That Toy Story Rumor About What Happened To Andy's Dad Is 'Fake News' Says Writer
Toy Story doesn't go into great detail about Andy's family. We know he has a mother and a sister, but the films never mention the kid's father. However, one viral theory claims that the mysterious parent is the original owner of Woody, Mr. Potato Head, and Slinky Dog, and he gave the toys to Andy before he died from polio-related issues. It's an interesting backstory that could answer one of the Toy Story franchise's biggest unanswered questions, but fans should take it with a pinch of salt.
Andrew Stanton — who's worked on all four Toy Story movies and probably knows the story better than anyone — took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to dismiss the report. "Complete and utter fake news. Everyone go back to your homes. Nothing to see here, folks. #iwasthere," he wrote (per The Hollywood Reporter). The original tweet has since been deleted.
If this conversation began in a forum, most people would probably dismiss it as a fan theory. That said, it was supposedly told to an influencer by one of Pixar's leading creators.
Pixar's Joe Ranft may have told Andy's father's backstory to a YouTuber
Andrew Stanton's tweet was a response to a story shared by Mike Mozart, a product reviewer for the JeepersMedia YouTube channel. While speaking to SuperCarlinBrothers, Mozart said Pixar's Joe Ranft relayed the story about Andy's father to him after Mozart was called in to work as a toy consultant on one of the movies. The story spread from there, but is there any truth to it?
While Stanton's claim has more behind-the-scenes merit than Mozart's tale, Redditor u/LegoK9 posits that the YouTuber might still have had that conversation with Ranft. "I guess Joe never discussed this stuff with Andrew Stanton. Or maybe Joe was BS-ing and made it all up on the stop after the fact."
A similar sentiment was echoed by another Reddit user, who noted that Stanton could have shared more information to debunk the theory more sufficiently. "All he did is say 'nah,' and 'Toy Story' had four writers. I was hoping for some actual statements on why the backstory did not work."
Is it possible that Ranft came up with the backstory and didn't inform Pixar's other staff members? Was he messing with Mozart? Did the conversation even happen at all? This matter hasn't been settled yet, but hopefully the upcoming "Toy Story 5" will clear up the story of Andy's dad.