‘Toy Story’ to be put away
Woody, Buzz and all the boys and toys associated with them are going back in the box. Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Pixar Animation Studios are withdrawing all Toy Story VHS & DVD releases from circulation.
The cutoff date is May 1.
“This is a firm moratorium date,” a Disney-Pixar press release says.
It means that on May 1 no more Toy Story and Toy Story 2 tapes and DVDs will be shipped to retailers.
Some stores may run out by May 1 or soon after and others will continue to sell until stocks run out.
The withdrawal is part of a horrible, but longtime Disney strategy of making its products more desirable by periodically taking them off the market and then re-releasing them in the future. The date for the re-release of the Toy Story products has not been announced.
On DVD, the withdrawal includes separate Toy Story and Toy Story 2 discs as well as the DVD 2-Pack and The Ultimate Toy Box DVD Collector’s Set.
Next up for Pixar, John Lasseter’s brilliant computer animation studio, is “Finding Nemo”, which Disney is releasing on May 30. In 2004, Pixar is planning to bring out “The Incredibles” and, in 2005, an animated film called “Cars”.
In the meantime, watch for prices of used Toy Story tapes and discs to soar.
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