Welcome to Disney Notes and the music of Disney. This time around, we look at You’ve Got a Friend in Me from Toy Story.
For those of us who lived through the lean years of Disney movie production, the significance and meaning of this song cannot be overstated. Like so many great Disney songs, the symbolism of its words moves well beyond the film and provides an appropriate accompaniment to the events of the day for Disney.
The roller-coaster ride between John Lasseter and the Disney Company is well documented and far beyond the scope of this post. However, the end result of the ongoing drama between John and Steve Jobs (owner of Pixar), Michael Eisner, and Jeffrey Ketzenberg (Disney film chairman) was a groundbreaking film completely animated by computer. The word groundbreaking, in fact, is an understatement since the technological and cinematic effects of this film are still being felt nearly two decades later.
The resulting partnership between Disney and Pixar became a gold mine for both companies and the beginning of a delightful string of fabulous full-length animated films. Thus, the meaning of the words, “You’ve got a friend in me” cannot be relegated to the film alone. Indeed, the fact that the tension between the two companies was ironed out and the creativity was allowed to flourish resulted in a win-win for companies and moviegoers worldwide.
The song itself became a theme song of sorts for the entire Toy Story film series. It was written and recorded by Randy Newman and was nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award – both for Best Original Song. Ironically, the song was second in the final Oscar balloting to another great Disney song, Colors of the Wind (from Pocahontas) earned all the honors that year, including a Grammy. The song spoke of another important relationship – that of humans and nature.
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