And the game was not without further hiccups as all kicking plays as well as a quarterback grounding the ball all played weird. In one case, Desmond Ridder grounded the ball and it went backwards. And by the end of the game, the announcers were making fun of it and just playing along – appropriate for a Toy Story Game.
And speaking of the announcers, Drew Carson and Booger McFarland both did an excellent job not only recapping the game but explaining it to a younger, newer audience. They also played along with the conceit and did not make fun of it – especially Booger who kept hoping for a delivery from pizza planet every time the truck circled the field. Also adding to the crack announcing squad was sideline reporter Percy – a kid reporter who really added to the feel of the event by responding to things like Woody and Jesse dancing or Zurg lurking ominously in the “stands” (aka Andy’s shelves) with a unique combination of awe and cynicism that only a kid could properly deliver.
Duke Caboom’s halftime show was also great. He rode a 360 degree loop into a jump of 5 double-decker British school buses. Zurg lurked ominously in the shelves as the announcers seemed to hint at a potential killshot from his blaster – but luckily it never materialized and the stunt went off without a hitch, (fortunately we are years away from both the JFK assassination and the events of July 7th, 2005 in London – so the only people thinking about those implications on the potential stunt were weirdos like me).
But what about the game? Well, luckily those initial glitches worked themselves out and the game kicked in – eventually. And when it did it was actually a pretty good presentation. It was a fun idea to have the claw come in and place the football before each series of downs. It was also a great idea to highlight the players’s names every time they touched the ball, something that I wish ACTUAL NFL broadcasts would adopt.
Also awesome was a profile of Bijan Robinson, the NFL’s top rookie running back and arguably top rookie. Bijan talked lovingly about getting up early to watch football and also being a big fan of Lightning McQueen (for the record Toy Story 2 was released WAY before he was even born so makes sense he’s a cars fan).
It was also a wholesome, if not necessarily inspired, idea to spotlight the players, their connections to Toy Story, and their connections to Toy Story related subjects like pizza. The wholesomeness backfired just a bit when players posed with their kids, all handling presumably new Toy Story gear, to talk about topics like favorite pizza and favorite Pixar movies – BUT the kickers on both teams posed by themselves, no kids and no wives, but oddly handling a toy version of Hamm, aka the Toy Story piggy bank. Both were both single and ready to mingle and also ready to put both Ham and pepperoni on their pizza – listing those as their favorite toppings. I’m not saying anything or judging these dudes. Shout out to them for showing up. I mean, hey, kickers are always funny in the NFL – unless you’re a fantasy owner or a fan with your game on the line – or Hamm.
There are a couple of other things that made the game fun. There were no commercials – instead the NFL provided NextGen stats and trivia meant to educate kids watching on the game of football. This was mixed in with trivia about Toy Story characters. The card about Zurg was especially funny because Drew Carter added “and he’s Buzz Lightyear’s father” when in fact ZURG IS BUZZ LIGHTYEAR – or at least the Zurg in the 2022 movie was. Maybe Drew Carter in not a real one when it comes to Toy Story, but I enjoyed that he tried. Also in my opinion, the real Zurg is still out there, and Lightyear did NOT break canon. You can read about that in this article: THE REAL ZURG IS IN LIGHTYEAR, YOU JUST HAVE TO LOOK CLOSELY.
The game was so successful that Toy Story was the #1 trend for the entirety of the game – and the other top five trends were all related to the game and/or Toy Story characters. This was on a morning when golf’s Ryder Cup was concluding (another sport that could benefit from the Toy Story treatment).
Also the game stayed interesting throughout, even though the Falcons never really threatened the Jaguars. I’m not sure if this was a product of actual in-game excitement or the excitement created by the Toy Story Game – but I’m leaning toward the latter. And when the final celebration hit for the Jaguars as the clock ticked to zero, I was already looking forward to the next Toy Story game.
Love the energy – even you Bunny!
No Scoops Club 