What happens to toys once you grow up, asks Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3, which screened on Tuesday night for theatre owners attending their annual ShoWest convention, poses a new question for the gang from the 1995 hit that launched computer animation into the feature-film world: Is there life for a toy after your child grows up?

“Come on, let’s see how much we’re going for on eBay,” laments John Ratzenberger’s Hamm the Piggy Bank as he and the other toys ponder a lonely future, with their owner, Andy, heading to college and leaving them behind.

“The youngest kids who saw Toy Story and Toy Story 2 when they first came out are now kind of heading off to college. That’s the position Andy’s in, so it’s very strange and nostalgic for people to see this character that is part of their childhood kind of growing up with them and facing the same life changes,” said Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich.