Woody was still a dick head lowkey πππππ
In early versions of Toy Story (1995), Woody wasn't a friendly cloth and plastic doll. He was originally conceived as a ventriloquist's dummy with strings, which the animators felt looked inherently "sneaky and mean".
Even Tom Hanks (Voice of Woody) reportedly reacted by shouting, βThis guy is a jerk!β when he saw the early cut.
Director John Lasseter later admitted, βWoody was an absolute jerk,β calling it βthe most embarrassing screening Iβve ever been a part of.β
Andrew Stanton (Co-writer), recalled the devastating phone call they received from Disneyβs head of animation, Peter Schneider, immediately after the screening,
"Peter Schneider called up after it was over and said, 'Stop. Just stop. Lay everybody off. We're done. It's over.' It was that bad."
In the final film, Woody accidentally knocks Buzz out the window. In the original version, he does it on purpose. When the other toys accuse him, his reaction is completely unbothered:Slinky:
"You pushed him!"Woody: "I didn't push him, I was trying to get his attention... Look, it's a toy-eat-toy world."
Ultimately, Pixar begged Disney for two weeks to rewrite the script. They stripped away the forced "edginess," made Woody a well-meaning but flawed leader, and saved the movie from cancellation.