“Toy Story Challenge”: When TikTokers think they’re toys

To celebrate the return of Toy Story in the cinema, Internet users have fun reproducing the moment when the toys freeze as soon as a human appears.

Follow me

For more than three decades, Andy’s toys have lived in secret when no one is looking at them. In the five films of the saga Toy Storythe latest part of which has just been released, we can frequently see Woody, Buzz Lightyear and all their friends freeze, fall to the ground and resume their object position as soon as a human is heard.

As you can see in the video at the top of the article, this comical situation became a challenge for Internet users who had fun recreating this situation in real life. Named “Toy Story Challenge”, the principle is simple: as soon as the film’s flagship song, You’ve Got a Friend in Me by Randy Newman sounds, participants must behave like toys and remain completely still, regardless of their position, even if it means falling to the ground straight like sticks.

If most people do it in a fun way, it is on the part of gymnasts that the challenge has been taken most seriously, in particular thanks to the use of gym mats which allows them to achieve falls more real than life. This is particularly the case of gymnasts Rebekah Bean Ripley (@rebekahbean) and Chiara Andrew (@chiaradandrew), whose stunts are truly impressive. Their videos have millions of views.

Toy Story 5 was released this Wednesday, June 17 and marks the return to directing of Andrew Stanton, screenwriter of the entire saga and director of legendary films from the studio, such as Land World of Nemo et WALL-E. This fifth part addresses the arrival of digital technology in the world of childhood, when young Bonnie receives a digital tablet called LilyPad.