ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512050011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT W. WELKOS LOS ANGELES TIMES
First, let's make it crystal-clear: Mr. Potato Head isn't getting points. And Slinky Dog has a back-end deal, but it isn't financial.
These two toys, however, could wind up big stars at the mall thanks to their roles in the new Disney computer-animated film ``Toy Story'' and a multimillion-dollar marketing blitz now under way.
If ever there was a movie with built-in commercial tie-ins, it's ``Toy Story,'' which took in $39 million in its first five days of release. Almost every scene contains some doll, action figure, board game, race car or gizmo available in malls across America.
Feasting on the commercial tie-ins to the movie, companies like Burger King, Nestle, Frito-Lay, Coca-Cola Co.'s Minute Maid brand and Payless ShoeSource have committed $125 million in advertising and promotional support.
According to the trade publication Advertising Age, Burger King alone has plunked down $45 million for rights to the toys and Hasbro, which makes Mr. Potato Head, is receiving a royalty on each meal sold.
Burger King spokesmen told the Los Angeles Times that the chain ordered 35 million ``Toy Story'' figurines - six different characters from the film - and is including them with purchases of Kids Club Meals. The company also ordered 15 million ``Toy Story'' puppets, a series of four characters, which are each sold for $1.99.
Burger King spokesmen said the ``Toy Story'' tie-in has been so successful that some restaurants that were shipped a 51/2-week supply of the toys already have reported running out after only 10 days.
Disney itself has reportedly committed $20 million in marketing support. Advertising Age said the Disney Channel has added a TV special to its programming slate, Buena Vista Home Video put ``Toy Story'' spots on 7 million ``Cinderella'' videos and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., has planned a daily ``Toy Story'' parade. For computer users, Disney's Buena Vista Pictures Marketing has a World Wide Web site, while Disney has opened its ``Toy Story'' fun house filled with seven rooms of attractions for a six-week run next door to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.
With such hoopla, one would think every toy manufacturer in America would have lined up to get into the movie, but that wasn't the case, according to John Lasseter, who directed ``Toy Story.''
There were two classic toys that the filmmakers could not obtain the rights to: Barbie and G.I. Joe.
``We were disappointed,'' Lasseter told The Times. ``After all, what's a toy story without Barbie?''
Lasseter said Mattel, which manufactures the stylish Barbie doll, was concerned because an early script envisioned Barbie wearing a party dress and arriving in a pink Corvette, but with the personality of Linda Hamilton in ``Terminator 2.''
``She was going to say something like, `Come with me, if you want to live,''' Lasseter said. ``But Mattel believed that little girls, when they play with Barbie, make up the personality of the toy. They didn't want us to say, `When Barbie comes alive, she is like this.'''
As for G.I. Joe, Lasseter said the script called for the toy soldier to be blown up, but Hasbro, the makers of the toy, didn't like that.
``I can understand that,'' Lasseter said.
So, the filmmakers promptly created their own GI action figure: Combat Carl. Then they blew him up.
The lead characters in the film are a gangly pull-string Western doll named Woody, featuring the voice of Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, and Buzz Lightyear, a Space Age action figure whose voice is supplied by comedian Tim Allen (``Home Improvement''). Both toys are being made exclusively for Disney by Thinkway Toys of Canada. There is also a piggy bank named Hamm and a stuffed dinosaur named Rex created specifically for the movie.
Lasseter, 38, said that when he and others at Pixar, the digital animation studio that produced the movie, went looking for toys to put in their film more than three years ago, they settled on familiar name brands that are likely to be in a child's bedroom.
From the Ohio Art Co. of Bryan, Ohio, the filmmakers received permission to use Etch-A-Sketch. The popular drawing toy, which to date has sold more than 100 million units, was introduced in 1960 and has remained basically unchanged since then.
James Industries in Hollidaysburg, Pa., which has produced the classic Slinky toy since an engineer named Richard James noticed a torsion spring fall off his desk a half-century ago, readily agreed to put its Slinky Dog - whose front and back ends are joined by the familiar stretchable coil - back into production after taking it off the market four years ago.
And Hasbro, the giant toy maker that owns Milton Bradley Co. and PlaySkool, provided such well-known toys and games as Mr. Potato Head, Barrel of Monkeys, PlaySkool Baby Monitors, Twister, Candyland, Operation and Battleship.
Hasbro has even introduced a ``Toy Story''-themed Mr. Potato Head - with eyebrows - after the filmmakers gave the toy the added facial feature.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Mr. Potato Head and Slinky Dog are among the stars ofby CNB``Toy Story,'' the first animated feature to be created entirely
using computer technology.