Tin Toy

"A scared, Tin Toy realizes he really wants to play."

1988 0h 5m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 510

AnimationFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Babies are hardly monster-like, unless you're a toy. After escaping a drooling baby, Tinny realizes that he wants to be played with after all. But in the amount of time it takes him to discover this, the baby's attention moves on to other things only an infant could find interesting.

“A scared, Tin Toy realizes he really wants to play.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Sárközi Olivér
Tinny / Billy (voice)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Lasseter
Writers: John Lasseter
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 5-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 41% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A scared, Tin Toy realizes he really wants to play.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0096273 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Lasseter directs. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 5-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
2Shot for just $0.3M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Earned back only 41% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
438 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
5Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
6Marketing tagline: "A scared, Tin Toy realizes he really wants to play.".
7IMDB entry: tt0096273 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Sound: Gary Rydstrom
Runtime: 5 min · 0h 5m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $300,000
Box office: $123,967
Return: 41% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Tin Toy (1988)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

John Lasseter

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-01-07
★ 7/10
The tin toy doesn’t fancy the baby he’s supposed to entertain very much when he observes it cover it’s multi-coloured hoops in drool. No wonder he now flees the length and breadth of the room - with the baby in tottering pursuit. Eventually he finds sanctuary under the sofa - along with a great many of his discarded predecessors, only for the child to topple over - probably slipped in it’s own dribble - and start to blub. “Tinny” is really quite a kindly soul and so at risk of life and limb sets off to play. Thing is, after a few seconds of engagement it turns out that the bairn is way more interested in the box. Sound familiar? Perhaps because I was always told by my parents that I, too, always preferred the box to the toy that came from it, this made me giggle. Though the child does look a little huge-headed, this animation is good fun: the look of sheer panic on the face of “Tinny” as he races to find safety and his traumatised look after a few seconds of being played with also made me smile and I found the sheer simplicity of the story really quite engaging. Everyone wants to be wanted.

Production companies