A Movie With the Most Shelf Life : Merchandising Behind ‘Toy Story’ Could Mean a Happy Ending for Toy Makers

First, let’s make it crystal-clear: Mr. Potato Head isn’t getting points. And Slinky Dog has a back-end deal, but it isn’t financial.

These two toys, however, could wind up big stars at the mall thanks to their roles in the new Disney computer-animated film “Toy Story” and a multimillion-dollar marketing blitz now under way.

If ever there was a movie with built-in commercial tie-ins, it’s “Toy Story,” which took in $39 million in its first five days of release. Almost every scene contains some doll, action figure, board game, race car or gizmo available in malls across America.

Feasting on the commercial tie-ins to the movie, companies like Burger King, Nestle, Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola Co.’s Minute Maid brand and Payless ShoeSource have committed $125 million in advertising and promotional support.

According to the trade publication Advertising Age, Burger King alone has plunked down $45 million for rights to the toys and Hasbro, which makes Mr. Potato Head, is receiving a royalty on each meal sold.

Burger King spokesmen told The Times that the chain ordered 35 million “Toy Story” figurines--six different characters from the film--and is including them with purchases of Kids Club Meals. The company also ordered 15 million “Toy Story” puppets, a series of four characters, which are each sold for $1.99.

Burger King spokesmen said the “Toy Story” tie-in has been so successful that some restaurants that were shipped a 5 1/2-week supply of the toys already have reported running out after only 10 days.

Disney itself has reportedly committed $20 million in marketing support. Advertising Age said the Disney Channel has added a TV special to its programming slate, Buena Vista Home Video put “Toy Story” spots on 7 million “Cinderella” videos and Walt Disney World in Orlando has planned a daily “Toy Story” parade. For computer users, Disney’s Buena Vista Pictures Marketing has a World Wide Web site, while Disney has opened its “Toy Story” fun house filled with seven rooms of attractions next door to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood for a six-week run that has already earned $1.7 million in advance ticket sales.

With such hoopla, one would think every toy manufacturer in America would have lined up to get into the movie, but that wasn’t the case, according to John Lasseter, who directed “Toy Story.”

There were two classic toys that the filmmakers could not obtain the rights to: Barbie and G.I. Joe.

“We were disappointed,” Lasseter told The Times. “After all, what’s a toy story without Barbie?”

Lasseter said Mattel, which manufactures the stylish Barbie doll, was concerned because an early script envisioned Barbie wearing a party dress and arriving in a pink Corvette, but with the personality of Linda Hamilton in “Terminator 2.”

“She was going to say something like, ‘Come with me, if you want to live,’ ” Lasseter said. “But Mattel believed that little girls, when they play with Barbie, make up the personality of the toy. They didn’t want us to say, ‘When Barbie comes alive, she is like this.’ ”

As for G.I. Joe, Lasseter said the script called for the toy soldier to be blown up, but Hasbro, the makers of the toy, didn’t like that.

“I can understand that,” Lasseter said.

So, the filmmakers created their own GI action figure: Combat Carl. Then they blew him up.

The lead characters in the film are a gangly pull-string Western doll named Woody, featuring the voice of Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, and Buzz Lightyear, a Space Age action figure whose voice is supplied by comedian Tim Allen (“Home Improvement”). Both toys are being made exclusively for Disney by Thinkway Toys of Canada. There is also a piggy bank named Hamm and a stuffed dinosaur named Rex created specifically for the movie.

Lasseter, 38, said that when he and others at Pixar, the digital animation studio that produced the movie, went looking for toys to put in their film more than three years ago, they settled on familiar name brands that are likely to be in a child’s bedroom.

From the Ohio Art Co. of Bryan, Ohio, the filmmakers received permission to use Etch-A-Sketch. The popular drawing toy, which to date has sold more than 100 million units, was introduced in 1960 and has remained basically unchanged since then.

James Industries in Hollidaysburg, Pa., which has produced the classic Slinky toy since an engineer named Richard James noticed a torsion spring fall off his desk a half-century ago, readily agreed to put its Slinky Dog--whose front and back ends are joined by the familiar stretchable coil--back into production after taking it off the market four years ago.

And Hasbro, the giant toy maker that owns Milton Bradley Co. and PlaySkool, provided such well-known toys and games as Mr. Potato Head, Barrel of Monkeys, PlaySkool Baby Monitors, Twister, Candyland, Operation and Battleship.

Also in the movie are Green Army Men, Tinkertoys, a Rocky Gibraltar action figure, Hot Wheels and Erector sets, just to name a few.

The movie has spawned a massive merchandising campaign at Disney.

“We have a talking Woody doll, a talking Buzz doll, talking piggy banks and a bucket of Green Army Men,” said Liz Kalodner, vice president of development for Disney Consumer Products.

There also are “Toy Story” mugs, magnets, trading cards, throw blankets, bedding, lunch kits, calendars, greeting cards and gift wrap. Nestle is coming out with Sweet Tarts that include images of Woody, Buzz, Hamm and Rex. There is even a line of “Toy Story” sculpted soap.

Kalodner said there are also Green Army Men hiking boots and duffel bags for kids, and Fossil Inc. has come out with a line of Woody wristwatches with Western stitching on the wristband and a Buzz watch with a glass dome over the face, similar to Buzz’s helmet.

Hasbro has even introduced a “Toy Story”-themed Mr. Potato Head--with eyebrows--after the filmmakers gave the toy the added facial feature.

Lasseter said he wanted each toy to have a distinct personality in the movie.

“We wanted to have the feeling that these toys are not only alive, but also what it is like to be a toy,” he explained.

Take the casting of Mr. Potato Head’s voice. The director recalled when he and Thomas Schumacher, executive vice president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, arrived at the Malibu home of Don Rickles, they knew immediately Rickles was their man.

“I gave Mr. Potato Head to Don and its hat fell off,” Lasseter said. “Then I realized, it looked just like him! That was casting of the century.”

Now, when Mr. Potato Head rearranges his face in the movie, Rickles quips: “I’m Picasso!” Or, echoing Rickles’ signature line, the toy barks: “What are you looking at, you hockey puck?”--to a hockey puck.

Hasbro, which manufactures many of the toys seen in the film, was initially cautious about how Mr. Potato Head would be portrayed. After all, it is a classic toy and more than 50 million have been sold.

Mr. Potato Head was born in 1953 in Pawtucket, R.I., and originally had no body. Parents were expected to supply their own potatoes for the plastic eyes, ears, mouths, mustaches and hats. The body arrived in 1964; for the movie, the filmmakers gave him eyebrows.

But can he act?

“One thing we’ve found out [from our research],” said Gary Serby, a spokesman for Hasbro, the toy maker, “people think Mr. Potato Head can do anything, even become a versatile actor, if you will.”