9 Horrifying Questions About Toy Story That Should Really Bother You

Many people have argued that it is the magic of being played with by a child that grants a toy life. However, this is directly contradicted by the movies. As we see most prominently in Toy Story 2, a Buzz Lightyear comes straight out of his packaging already alive. He has yet to have been played with by a child, yet he is already alive, so the sentience must begin earlier.

Maybe the sentience begins on the factory assembly line. But, as a tangent question, can toys feel pain? They seem to be able to feel at least some pain, as Woody cries out in the first Toy Story when Buzz slams Woody’s hand with his helmet. So if the sentience begins when they are first on the assembly line, say, when their head is created, are they in constant agony until the rest of their body is attached?

Or maybe the sentience doesn’t begin until their body is completely assembled. But that would mean that they are stuck inside their packaging for possibly as long as years, barely able to move, which is a pretty terrifying existence.

We’d better hope for the best option: that the toys only become sentient once their packaging is opened. But this option is also contradicted by the movies, as the Prospector in Toy Story 2 has never been opened, yet he is very much alive. This means that whenever toys become sentient, it is either when they are being assembled, which might be horrifying pain, or after they are assembled, which means up to years of doing nothing in a box.