This year, Disney released all three Toy Story films in 4K. In the process of that remaster, Disney cut out a controversial joke from the second installment of the franchise.
In Toy Story 2s end credits, animated outtake gags are seen involving a number of the films characters. One of those outtakes shows the Prospector flirting with two female Barbie dolls and offering them a role in Toy Story 3, until he notices that he is being filmed. That scene has been completely removed in the new remaster of the film and wont be found on the new 4K Blu-ray as well as any official digital downloads.
Given the #MeToo era and multiple scandals involving Hollywood kingmakers offering women roles in exchange for sexual favors, one can see why Disney decided to remove the scene. The director of Toy Story 2, John Lasseter, has himself been accused of sexual misconduct, some of which he apologized for before he stepped down from Disney.
Now to be completely fair, these outtakes were not on every version of Toy Story 2 to begin with. They were added in to new prints that were shown in theaters a month after the original release. Some DVD releases have the outtakes during the credits while some as special features. However, the original Blu-ray release has always had them during the credits.
Its clear that this edit was done on purpose, as it leaves all the other outtakes running while skipping over the one involving the Prospector. The runtime however is not affected, as the outtakes simply end earlier. Below is a video which compares the two versions.
Disney didnt immediately respond to comments for this article.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with Disneys decision, the scene does show how attitudes toward sexual misconduct in Hollywood have changed since 1999. Such a joke would be virtually unimaginable in todays Pixar films. And, perhaps underscoring the issue, one of the Barbies did indeed get a role in Toy Story 3.
