Toy Story 3 (2 page)

“C
an anyone see anything?” Rex asked as the car came to a stop in front of Sunnyside Daycare. The toys looked through the box’s handholds.

“There’s a playground!” Jessie said, pointing to a whitewashed wall. They could hear children on the other side yelling and laughing.

Hamm turned to Woody. “So much for ‘sad and lonely.’”

“Okay, calm down, guys,” Woody said. He didn’t want the toys to get too excited about Sunnyside. After all, they belonged with Andy.

“Woody, it’s nice!” Rex squealed. “See, the door has a rainbow on it!”

Andy’s mom took the box and carried it into the building. A receptionist was sitting at the front desk. A young girl sat on the desk beside her, playing with a toy monkey.

“I just wanted to drop these old toys off,” Andy’s mom said. She smiled at the little girl and chatted with the receptionist. Andy and Molly had gone to the daycare center when they were little children, so the receptionist knew Mrs. Davis.

After Andy’s mom left, the receptionist took the box into one of the classrooms and set it on a counter. As soon as she was gone, the toys scrambled to look at their new home through the box’s handholds.

It was a beautiful room painted in cheerful colors. Bright paper butterflies hung from the ceiling. And everywhere the toys looked, there were children playing. To Andy’s toys, it looked like heaven.

“Okay, everyone,” the teacher called as a bell rang. “Recess!” She opened a door to the playground.

With a cheer, the kids put down their toys and raced outside into the sunshine. The teacher turned off the lights and closed the door behind her.

Andy’s toys elbowed one another. Everyone was trying to get a better view.

“Whoa!” Slinky cried as the box tipped forward. It fell off the counter, and Andy’s toys spilled out.

The toys that already lived in the classroom turned. For a moment, they gaped at Andy’s toys in surprise.

“New toys!” one of the Sunnyside toys cried.

Suddenly, Woody and his friends were surrounded by cheerful toys. Everyone was shaking hands and talking at once.

“Well, howdy!” Jessie said to a jack-in-the-box. “Glad to meetcha!” A muscle-bound action figure with a fly head made Mrs. Potato Head giggle. A bunch of tiny dinosaurs surrounded Rex, looking up at him in awe.

A crane toy circled the Aliens. “The Claw!” they cried.

The crane reminded the Aliens of the claw arcade game at Pizza Planet, where Andy had won them.

A large toy truck zoomed up. It screeched to a stop and spun around. A pink strawberry-scented teddy bear was sitting in the back.

“Well, hello there!” the bear said with an easy smile. “Welcome to Sunnyside, folks! I’m Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear! But please, call me Lotso!”

Buzz stepped forward and held out his hand. “Buzz Lightyear. We come in pea—”

Lotso grabbed Buzz up in a huge bear hug. “First thing you’ve got to know about me is I’m a hugger!”

Lotso smiled at the rest of Andy’s toys. “Look at y’all! You’ve been through a lot today, haven’t you?”

Mrs. Potato Head got a tear in her eye. “Oh, it’s been horrible.”

“Well, you’re safe now,” Lotso told her. “We’re all cast-offs here. We’ve been dumped, donated, yard-saled, secondhanded, and just plain thrown out. But just you wait. You’ll find being donated was the best thing that ever happened to ya!”

“Mr. Lotso,” Rex piped up, “do toys here get played with every day?”

“All day long,” Lotso assured him. “Five days a week.”

“But what happens when the kids grow up?” asked Jessie.

“Well now, I’ll tell you.” Lotso led the toys over to a wall covered in classroom photos—year after year of daycare kids. “When the kids get old, new ones come in.”

The toys couldn’t have hoped for more. “It’s a miracle!” Mrs. Potato Head cried.

Her husband nudged Woody. “And you wanted us to stay at Andy’s!”

“Because we’re Andy’s toys!” Woody exclaimed.

Lotso put an arm around Woody’s shoulder. “So you got donated by this ‘Andy,’ huh? Well, it’s his loss, Sheriff! He can’t hurt you no more,” the bear said.

Woody shook his head. Lotso had it all wrong. Andy would never hurt them!

But Lotso wasn’t listening. “Now, let’s get you all settled in,” he said, turning to the others. “Ken?” he called. “Where is that boy? Ken? New toys!”

A Ken doll appeared in the upstairs window of a dollhouse. “Far out!” he exclaimed. Ken took the dollhouse elevator to the first floor and walked out, flashing a brilliant smile.

“Folks, if you wanna step right this wa—” Turning, Ken came face to face with Barbie. His eyes widened. “Hi! I’m Ken.”

“Barbie,” she said breathlessly. They stared at each other. It was love at first sight!

Lotso finally pulled Ken and Barbie apart. “Come on, Ken. Recess don’t last forever!”

“Right on, Lotso!” Ken said, shaking off the spell that Barbie had cast over him. “This way, everybody!”

“You got a lot to look forward to, folks,” Lotso said, beaming. “The little ones love new toys!”

“What a nice bear!” Buzz remarked as they followed Ken and Lotso.

“And he smells like strawberries!” Rex added.

Woody sighed, exasperated.

“Here at Sunnyside, we’ve got just about anything a toy could ask for,” Ken announced as he led them on a tour of the room.

Lotso pointed out shelves of containers filled with supplies. “Spare parts, superglue, and enough fresh batteries to choke a hippo.”

Ken opened a closet door, revealing a workshop. Toys were busy stitching rips, combing tangled hair, adding stuffing, and polishing plastic.

“Our repair shop will keep you stuffed, puffed, and lightly buffed!” Ken explained to Andy’s toys.

They arrived back at Ken’s dollhouse. “And this, well, this is where I live. It has a disco, a dune buggy, and a whole room just for trying on clothes.”

Barbie gasped. “You have everything!”

“Except someone to share it with,” Ken said. He gave Barbie a shy look, then walked ahead.

Barbie sighed dreamily.

“You need anything at all,” Lotso said as they reached the end of the room, “you just come talk to me. Here we are!” Lotso knocked on the door of a bathroom. A gigantic baby doll opened the door. He was covered with ballpoint pen tattoos. Andy’s toys stared, not sure what to make of the tough-looking doll.

“Well, thank you, Big Baby,” Lotso said to the doll. “Why don’t you come meet our new friends?”

Big Baby cooed at Andy’s toys.

“Poor Baby,” Lotso said in a low voice. “We were thrown out together. Abandoned by the same owner!”

The pink bear led Andy’s toys through the bathroom and into another classroom. “And here’s where you folks will be staying—the Caterpillar Room!”

Andy’s toys gazed around them. The room was decorated with finger paintings. There were building blocks, art supplies, tiny tables and chairs, and toys everywhere.

“Look at this place!” Jessie said. Buzz let out a low whistle.

Ding! Ding!
Woody looked down. A toy telephone bumped against his boot. “Hey, little fella,” Woody said. The toy rolled over his boot again.
Ding! Ding!

“In a few minutes that bell’s gonna ring, and you’ll get the playtime that you’ve been dreaming of,” Lotso told Andy’s toys.

Rex could hardly contain his excitement. “Real play! I can’t wait!”

“Now, if you’ll excuse us, we best be heading back,” Lotso said. He climbed into the truck that was waiting for him. “Welcome to Sunnyside, folks!”

Ken grabbed Barbie’s hands. “Barbie, come with me! I know we’ve just met, but when I look at you I feel like we were . . .”

“. . . made for each other!” Barbie and Ken cried in unison. They both gasped. Barbie said goodbye to her friends. Then they hurried over to the truck and climbed in back with Lotso. The truck roared off. Big Baby closed the door behind them.

The toys could hear children laughing and playing outside. “Why can’t time go faster?” Rex cried.

Woody stepped forward. “Look, everyone, it’s nice here, I admit,” he said. “But we need to go home now.”

His friends glanced at one another. Was he crazy? “We can have a new life here, Woody,” Jessie told him. “A chance to make kids happy again.”

“Why don’t you stay?” Slinky urged.

“I can’t!” Woody cried. “I have a kid.
You
have a kid— Andy! If he wants us at college, or in the attic, then that’s where we should be! Now, I’m going home. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome! Come on, Buzz!”

He started to walk off, but Buzz didn’t follow.

Woody turned. “Buzz?”

The space ranger looked at him sadly. “Our mission with Andy is complete, Woody. . . .”

“How can you say that?” Woody cried.

“And what’s important now is that we stay together,” Buzz finished.

“We wouldn’t even
be
together if it weren’t for Andy!” Woody pointed to Buzz’s foot. “Look under your boot, Buzz! You too, Jessie! Whose name is written there, huh?”

The toys stared at the ground. Finally Rex said what they were all thinking. “Maybe Andy doesn’t care about us anymore.”

Woody was shocked. “Of course he does!”

“Woody,
wake up!
” Jessie raised her voice in frustration.

“It’s over! Andy is
all grown up!
”

“I can’t believe how selfish you all are,” Woody snapped, glaring at his friends. “So this is it? After all we’ve been through?”

Buzz stepped forward and held out his hand. But Woody didn’t shake it. Instead, he straightened his hat and headed for the door. Bullseye trailed after him.

“Bullseye, no,” Woody told the trusty horse. “You need to stay.”

He turned toward the door again, and again Bullseye followed him.

“Bullseye, no, I said
stay!
” Woody’s voice sounded harsher than he meant it to. “Look,” he added gently. “I don’t want you left alone in the attic, okay? Now, stay.” He patted the horse.

Keys jingled in the lock. Someone was at the door.

“I gotta go,” Woody told his friends.

The receptionist opened the door and walked into the classroom. Woody slipped through the open door and into the hallway. A janitor almost saw him, but Woody grabbed on to the underside of a rolling trash cart. The janitor wheeled the cart through the lobby, toward the exit. But at the last moment, the janitor veered off toward the bathroom.

“No!” Woody cried, frustrated.

When the janitor started cleaning the sinks, Woody sneaked into a toilet stall. There was an open window over the tank.

Carefully, Woody climbed onto the toilet tank. He hauled himself outside through the window and climbed up a drainpipe. From there he scrambled onto the roof.

But when he looked down, he saw that the daycare center’s high wall was too far away for him to jump over. Woody frowned. How would he get out?

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew his hat off. Woody chased it as it skidded across the roof. The hat landed underneath a kite that was tangled in a gutter. That gave Woody an idea.

The cowboy settled his hat back on his head. Then he grabbed the kite and held it overhead like a hang glider. He ran across the roof and leaped. Woody soared over the playground and landed outside the wall. The cowboy laughed in triumph. He’d made it!

But before he could let go of the kite, another gust of wind yanked him back into the air. He rose higher and higher. The kite dipped and swirled. Woody clung to the crossbar, hanging on for dear life.

Snap!

The crossbar broke. Woody yelped as he plunged toward the ground. He crashed into a tree. His hat flew off as he tumbled through the branches. He came to a stop just inches from the ground.

Slowly, Woody opened one eye, then the other. He was safe! But he was stuck. His pull string had caught on a branch. That was what had broken his fall.

“Reach for the sky!” Woody’s voice box said as he swung around, struggling to free the string.

At that moment, the receptionist’s daughter, Bonnie, looked up from her game of hopscotch. She saw Woody dangling right in front of her. She glanced around, clearly wondering if he belonged to anyone. But no one else was nearby. Bonnie tugged Woody from the tree. “You’re my favorite deputy!” his voice box said as his string snapped back into place.

“
Bonnie!” her mother called from the car. She honked the horn.

“I’m coming!” Bonnie shoved Woody into her backpack and ran to meet her mother.

“Oh, great!” Woody groaned inside the bag as the car pulled away. Who knew where he was headed now?

Andy was going to college soon—and if Woody couldn’t find a way home, Andy would leave without him!

B
ack in the Caterpillar Room, Bullseye whinnied sadly. Jessie patted him. She knew he missed Woody. “Oh, it’s going to be okay, Bullseye.”

“Woody’s going to college with Andy,” Buzz added. “It’s what he always wanted.”

“Oooh!” Hamm said from the windowsill. He was watching the kids on the playground. “They’re lining up out there!”

“Places, everyone!” Buzz called.

The bell rang. The toys heard kids yelling and laughing in the hallway. Footsteps pounded toward the door.

“At last!” Rex shouted, spreading his arms wide. “I’m gonna get played with!” He faced the door. “Come to Papa!”

Buzz looked around. He noticed that the other Caterpillar Room toys were edging away from the door. They ducked into cubbies and hid behind the furniture.

Something wasn’t right. Buzz was starting to warn his friend, when the doors flew open, swatting Rex across the room. The toys went limp as a group of toddlers thundered in. Eager hands grabbed Andy’s toys.

A girl and a boy stretched Slinky much too far. A boy jammed Mrs. Potato Head into a train and smashed it into a wall so all her parts flew off. A little girl used Jessie’s hair as a paintbrush. Another little girl covered Hamm in glue, glitter, and dried macaroni.

A girl was using Buzz’s head as a hammer until a boy stole the paper crown she was wearing. She screamed and tossed Buzz away. He landed on the windowsill, where he could see across the courtyard into the Butterfly Room.

It was a completely different world. In the Butterfly Room, the children held Lotso and his friends while the teacher read to them. The kids cuddled the toys lovingly.

It really was heaven in there. But here—

A boy’s hand reached up and grabbed Buzz, pulling him back into the fray.

“There’s a snake in my boot!” Woody’s voice box announced. He was in Bonnie’s room.

Bonnie pulled his string again. “I’d like to join your posse, boys, but first I’m gonna sing a little song,” said Woody’s voice box.

Bonnie smiled. “A sheriff!” She set Woody in a chair at a table surrounded by stuffed animals.

“Move over, Mr. Pricklepants!” Bonnie said, pushing aside a hedgehog in lederhosen. “We have a guest!” Bonnie hopped from foot to foot. “You want some coffee?” She set out some cups and pretended to pour from a pitcher. “It’s good for you, but don’t drink too much or you’ll have to— Be right back!” Bonnie darted out the door.

As soon as she was gone, Woody looked around. The other toys were still frozen in place. “Pssst! Hey! Hello!” Woody whispered to the white unicorn across from him. “Can you tell me where I am?”

The hedgehog shushed Woody.

“The guy’s just asking a question,” the unicorn said.

“Well, excuse me!” huffed the hedgehog. “I am trying to stay in character!”

“My name’s Buttercup,” the unicorn told Woody.

The hedgehog shushed him.

“I’m Trixie,” put in a plastic triceratops.

Mr. Pricklepants scowled at her. “Shhh!”

Trixie shushed him right back.

Woody waved, trying to get their attention. “Guys, hey! Look, I don’t know where I am. . . .”

“We’re either in a café in Paris or a coffee shop in New Jersey,” Trixie told him.

“We do a lot of improv here,” Buttercup explained. “Just stay loose, have fun, and you’ll be fine!”

Woody shook his head. These toys didn’t understand! But before he could ask again, a toilet flushed. Bonnie ran back into the room.

“Who wants lunch?” She pushed the buttons on a toy microwave, then pulled out a plate. She placed a plastic hamburger in front of Woody. “It has a secret ingredient,” she said, lifting the bun to show him. “Jelly beans!” She popped a candy into her mouth and pulled Woody’s string again.

“Somebody’s poisoned the water hole!” his voice box announced.

Bonnie spat out the jellybean. “Poison? Who would do such a mean thing?” She turned and picked up another doll, then let out an evil-sounding cackle. “
Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!
The scary witch!” Bonnie flew the witch around the room. “Look out!”

Bonnie ran into her closet. “We need a spaceship to get away from the witch!”

While she was gone, Trixie leaned over to Woody. “You’re doing great!”

“Are you classically trained?” Mr. Pricklepants asked.

“Look,” Woody said, “I just need to get out of here—”

“There is no way out!” Buttercup cried dramatically.

Woody stared at him in horror.

“Just kidding,” the unicorn said. “Door’s right over there.”

“I found the spaceship!” Bonnie cried. The toys went limp as she darted out of the closet. She was carrying a rocket made from a shoe box.

“Quick, get in!” Bonnie said in Woody’s voice. “Fasten your seat belts! Close your tray tables!” She shoved all the toys into the box. Then she put the box on a bedsheet. “Hold on, it might get a little bumpy! Three. Two. One. Blastoff!” Bonnie yanked the sheet, sending the toys flying into the air.

Everyone landed on the bed. “Yee-haw!” Bonnie hugged Woody tight. “You did it, cowboy! You saved us!”

Woody smiled at the other toys. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d enjoyed himself so much.

“Oh, I’ve got a kink in my slink!” Slinky groaned. He looked around at his friends, who were scattered across the floor of the Caterpillar Room.

“My tail!” Rex cried. “Where’s my tail?”

The Potato Heads sorted through their parts. The little kids had mixed them all up!

“I don’t recall playtime being quite that strenuous,” Buzz said, cracking his back.

“Andy never played with us like that!” Rex complained as he pulled his tail out of a pegboard.

The toys looked at one another. What could they do? “We have to make the best of it,” Jessie said finally.

“We should be in the Butterfly Room!” Mrs. Potato Head griped. “With the big kids!”

“We’ll get this straightened out,” Buzz promised. “I’ll go talk to Lotso about moving us to the other room.”

Buzz strode over to the bathroom door. He climbed a table and leaped to the doorknob. He jumped up and down on it, but it wouldn’t budge. “Blast. Try that one!” He pointed to the hallway door.

Jessie leaped and caught the knob. “It’s locked!”

“Same here!” Slinky cried from the door to the playground.

Buzz dropped to the floor. “Try the windows.”

Hamm examined the lock with a knowing eye. “Eh, negatory. It’s a Fenster Schneckler three-eighty—finest childproof lock in the world.”

Mrs. Potato Head’s eye widened in horror and she cried, “We’re trapped!”

“Wait!” Buzz said. “Did anyone notice the transom?”

He pointed at the little window over the door to the hallway. It was open!

Mr. Potato Head groaned. “Oh, great! How do we get up there?”

Buzz led everyone to a push toy, which had a handle and wheels like a lawn mower. “All right, everyone! On three! One. Two . . .”

“Three!” Jessie shouted.

Andy’s toys raced at top speed, pushing the toy as fast as it would roll.

“Let go!” Jessie hollered. The toys fell back. Buzz hopped onto the handle as the toy zoomed forward.

The push toy hit a table, launching Buzz into the air. Overhead was a long clothesline that held children’s artwork. Buzz grabbed the line, sending paintings flying. He zipped down the line. When he reached the end, he bounced off a broom handle, opened his wings, and soared to the transom.

“He did it!” Rex cried.

“Way to go, Buzz!” Jessie cheered as Buzz unwound a piece of yarn he’d brought with him. He tossed it down to his friends.

They all held tight to one end of the yarn. Tying the other end around his waist, Buzz was just about to use it to climb down into the hall when he heard voices. He paused.

“You think they had a fun playtime?” Chunk, a rock monster toy, said as he swaggered down the hall. He was with Twitch, the action figure with the fly’s head.

“Shhh!” Twitch said. “They might hear you.”

Buzz frowned. Down the hall, Ken and Barbie were saying goodnight at the door of the Butterfly Room. The two action figures pulled Ken away.

“Come on, Romeo,” Twitch said. “We’re late.”

Ken and the tough toys disappeared into the darkened teachers’ lounge.

Quietly, Buzz climbed down to the floor. He untied the yarn from his waist and hurried after them.

Ken, Twitch, and Chunk walked over to a vending machine. Ken opened a flap in the bottom and they went inside.

Buzz followed them. Inside the machine, he saw Twitch, Chunk, Ken, Stretch the rubber octopus toy, and Sparks the robot. They were all clustered around a table, playing games and betting with play money, batteries, and other trinkets. Buzz hid in the shadows, watching.

“Hey, what do you guys think of the new recruits?” Ken asked as the toys placed wagers. “Any keepers?”

“Chuck ’em in the landfill,” Stretch scoffed.

“Toddler fodder!” Twitch growled.

“What about that space guy?” Ken asked. “He could be useful.”

Buzz started. They were talking about
him
!

“All them toys are disposable,” Twitch announced. “We’ll be lucky if they last us a week!”

Buzz was shocked.
Disposable? A week?
He had to warn the others! But when he turned around, he ran right into Big Baby.

The giant baby doll picked Buzz up and tossed him into the light. Twitch and Chunk grabbed him. “Well, well,” Ken said. “Looky who we have here.”

“Let me go!” Buzz shouted.

“Take him to the library,” Ken commanded.

“Nooo!” Buzz hollered as a sock puppet was yanked over his head. But no one could hear him scream.