Margot Robbie’s starring role in the 2023 mega-hit Barbie certainly counts as one of the most memorable performances of the past decade, yet the movie itself still can’t match up to the character’s original appearance, 25 years ago. Earning critical and commercial acclaim, Barbie is undoubtedly a major success story – both for Robbie, director Greta Gerwig, and the toy’s parent company, Mattel. Despite this, however, there remains a lingering sense that the film could have made even better use of the character, largely thanks to the example from 1999.
Movies about Barbie have a long and difficult history. As one of the most famous toys in the world, Mattel has been understandably protective over its intellectual property. This meant that the character’s additional media appearances were strictly limited, with Barbie not appearing on screen until a 1984 video game. This was followed by television specials in 1987 and a second game in 1991, before Barbie finally began featuring in her own animated films in 2001. However, while Barbie in the Nutcracker is considered the first official Barbie movie, it is not the character’s first film appearance.
Before Barbie began featuring in direct-to-video animated movies, the character made her first movie appearance in the 100% Rotten Tomatoes-rated Pixar classic Toy Story 2. Despite not being one of the main characters, Barbie nonetheless played a pivotal role in the story, guiding Woody’s would-be rescuers through Al’s Toy Barn in her Tour Guide Barbie persona. While Tour Guide Barbie is the most prominent version of the doll, multiple other Barbies also appear in the movie – having a house party as Ham, Mr Potatohead, Rex, and Slinky arrive on the scene.
Toy Story 2‘s portrayal of Barbie is very different from the one seen in Margot Robbie’s movie. In many ways, it is a much more traditional depiction, full of glamor and almost unnerving positivity that disarms many of the more mundane toys that make up the main Toy Story cast. However, the fact that Barbie features so prominently makes it impossible to dismiss Toy Story 2 as the character’s true cinematic debut. As a result, comparing the two movies is the best way of understanding how the character can be used in different contexts.
Interestingly, although Toy Story 2 memorably included Barbie’s big-screen debut, franchise progenitor John Lasseter originally wanted to include the character in Pixar’s original 1995 movie. According to a 1999 article in The Guardian newspaper, Mattel vetoed Lasseter’s vision for an action-oriented Barbie doll in the first Toy Story, with Lasseter claiming that “(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’s like this’.” This was confirmed by Toy Story 2 co-director Ash Brannon, who added:
This sentiment highlights the main tension between Toy Story‘s version of Barbie and Margot Robbie’s. In the 2023 movie, the myriad different forms Barbie can take, and how whoever is playing with them can dictate those forms, is a key part of the plot, emphasizing the character’s blank canvas quality. By contrast, just like every other toy in the series, the Barbies seen in Toy Story are their own individuals, acting entirely of their own volition. This makes Toy Story 2‘s depiction of a breezy, carefree, intimidatingly attractive Tour Guide Barbie a deliberate and provocative statement about the toy’s perceived identity.
Perhaps the most interesting overlap between Barbie and Toy Story 2 comes from how the two films address the major theme of change. Though Margot Robbie’s Stereotypical Barbie transforms because of how human characters perceive her in the real world, the shifting dynamic between Gloria and Sasha is the film’s real emotional core. In essence, Barbie serves as a conduit for this complex mother/daughter relationship, with Stereotypical Barbie’s problems standing in for Gloria’s. The biggest parallel to this in Toy Story 2 is not the movie’s Barbies, but with how Jessie reacts to her abandonment by Emily.
Although Gerwig’s film offers an interesting insight into how growing up can change anyone, Toy Story 2‘s approach to this theme marks it out as a masterpiece. The memorable “When She Loved Me” montage not only explains Jessie’s profound psychological trauma, but represents how all human relationships change with time – from mothers and daughters to children and their toys. While Barbie understandably gives Barbie herself more development, Toy Story 2 remains almost unequaled when it comes to examining the existential issues that both films explore, with Jessie’s arc a prime example.
Another important consideration that marks Toy Story as a significant step in Barbie’s cinematic journey is how the franchise continued to use the character. After a comparatively fleeting appearance in Toy Story 2, Barbie became a major supporting presence in Toy Story 3. Her relationship with the movie’s Ken (played by Michael Keaton) forms a key part of the film’s plot – while also serving as a forerunner to Ryan Gosling’s villainous take on the character in 2023.
Although the direct-to-video Barbie movies proved popular with a limited audience, the character’s extended role in the Toy Story series proved that Barbie had hidden depths that deserved to be explored. The similarities between Jessie’s Toy Story 2 journey and Stereotypical Barbie’s experience in 2023, together with the two villainous Kens, prove that the Pixar franchise had an impact on the Margot Robbie movie – even if it was more subliminal than explicit. Thanks to Toy Story, it was already clear that Barbie had great potential as a character, beyond the lurid animated world of the direct-to-video films.
For all Barbie‘s success, one of the movie’s most complicated legacies is its association with Mattel. Although the film succeeds in asking important questions about feminity and Barbie’s role in reinforcing harmful stereotypes, the fact that it was produced in collaboration with the doll’s manufacturers complicates its message. After all, it’s hard for a film to offer a completely unbiased artistic assessment of a product when that product’s creators are the only reason it’s being made.
For that reason, Toy Story 2 and the rest of the series arguably offer a more honest look at how Barbie is perceived. The version of the character seen in Toy Story 2 embodies many of the perceived problems with Barbie – as demonstrated by the male toys’ reaction to her. However, as the series continues, Toy Story also proves that Barbie doesn’t have to conform to stereotypes, with the Toy Story 3 version showcasing another side to Barbie’s personality. Barbie also attempts to showcase this versatility. However, thanks to the extent of Mattel’s involvement, the message feels slightly hollow compared to Toy Story.