Each of their involvement plays critical comedic or dramatic development in the long-spanning narrative that is Toy Story. In Toy Story 2, we, the audience, are first introduced to many of the beloved characters we now love from this series, including Wheezy, Jessie, Bullseye, Barbie and Mrs. Toy Story 1 is made all the more impactful and narratively complete thanks to the evolution made in Toy Story 2, while Toy Story 3's wonderful finale celebrates its tear-inducing final beats thanks to the thematic groundwork that was made wholly realized in Toy Story 2.
But it was thanks to Toy Story 2 that these ideas were either fertilized or expanded upon, proving to be the lynchpin in the series that made this franchise as great as it is today. Rejection is a key concept in Toy Story 1, and the acceptance that comes from knowing that your baby is finally leaving the nest was ultimately given a beautiful and emotional resolution with Toy Story 3.
Namely, that Toy Story 2 is a meatier, deeper movie that touches on subjects that audiences young and old can recognize, understand and appreciate, with messages that resonate with viewers of all ages, particularly as they get older: specifically, the passage of time, the insecurities that come with the fear of rejection and how we learn to make peace with knowing that we'll one day have to say goodbye and "so long, partner" to the people we love. It's a universal story that's told with a wealth of heart, intelligence and humor, and it's a great film that helped paved the way for what Toy Story 2 would accomplish. At its core, the original Toy Story is a tale of sibling rivalry, one that helps younger audiences recognize that it's vital to accept, care and love the people in your family, particularly your younger brothers and sisters - even if they take the focus away from you.
In addition to these stylistic additions, Toy Story 2 puts into motion many of the central elements that make the Toy Story movies such emotionally endearing successes for all generations, while also transitioning all the elements that made the first one great. The expanded runtime and the additional characters also allows Toy Story 2 to have more possibilities to grow and more opportunities to flourish, which Toy Story 2 does plentifully and impressively without compromising story. Toy Story 2 is benefitted nicely by including fresh and exhilarating spurts of invigoration, particularly with different types of films, including elements of science-fiction, body horror, western and action-comedy, to name but a few. I like to think this mad-rush shooting style helped to give this sequel more room to play with style, genre and mood compared to the original. It's also more impressive that this sequel is willing to be slower and more contemplative in certain key sequences found primarily throughout the second half of this movie. For instance, the animation in Toy Story 2 is above-and-(infinity and) beyond better than the first movie, with designs that are more fleshed out - even despite the intense pressure of the fast-ticking clock -and better rendered thanks to the advancements in Pixar's top-grade animation.
That exhilarating rush to the finish line makes a lot of things that work in Toy Story 2 all-the-more incredible. The pressure was on for this sequel, this Hail Mary, with the hope being that it wouldn't be a disaster and no thought that it could turn out great. With Pixar focusing most of its efforts on A Bug's Life at this time, which ultimately (and ironically) became one of Pixar's less noteworthy titles in its otherwise well-established history, Toy Story 2 was a side project, the film that was being worked on in opposite offices in mad dashes at an unbelievable rate.