Sheriff Woody

Sheriff Woody Pride is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the Toy Story franchise created by Pixar. He is a floppy pullstring cowboy doll and the leader of the toys in the movies. His facial features are based on Tone Thyne, a former Disney animator. He is voiced by Tom Hanks in the feature-length films and short films, and by Tom's brother Jim Hanks in video games and shorts.

Toy Story
In Toy Story, Woody is the favorite toy of his owner Andy Davis and the leader of the toys in Andy's room. However, his position is jeopardized by the arrival of Buzz Lightyear, an astronaut action figure that Andy gets as a birthday present. Buzz is convinced that he is an actual Space Ranger. Jealous, Woody uses Buzz's belief that he is a Space Ranger against him to try to knock Buzz behind a desk, in hopes of retaining his status as Andy's favorite toy; Buzz instead falls out an open window and Mr. Potato Head and the other toys accuse Woody of getting rid of Buzz on purpose, despite his attempt to convince them it was just an accident, and they became antagonistic towards him.

Woody's plan initially proves effective, as Andy brings him along to the pizza establishment "Pizza Planet"; however, he encounters the antagonized Buzz, who had climbed onto the bumper while the van was pulling out of the driveway and entered through the open sunroof while it stopped at a gas station. Buzz then pushes Woody out of the van in order to get revenge for what Woody had done to him and then they fight. As a result, they both wind up getting left behind, but hitch a ride to Pizza Planet aboard a delivery truck. While Woody tries to reunite himself and Buzz with Andy, Buzz wanders off toward a rocket shaped claw machine much to Woody's dismay. They both wind up as prizes inside the machine and are snatched by Andy's malicious neighbor Sid Phillips, who likes abusing, destroying, and generally mistreating toys. With Andy's family about to move to a new house, Woody is frantic to plan an escape and encounters all of the toys monstrously reconstructed by Sid, where he discovers that they actually prove quite friendly and hospitable. As the movie carries on, Woody and Buzz race to escape Sid and Buzz discovers that he is an action figure. Woody even tries to get Andy's toys to help them but they refuse after believing that he murdered Buzz. When Sid plans to blow Buzz to bits using a firework rocket, Woody devises a rescue mission enlisting assistance from Sid's toys, effectively petrifying Sid by coming to life in front of him. Later, when trying to get on board the moving truck containing Andy's other toys, Woody attempts to use RC to rescue Buzz from Sid's dog Scud but the other toys (now thinking that Woody had killed RC as well) antagonize him again and throw him off the truck. Buzz and RC pick up Woody and once the other toys realize that Buzz and RC are alive they try to help them get back on board but fail. Buzz and Woody manage to return to Andy and reconcile afterward, and Woody is re-accepted amongst the other toys, sharing the status as Andy's favorite toy with Buzz.

A running gag is that throughout the movie Woody intentionally mispronounces Buzz's last name to mock him and Buzz fails to notice, such as "Light-beer" and "Light-snack". Woody's romantic interest in the film is Bo Peep.

Toy Story 2
In Toy Story 2, Woody is preparing to go with Andy to Cowboy Camp, but his arm is accidentally ripped during Andy's playtime and Andy decides not to take him to camp. Woody is shelved and fears the worst for his fate. A squeaky toy penguin named Wheezy is also on the shelf with a broken squeaker. Andy's mother holds a yard sale and marks Wheezy to be sold. Woody saves Wheezy with help from Andy's dog, Buster. Woody, however, gets stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al McWhiggin. At Al's apartment, Woody discovers his past and legacy as the star of a 1950s Western children's show titled Woody's Roundup, which also starred prospector Stinky Pete, cowgirl Jessie, and Woody's horse Bullseye. Woody learns that he and the other Roundup toys will be shipped to Japan to be displayed in a toy museum, which will only accept the collection if Woody is in it. Stinky Pete is intent to make sure that they get into the museum. It is revealed that Stinky Pete was never sold and had never experienced the love of a child for decades. Al calls a restoration expert to fix Woody's right arm. After that Stinky Pete convinces Woody to go along to Japan and forget Andy. Buzz and a few of the toys from the first film arrive to rescue Woody, who has a change of heart after watching an episode of Woody's Roundup in which he sings "You've Got a Friend in Me". Stinky Pete manages to prevent Woody from leaving the apartment.

Woody and the other members of the Roundup gang are packed for shipping to Japan. However, the other toys catch up to Al at the airport and follow Al's luggage into the baggage handling area. Woody's arm tear reopens due to Stinky Pete cutting it with his pickaxe as he threatens Woody to stay in the luggage case. Eventually, Buzz stops Stinky Pete and manages to rescue Woody. Jessie and Bullseye are also rescued. In the ending, after returning home, Woody's arm is fixed by Andy.

Toy Story 3
In Toy Story 3, Andy is now 17 years old, and preparing to leave for college. Andy chooses to take Woody with him, and puts the rest of the toys in a garbage bag to be stored in the attic, but Andy's mother mistakes them for garbage, and the toys just manage to escape a garbage truck. Woody tries to convince them that Andy did not intend to throw them away, but they refuse to believe him. When the toys find themselves at a daycare and choose to stay, Woody attempts to return to Andy, but is taken home by a little girl named Bonnie instead, where he became friends with her toys. Later, Woody returns to the daycare, where Andy's toys have been imprisoned by the daycare toys' bitter leader, Lotso. Woody helps them to escape, but in a confrontation with Lotso is dragged into a dumpster with a garbage truck approaching, forcing the rest of Andy's toys to go along as well. They are brought to a dump, where despite their attempts to change his heart, Lotso abandons them to their deaths on a conveyor belt headed into an incinerator. Resigned to their fate, they are rescued at the last minute by Andy's Alien toys. Back at Andy's house, Woody contrives for all of them to be brought to Bonnie's house, where Andy passes them on to enjoy life with a new owner. Andy describes to Bonnie how he views his old toys and tells her that Woody has "been my pal for as long as I can remember," then states that Woody is his favorite toy because he is loyal and would never give up on anyone which is what makes Woody so special. As Andy drives away to college, Woody says an emotional and final farewell to him, saying "So long, partner".

Toy Story 4
In Toy Story 4, Woody is not being played with as much as he used to, unlike all the other toys. Bonnie is seen visibly upset as she does not want to go to kindergarten and asks her parents if she can bring a toy, before being told that toys cannot go to school. Concerned, Woody decides to secretly go to kindergarten with Bonnie by sneaking into her backpack. In the school trash, Woody finds some leftover craft materials, which Bonnie uses to make Forky, a toy spork. After kindergarten, Bonnie and her family go on a road trip, but Woody has to prevent Forky from throwing himself away, as he believes he is trash.

When Forky throws himself out of the window of the moving RV one evening, Woody goes after him and teaches him the joys and responsibilities of being a toy. As the make their way back to the RV Park, Woody comes across Bo Peep's lamp at an antiques store and soon discovers Bo has now become nomad adventurer helping lost toys find owners. At the antiques store, Woody meets a doll named Gabby Gabby and he escapes after she plans to obtain his voice box, though Forky is held captive by Gabby Gabby's henchmen, the Bensons. After reuniting with Buzz, along with new recruits Ducky and Bunny and Bo's companions Giggle McDimples and Duke Caboom, they fail to succeed in rescuing Forky from the store, and when Woody is abandoned by his fellow toys following an argument, he turns himself in by giving his voice box to Gabby Gabby in exchange for Forky, and also because of hearing Gabby Gabby's story about coming out broken and never having a chance to experience what it feels like to be loved by a child.

After a change of heart, Bo and her gang return to retrieve Woody and Forky, and with their help, Gabby Gabby is adopted by a lonely girl at the carnival. With the assistance of Bonnie's toys, the RV makes it to the carnival and as Woody prepares to say goodbye to Bo, he becomes hesitant in doing so. At Buzz and his friends blessing, Woody decides to stay with Bo. He gives his sheriff badge over to Jessie, and the rest of Bonnie's toys give him a farewell hug, as he sets off to help Bo continue her mission with the lost toys and find them new homes with new owners. Woody passes on the leadership of Bonnie's toys to Buzz and Jessie.

Other appearances
Woody made a cameo in the outtakes of Pixar's 1998 film A Bug's Life as a crew member, clapping the upside-down clapperboard. Then he appeared in the Andy's room sequence of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins where he was voiced by Jim Hanks (Tom Hanks' brother), and the Andy's room intro of the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command television series as a cameo. Later, he appeared in the end credit epilogue of Pixar's 2006 movie Cars as a toy station wagon. He also appeared in the theatrical shorts Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry, and Partysaurus Rex, released from 2011 to 2012. He also appears in the television specials Toy Story of Terror! (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014). Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) has appeared and presented at the 68th, the 72nd, and 88th Academy Awards. Woody also appeared in the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons along with Jessie and Bullseye. Woody appeared in the 2017 Family Guy episode "The Finer Strings" in a cutaway gag set up by Stewie Griffin. The gag involves him walking in on Buzz and Bo Peep making out. Woody and Buzz appear as piñatas in Pixar's 2017 film Coco. He also appears in various Disney crossover media, including the Disney Infinity series, Lego The Incredibles and Kingdom Hearts III.

Characteristics
"Woody is a passionate guy who throws himself into every action. As soon as he has an instinctive thought like "I have to help them," or "I have to run away," he does it with 100-percent commitment. You gotta love that about anybody. What's great is that I get credit for the way the character and the humor come off. I have kids that are now in college come up to me and say, "when you told that neighbor kid to play nice, that really meant a lot to me"."

Woody is an old-fashioned floppy pullstring cowboy doll. The voice-box that is activated by the pullstring says many simple phrases such as "Reach for the sky!", "You're my favorite deputy!", "There's a snake in my boot!", and "Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!". As mentioned in Toy Story 2, his construction includes an "original hand-painted face, natural dyed-blanket stitched vest," and "hand-stitched poly-vinyl hat." Woody wears an empty gun holster at his belt. He is Andy's favorite toy since kindergarten, with a special spot on the bed, and is the leader and the brains of the toys in Andy's room. In Toy Story 2, it is revealed that he is based on the main character from a popular 1950s TV show, Woody's Roundup. When Al is bargaining with Andy's mom in an attempt to take Woody, Andy's mom declines Al's bargain, stating that Woody is "an old family toy." Stinky Pete also directly refers to him as a "hand-me-down cowboy doll" later in the movie. Toy Story director John Lasseter said "we always thought" that Woody was "kind of a hand-me-down" to Andy from his father. Woody is voiced by Tom Hanks in the films and by his brother Jim Hanks on other occasions.

In the three films, Woody makes two strong friendships with Buzz and Jessie. At first, when Buzz temporarily becomes Andy's favorite toy, Woody tries to push him off the dresser but accidentally knocks him out the window. When found and taken by neighborhood bully Sid, however, Woody and Buzz work together to escape. From this point on, he and Buzz are very close. Although Woody and Jessie argue with each other sometimes, they are still close friends.

In the mock outtakes of Toy Story 2, Woody is shown to have a more mischievous side towards Buzz, pulling pranks including hiding in a Buzz Lightyear cardboard box to make faces as Buzz walks past the hundreds of Buzz Lightyear toys on the shelves, drawing on Buzz's helmet, and using Buzz's wings as advertising space for rent when they suddenly pop open.

Woody is named after Woody Strode, a character actor known for many roles in Western films. It was revealed in August 2009 by Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich that Woody's official last name is "Pride". Unkrich stated in his Twitter feed that "Woody's actual full name is 'Woody Pride', and has been since the earliest days of developing the original Toy Story."

Pullstring quotes
Some of Woody's known pullstring quotes include "Reach for the sky!", "This town ain't big enough for the two of us!", "You're my favorite Deputy!", "Somebody's poisoned the waterhole!", and "There's a snake in my boot!". This last phrase is an old reference to alcoholic hallucination that was commonly used during the Wild West era; the concept is akin to seeing pink elephants, a later euphemism from the early 20th century. The euphemism, owing to the franchise's family-friendly approach, was left as an unexplained inside joke, and Woody is never seen drunk.

Lego sets
In late 2009, Lego released the "Woody's Roundup!" playset consisting of minifigures Woody, Bullseye, Jessie and Stinky Pete, as well as separate sheriff and jail buildings. In early 2010, Lego released "Woody and Buzz to the Rescue", a playset featuring minigures of Woody and Buzz. In late April 2010, Lego released a line based on Toy Story 3 that included Woody.

Reception
Tom Hanks's vocal performance as Sheriff Woody was received positively by film critics. Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today approved of the selection of Hanks for the lead role of Woody. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times stated that Tom Hanks "brings an invaluable heft and believability to Woody." In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly named Woody one of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.

Presenter Ryan Tubridy dressed up as Woody for The Late Late Toy Show in 2011.