Toy Story begins with a simple idea: toys are alive whenever people aren't looking, and the most important thing in their lives is the kid who plays with them. Woody, a pull-string cowboy, is Andy's favourite, until a flashy space ranger called Buzz Lightyear arrives as a birthday present and doesn't know he's a toy.
Pixar's Toy Story (1995) was the first fully computer-animated feature film. Four sequels and a spin-off later, it's still the studio's most loved cast. This guide sorts the characters by toy box: Andy's original gang, the villains of each film, the toys at Bonnie's house and those met in Toy Story 4, and the very different Buzz of Lightyear. For Pixar's other casts, see our Pixar characters hub.
- Studio
- Pixar Animation Studios, released by Disney
- First film
- Toy Story (1995), directed by John Lasseter
- Main films
- Toy Story (1995), 2 (1999), 3 (2010), 4 (2019), 5 (2026)
- Spin-off
- Lightyear (2022)
- Leads
- Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen)
- Specials
- Toy Story of Terror! (2013), Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014), plus shorts
Andy's toys: the original gang
These are the toys in Andy's room, the cast most people mean when they say "Toy Story characters." Filter by film to see who joins when.
Woody
Pull-string cowboy · Sheriff of Andy's room
Woody is a 1950s cowboy doll and the unofficial leader of Andy's toys. He runs staff meetings, organises missions and believes that a toy's whole purpose is to be there for its kid. That loyalty is also his flaw: he gets jealous, controlling and scared of being replaced. Each film asks him a harder version of the same question, what is a toy for when the child no longer needs it, and Toy Story 4 gives him an answer few expected.
- Voice
- Tom Hanks
Buzz Lightyear
Space ranger action figure
Buzz arrives in the first film convinced he's a real Space Ranger on a mission against Emperor Zurg, with working wings and a laser. Finding out he's a mass-produced toy breaks him for a while, then becomes the start of his friendship with Woody. After that he's the steady, brave second-in-command, with occasional malfunctions: a reset to factory settings in Toy Story 2 and a stint in Spanish mode in Toy Story 3.
- Voice
- Tim Allen
Jessie
Yodelling cowgirl
Jessie comes from the same Woody's Roundup merchandise line as Woody. She's wild, funny and fearless, but she carries a deep wound: her owner Emily grew up and gave her away, and Jessie is terrified of being abandoned again. Joining Andy's room in Toy Story 2 gives her a family, and by Toy Story 4 she's ready to take on a leadership role.
- Voice
- Joan Cusack
Bullseye
Woody's horse
Bullseye is Woody's trusty toy horse, also from the Roundup line. He doesn't speak and behaves like an eager, affectionate puppy. He's the fastest way across a room and the quickest to offer comfort.
Bo Peep
Porcelain shepherdess
Bo is a lamp figurine from Andy's sister Molly's room and Woody's sweetheart in the first two films. She's absent from Toy Story 3, and in Toy Story 4 she returns transformed: an independent "lost toy" who has learned to live without an owner, with her three-headed sheep and a staff she uses like a hook. She shows Woody there's more than one way to be a good toy.
- Voice
- Annie Potts
Rex
Plastic Tyrannosaurus
Rex is a large green dinosaur with tiny arms and a big worry about not being scary enough. He's anxious, kind-hearted and a keen video gamer, which pays off in Toy Story 2. He panics at the slightest change and is always the first to cheer when things go right.
- Voice
- Wallace Shawn
Hamm
Piggy bank
Hamm is a pink plastic piggy bank with a cork in his belly and a sarcastic streak. He's the room's know-it-all, always ready with a dry comment or a fact about the toy market. In Andy's playtime he's often cast as the villain, Evil Dr. Porkchop.
- Voice
- John Ratzenberger
Slinky Dog
Dachshund with a spring body
Slinky is a loyal toy dog whose metal coil middle lets him stretch across gaps, which makes him useful in rescues. He's Woody's most steadfast supporter in the first film and talks with an easygoing Southern drawl.
- Voice
- Jim Varney (TS1–2), Blake Clark (TS3–4)
Mr. Potato Head
Grumpy spud
Mr. Potato Head is short-tempered and suspicious, especially of Woody in the first film, and he can rearrange his own face when he's angry. His marriage to Mrs. Potato Head brings out a softer side, and he gets a stand-out tortilla gag in Toy Story 3. After Don Rickles died in 2017, Pixar built his Toy Story 4 performance from unused archive recordings.
- Voice
- Don Rickles
Mrs. Potato Head
Mr. Potato Head's wife
Mrs. Potato Head arrives in Toy Story 2 and becomes the room's warm, motherly presence. In Toy Story 3 she can see through a missing eye she left at Andy's house, which is how the toys learn that Andy still cares.
- Voice
- Estelle Harris
The Aliens
Three-eyed squeeze toys
The little green Aliens start as prizes in a claw machine at Pizza Planet, where they worship "the Claw." They later attach themselves to the Potato Heads as adopted children, and in Toy Story 3 they return the favour with the claw at a decisive moment.
- Voice
- Jeff Pidgeon
Sarge and the Green Army Men
Reconnaissance squad
Sarge leads a bucket of plastic soldiers who run Andy's toys' intelligence missions, including the baby monitor scouting run at Andy's birthday party in the first film. They're disciplined, dramatic and loyal to the end. In Toy Story 3 they leave the room before the others, believing their service is over.
- Voice
- R. Lee Ermey (Sarge)
Wheezy
Penguin with a broken squeaker
Wheezy is a small rubber penguin who's been shelved because his squeaker broke, and his story in Toy Story 2 shows Woody what happens to damaged toys. Once repaired, he gets a big musical finale moment.
- Voice
- Joe Ranft
The humans
Andy Davis
Woody and Buzz's owner
Andy is a kind, imaginative boy who writes his name on the soles of his toys' feet. In Toy Story 3 he's 17 and leaving for college, and what to do with the toys becomes the film's central question.
- Voice
- John Morris
Bonnie Anderson
The toys' second owner
Bonnie is the imaginative little girl the toys go to at the end of Toy Story 3. Her nervous first day at kindergarten orientation is how Forky is born in Toy Story 4.
- Voice
- Emily Hahn (TS3), Madeleine McGraw (TS4)
Sid Phillips
Toy-wrecking neighbour
Sid lives next door and blows up, burns and rebuilds toys for fun. His bedroom is the first film's haunted house, and the toys' revenge on him is one of the franchise's best set pieces.
- Voice
- Erik von Detten
Mrs. Davis
Andy's mother
Andy's mum is a busy single parent, seen mostly from the toys' point of view. Her quiet goodbye in Andy's empty room in Toy Story 3 is one of the series' most affecting moments.
- Voice
- Laurie Metcalf
Villains and antagonists
Toy Story villains are usually toys who were hurt by a kid, which makes them dark mirrors of Woody's fears.
Stinky Pete
The Prospector · Toy Story 2
Stinky Pete is the mint-in-box Prospector from Woody's Roundup. He has never been played with, and he's bitter about it. He seems like a gentle mentor until it becomes clear he will do anything to get the complete Roundup set shipped to a museum in Japan, with Woody in it. He ends up in a little girl's backpack, about to be loved in a way he never wanted.
- Voice
- Kelsey Grammer
Al McWhiggin
Owner of Al's Toy Barn
Al is a toy collector and shop owner who steals Woody from a yard sale to complete his Roundup set and sell it. He's a greedy adult who treats toys as money, which makes him the opposite of Andy.
- Voice
- Wayne Knight
Emperor Zurg
Buzz's nemesis
Zurg is the purple-caped evil emperor from Buzz's backstory. A toy version shows up in Toy Story 2 for a parody of a famous sci-fi reveal, and a very different Zurg is the villain of Lightyear.
- Voice
- Andrew Stanton (TS2), James Brolin (Lightyear)
Lotso
Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear · Toy Story 3
Lotso is a pink, strawberry-scented bear who welcomes the toys to Sunnyside Daycare with folksy charm, then turns out to run it like a prison. Years ago he was lost and replaced by his owner, and he decided love from kids is a lie. At the landfill he chooses to abandon the toys, and he ends the film strapped to the front of a garbage truck.
- Voice
- Ned Beatty
Ken
Fashion-obsessed doll · Sunnyside
Ken is Lotso's vain sidekick, with a dream house and a wardrobe he's very proud of. His romance with Andy's sister's Barbie pulls him away from Lotso, and he ends up helping run a fairer Sunnyside.
- Voice
- Michael Keaton
Big Baby
Lotso's enforcer
Big Baby is a large, silent baby doll with a lazy eye who works as Lotso's muscle. He was lost along with Lotso, and finding out that Lotso lied about their owner turns him against his boss.
Gabby Gabby
1950s pull-string doll · Toy Story 4
Gabby Gabby lives in the Second Chance Antiques shop and has never been loved because her voice box was faulty from the factory. She wants Woody's voice box so she can finally have a child. She is threatening at first, with her silent ventriloquist dummies, but the film treats her with more sympathy than any earlier villain.
- Voice
- Christina Hendricks
Bonnie's toys and the Toy Story 4 newcomers
When Andy hands his toys to Bonnie at the end of Toy Story 3, they join a playroom with its own personalities. Toy Story 4 then adds a homemade toy and a batch of new faces from a travelling carnival and an antique shop.
Forky
Spork turned toy
Forky is a spork with pipe-cleaner arms and googly eyes that Bonnie makes on her first day at kindergarten orientation. He believes he's trash and keeps trying to throw himself away. Teaching him why he matters to Bonnie is Woody's mission in the fourth film.
- Voice
- Tony Hale
Mr. Pricklepants
Thespian hedgehog
A lederhosen-wearing hedgehog who takes every playtime as serious theatre. He's one of the toys who take Woody in when he lands at Bonnie's house, and he has a lot of opinions about drama.
- Voice
- Timothy Dalton
Trixie
Triceratops
Trixie is a blue dinosaur with an enthusiasm for computers and a quick wit. She and Rex bond immediately over being dinosaurs.
- Voice
- Kristen Schaal
Dolly
Rag doll · Leader of Bonnie's toys
Dolly runs Bonnie's room in a calm, practical way, which sometimes puts her at odds with Woody's habit of taking charge.
- Voice
- Bonnie Hunt
Buttercup
Unicorn plush
Buttercup looks like the sweetest toy in the room and talks like a cynical joker. He's a reliable source of deadpan one-liners.
- Voice
- Jeff Garlin
Duke Caboom
Canadian stunt-rider toy
Duke is a motorbike daredevil whose kid abandoned him when he couldn't jump as far as in the TV advert. He poses dramatically and has a lot to prove, and Woody needs his jump.
- Voice
- Keanu Reeves
Ducky and Bunny
Carnival prize plushes
Ducky and Bunny are stitched-together prizes at a carnival booth who are desperate to be won. They hijack every scene with elaborate, violent revenge fantasies that never happen.
- Voice
- Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele
Giggle McDimples
Miniature police officer
Giggle is a tiny toy from a pocket playset and Bo Peep's sidekick. She works as Bo's scout and reality-checker, and she's blunt about Woody's feelings.
- Voice
- Ally Maki
Lightyear: the movie Andy saw
Lightyear (2022), directed by Angus MacLane, is presented as the sci-fi film that made young Andy want a Buzz Lightyear toy. Its Buzz is a human Space Ranger stranded on a hostile planet, and none of the toys appear.
Buzz Lightyear (Lightyear)
Space Ranger
A proud, rule-following ranger who blames himself for stranding his crew and keeps testing hyperspeed fuel to get them home, losing years each time he flies.
- Voice
- Chris Evans
Izzy Hawthorne
Rookie and granddaughter of Buzz's commander
Izzy wants to live up to her grandmother but is afraid of space itself. She grows into the leader of Buzz's ragtag team.
- Voice
- Keke Palmer
Alisha Hawthorne
Buzz's commander and best friend
Alisha builds a life on the planet while Buzz keeps leaping years ahead, and the film's opening montage of her life is its emotional core.
- Voice
- Uzo Aduba
Sox
Robot cat
Sox is a robotic companion cat assigned to Buzz, and it quietly turns out to be the most capable member of the team.
- Voice
- Peter Sohn
Mo Morrison and Darby Steel
Junior Zap Patrol recruits
Mo is a nervous, clumsy volunteer and Darby an elderly parolee who loves explosives. Both join the mission and prove Buzz needs a team.
- Voice
- Taika Waititi (Mo), Dale Soules (Darby)
Zurg (Lightyear)
Villain
The film's Zurg is revealed to be an older Buzz from an alternate future, who wants to undo the mistake that stranded everyone at any cost.
- Voice
- James Brolin
Toy Story voice cast
| Character | Voice actor | Films |
|---|---|---|
| Woody | Tom Hanks | TS1–5 |
| Buzz Lightyear | Tim Allen | TS1–5 |
| Jessie | Joan Cusack | TS2–4 |
| Bo Peep | Annie Potts | TS1, TS2, TS4 |
| Rex | Wallace Shawn | TS1–4 |
| Hamm | John Ratzenberger | TS1–4 |
| Slinky Dog | Jim Varney / Blake Clark | TS1–2 / TS3–4 |
| Mr. Potato Head | Don Rickles | TS1–4 |
| Mrs. Potato Head | Estelle Harris | TS2–4 |
| Aliens | Jeff Pidgeon | TS1–4 |
| Andy | John Morris | TS1–3 |
| Sid | Erik von Detten | TS1 |
| Stinky Pete | Kelsey Grammer | TS2 |
| Al McWhiggin | Wayne Knight | TS2 |
| Lotso | Ned Beatty | TS3 |
| Ken | Michael Keaton | TS3 |
| Forky | Tony Hale | TS4 |
| Gabby Gabby | Christina Hendricks | TS4 |
| Duke Caboom | Keanu Reeves | TS4 |
| Buzz (Lightyear) | Chris Evans | Lightyear |
| Izzy Hawthorne | Keke Palmer | Lightyear |
| Lilypad | Greta Lee | TS5 |
Tom Hanks's younger brother Jim Hanks has long voiced Woody for video games, toys and some shorts, which is why the character sounds the same across so many products. For more on the actors behind animated roles, see our voice actors directory.
Watch order and films
Unlike most franchises, Toy Story is easy: watch it in release order. The only wrinkle is Lightyear, which is a film-within-the-film and can be watched at any point.
- Toy Story (1995) — Woody's jealousy of Buzz, Sid's house and the race to catch Andy's moving van.
- Toy Story 2 (1999) — Woody is stolen by Al and discovers he's a valuable collectible; introduces Jessie, Bullseye and Stinky Pete.
- Toy Story 3 (2010) — Andy leaves for college, the toys end up at Sunnyside Daycare and meet Lotso.
- Toy Story 4 (2019) — a road trip with Bonnie's family, Forky, Bo Peep's return and Gabby Gabby.
- Lightyear (2022) — the sci-fi origin of the hero the toy was based on.
- Toy Story 5 (2026) — Woody and Buzz return, with the toys facing technology and a new character, Lilypad.
What Toy Story is about
Each film looks at the same fear from a new angle: being outgrown. Toy Story is about being replaced by a newer toy. Toy Story 2 asks whether it's better to be preserved forever or loved and eventually forgotten. Toy Story 3 is about letting go, for both the toys and Andy. Toy Story 4 suggests that once a toy's job with one child is done, it might choose a different life.
- Woody and Buzz are one of animation's great friendships, built on rivalry first. Their opening feud is one of the iconic rivalries that turned into loyalty.
- The villains are almost all neglected toys: the Prospector never played with, Lotso replaced, Gabby Gabby never wanted. They show what Woody could become if he let fear win.
- The toy box is a found family. The toys argue, hold meetings and rescue each other, and when they all hold hands in the third film's landfill, it's clear the bond goes beyond their owner.
Pixar's later films took the same "what if X had feelings" idea into emotions with Inside Out 2, and you can find every Pixar and Disney character name in our Disney and Pixar A–Z.
All Toy Story character names A–Z
A–B
- Al McWhiggin — toy collector (TS2)
- Aliens — Pizza Planet squeeze toys
- Alisha Hawthorne — commander (Lightyear)
- Andy Davis — original owner
- Big Baby — Sunnyside (TS3)
- Bo Peep — shepherdess
- Bonnie Anderson — second owner
- Bullseye — Woody's horse
- Buttercup — unicorn (Bonnie's toys)
- Buzz Lightyear — space ranger
D–F
- Darby Steel — recruit (Lightyear)
- Dolly — rag doll (Bonnie's toys)
- Ducky and Bunny — carnival prizes (TS4)
- Duke Caboom — stunt rider (TS4)
- Forky — spork (TS4)
G–I
- Gabby Gabby — antique doll (TS4)
- Giggle McDimples — mini police officer (TS4)
- Hamm — piggy bank
- Izzy Hawthorne — rookie (Lightyear)
J–L
- Jessie — cowgirl
- Ken — doll (TS3)
- Lilypad — tablet (TS5)
- Lotso — villain (TS3)
M
- Mo Morrison — recruit (Lightyear)
- Mr. Potato Head — spud
- Mr. Pricklepants — hedgehog (Bonnie's toys)
- Mrs. Davis — Andy's mother
- Mrs. Potato Head — spud (TS2 on)
R–S
- Rex — dinosaur
- Sarge — Green Army Men leader
- Sid Phillips — neighbour (TS1)
- Slinky Dog — spring dog
- Sox — robot cat (Lightyear)
- Stinky Pete — Prospector (TS2)
T–Z
- Trixie — triceratops (Bonnie's toys)
- Wheezy — penguin (TS2)
- Woody — cowboy
- Zurg — emperor, Buzz's nemesis
Frequently asked questions
Who are the main Toy Story characters?
Woody, the pull-string cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear, the space ranger, lead every film. Around them are Jessie, Bullseye, Bo Peep, Rex, Hamm, Slinky Dog, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and the three-eyed Aliens. Their owners are Andy in the first three films and Bonnie from the end of Toy Story 3 onward.
Who voices Woody and Buzz?
Tom Hanks voices Woody and Tim Allen voices Buzz Lightyear in the main films. In the 2022 spin-off Lightyear, which is about the in-universe hero the toy was based on, Buzz is voiced by Chris Evans.
Who is the villain in each Toy Story movie?
Sid Phillips, the toy-wrecking neighbour, in Toy Story; Stinky Pete the Prospector (with toy collector Al as a greedy human obstacle) in Toy Story 2; Lotso the strawberry-scented bear in Toy Story 3; and Gabby Gabby, a more sympathetic antagonist, in Toy Story 4. Emperor Zurg is Buzz's nemesis across the franchise and the villain of Lightyear.
What is the name of the cowgirl in Toy Story?
Jessie, the yodelling cowgirl, introduced in Toy Story 2 and voiced by Joan Cusack. She's part of Woody's Roundup, the vintage TV merchandise line that also includes Woody, Bullseye the horse and Stinky Pete.
What happened to Bo Peep in Toy Story 3?
She isn't in it. Toy Story 3 only mentions that she was given away in the years before the film. Toy Story 4 shows her leaving and brings her back as a confident lost toy who lives without a kid.
Is Lightyear part of Toy Story?
Yes, as a story within the story. The opening text explains that in 1995 Andy saw a movie about Buzz Lightyear, and that's why he wanted the toy. Lightyear is that movie, so its Buzz is a human space ranger, not a toy.
Is there a Toy Story 5?
Yes. Toy Story 5 was released in June 2026, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen back as Woody and Buzz. Pixar promoted it as the toys meeting the world of technology, and it introduces a frog-shaped tablet called Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee. This guide focuses on the earlier films.