Let me begin by telling you that I did not own or watch any of the previous DVD releases of Toy Story, so you are going to have to determine the value of this DVD based on my descriptions of the special features and all this DVD has to offer. What I can tell you, first and foremost, is this is the definitive edition of this film for the very fact that it includes Disney/Pixar's first ever DTS audio track and in my opinion there is nothing better. Coupled with the highest digital "bit rate" used for any Disney/Pixar film it doesn't get any better and you will be told this directly when director John Lasseter introduces the DVD. In short, it is damned impressive audio and video.
On top of the feature you get a massive audio commentary, which includes writer/director John Lasseter and his creative team including Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Bill Reeves, Ralph Eggleston and producers Ralph Guggenheim and Bonnie Arnold. Usually when such a large ensemble group gives a commentary you get that congested feeling where you have no idea who is talking, but Disney has combat that issue and offers up subtitles with the name of the speaker at the time and even has a generic narrator introduce people from time to time. It helps out a lot and makes it much more understandable, not to mention the commentary is lively and informative.
Rounding out the first disc is an all-new "Legacy of Toy Story" featurette, which is a short look at how Toy Story changed the shape of feature film animation including conversations with Tom Hanks (Woody), Tim Allen (Buzz), Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), George Lucas (Star Wars) and several others as it becomes apparent that Toy Story not only changed animation, it changed movies.
So that covers disc one, but disc two is where it really gets moving, and there is a lot, so I am going to try and do this as simple as I can so this review doesn't become massive.
Filmmakers Reflect Featurette new - A roundtable discussion with Toy Story filmmakers John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft as they reflect on the idea that Toy Story is ten years young and look back on the late nights making the feature and some of the ups-and-downs of the production.
"The Claw" Game new - a mini game for the kids where you can grab your own little toy away from the little green aliens.
The Making of Toy Story new - a long look at the development of the film and the various stages of production that soon became the first computer animated feature.
Deleted Scenes - From what I can tell these are all old and have been featured on previous releases but I may be wrong. There are two scenes, which are completely animated, some in the not-so finished stage, but they are still animated and six that are in a storyboard format, but they are all interesting and offer up several looks at a couple of storylines and characters that never made it into the feature and a couple ideas that actually wormed their way into Toy Story 2.
Behind the Scenes of Toy Story - Okay, this is where it gets huge. Inside this section it is broken out into six different sections (Designing Toy Story, Design, Story, Production, Music & Sound, Publicity) and each one is covered extensively. It is pretty much self-explanatory what each section delves into but just know this is where you can spend about 90 minutes to two hours just checking out all there is to know about this movie. You will learn that Buzz Lightyear was at one point Lunar Larry and that Woody wasn't always a cowboy, all while checking out how the computer animation was done, the publicity materials used, the music and sound from the film, how they figured out how to animated the army men on their platforms and so much more. Trust me... this is MASSIVE!
As you can tell from all the goods above this will hopefully be the last time Disney can ever get you to spend more money on the Toy Story movie, but that doesn't mean they won't try.
Like I said before this is the definitive edition of Toy Story from top to bottom. From the amazing sound and video quality to the hours up on hours of special features, if Toy Story is what you want Disney/Pixar are giving you as much as you need.