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Witness History

Toy Story: the first digitally-animated feature film

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Released in 1995, this buddy movie about a cowboy doll and a toy astronaut was the first to use entirely computer-generated images.

The story, about a group of toys who come alive when humans are not around, appealed to audiences around the world.

In 2017, animator Doug Sweetland spoke to Ashley Byrne about his work on the Pixar film. This was a Made in Manchester production.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Photo: Woody and Buzz Lightyear toy figures. Credit: Getty Images/Oli Scarff)

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:07.0

Hello, I'm Emma Barnett. For most of my career, I've been on live radio, and I love it.

0:13.3

But I've always wondered, what if we'd had more time? How much deeper does the story go?

0:19.2

I remember having this very sharp thought

0:21.7

that what you do right now,

0:23.6

this is it, this defines your life.

0:26.0

I'm ready to talk and ready to listen.

0:28.3

I'm insulted by how little the medical community is ever bothered with this.

0:33.9

Ready to talk with me, Emma Barnard, is my new podcast.

0:37.0

Listen on BBC Sounds.

0:43.2

Hello and welcome to witness history from the BBC World Service. This is the podcast

0:48.2

that takes you back to a key moment in history and we bring it to life through incredible archive

0:53.6

and the amazing memories of a key witness.

0:57.0

Episodes are just nine minutes long and they come out every weekday.

1:02.5

I'm taking you back 30 years to the release of Toy Story, an animated feature film that would

1:08.6

become not only a box office smash, but would also revolutionize

1:13.3

the world of animation. In 2017, Ashley Byrne spoke to animator and director Doug Sweetland.

1:26.6

It's kind of about jealousy.

1:28.9

Woody's this boy, Andy's favorite toy.

1:31.5

As such, he's sort of the leader of the toys in Andy's bedroom

1:33.9

until this space toy comes along and kind of replaces him.

1:38.2

It was the 22nd of November 1995 when filmgoers were taken to infinity and beyond

...

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