A Licensed Game based on Toy Story 3, and the final mainline tie-in game for the movies. The game is a 3D platformer with two modes of play: a story mode that loosely recreates the events of the movie in open levels with a linear sense of progression, and a Toy Box mode that is more of a Wide-Open Sandbox where the player is placed in the world of Woody's Roundup, and starts off in a mostly blank slate with the task of completing missions and earning money to populate and build more of the town.
The Toy Box mode got a lot of notoriety upon the game's first release, due to its very unique level of customization and high replay value. This mode was popular enough that it became the basis of inspiration for the Disney Infinity franchise.
The game was originally developed by Avalanche Software and published by Disney Interactive Studios for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Windows and Mac OS X, and heavily scaled down on the Wii and PC/Mac versions, which mostly adapt from the HD console versions but have fewer features in Toy Box mode and lack multiplayer. In addition, the PS3 version also adds Zurg as a playable character in Toy Box mode but is otherwise identical to the 360 version.
Another version of the game was developed by Asobo Studios for the PSP and PS2. These versions of the game lack the Toy Box mode and are largely by-the-numbers platformers that retell the events of the movie through various levels, with unlockable segments based on the in-universe Woody's Roundup show and Buzz Lightyear: Attack on Zurg game. Another version of the game, developed by n-Space, was produced for the Nintendo DS and features a mix of platforming and tower defense segments. There's also a separate unrelated Edutainment game also based on Toy Story 3 called Shooting Beena Toy Story 3: Woody to Buzz no Daibouken! (literally Shooting Beena Toy Story 3: Woody and Buzz's Adventure!) developed by Sega Toys for the Advanced Pico Beena released only in Japan.
A HD remaster of the HD console version, dubbed Toy Story 3: Complete Edition, developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Atari, is set for release on October 15th, 2026 on Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, releasing alongside Toy Story: Retro Roundup!, a compilation of the franchise’s previous major game releases.
Tropes in the Toy Story 3 video game:
- Adaptation Expansion: Several levels in the story mode are based on scenes that don't appear in the movie, such as a brand new Imagine Spot with Bonnie and an entire aside level where Rex plays the Buzz Lightyear game from the Fake-Out Opening of the second film (which itself also undergoes expansion from what we see in the film). And that's not even mentioning Haunted Bakery...
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Stinky Pete appears in the Toy Box mode with no hint of his Evil All Along tendencies from the second film. Ditto for Zurg and Lotso. Possibly justified if they're different figures from the same toy line.
- Adapted Out: The Potato Heads, Barbie, and Ken are completely absent from the game's story and Toy Box mode, likely due to them being preexisting toys that would have required obtaining additional permission to use them, though oddly this doesn't seem to be an issue for Slinky Dog. However, Ken's Dream House is present in the Sunnyside levels.
- Anachronism Stew: Justified in the Toy Box mode, where multiple different set pieces that normally have absolutely nothing to do with each other come together. After all, you're just combining all of a child's collection of playsets together, which is what most kids do with their toys to begin with.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: In the PS2/PSP versions, most of the game is played as Woody or Buzz, but there are also levels where you take control of Sarge and his two army men (moving as one unit), the aliens (as a Teamwork Puzzle Game), or Jessie (who plays identically to Woody).
- Anti-Frustration Features: If you repeatedly die during the falling platform puzzle in the Buzz Lightyear level, the game will make it easier by changing some of the platforms to never fall. Additionally, if you repeatedly fall into a gap made by Buzz Lightyear throwing one of Evil Dr. Porkchop's disks at the train in the first level, the game will fix the gap, allowing for the player to easily pass.
- Apocalypse How: How does the witch on the Bonnie's Room stage cause mass destruction? By flooding the room... with coffee.
- Big Boo's Haunt: Sid's House in Toy Box mode.
- Bottomless Magazines: In the Toy Box mode for the PS3 edition of the game, Zurg can fire an unlimited supply of Pixar balls from his blaster without ever running out.
- Broad Strokes: The similarities between the story mode and the movie pretty much end at featuring the same locales and characters as the movie, and even that's not always true (see Adaptation Expansion). Just to name a few examples, the Batman Gambit at the beginning of the movie has an entire extra scene play out where the army men are fetched to grab the home phone from the basement, and the notorious incinerator scene is nearly completely discarded in favor of Buzz, Woody, and Jessie working together to rescue some of the others from a Conveyor Belt of Doom.
- Cloud Cuckoo Land: Lotso's Garden in Toy Box mode.
- Collection Sidequest: The story mode has collectible cards and items littered throughout the levels, while Toy Box mode has capsules littered around the game world with unlockable cosmetics inside.
- Company Cross-References:
- Several unlockable cosmetics directly reference other Pixar films like WALL•E, The Incredibles, and Finding Nemo.
- Once you get deeper into the Haunted House, the game starts playing "Grim Grinning Ghosts".
- Conveyor Belt of Doom: Hamm, Rex, and Slinky are trapped on one in the Junkyard level.
- Cosmetically Different Sides: Averted in the story mode where Buzz, Woody, and Jessie all have their own exclusive abilities, but played straight in the Toy Box mode where the three all play identically.
- Crash in Through the Ceiling: Buzz Lightyear comes in through the ceiling many times throughout the level in the Buzz Lightyear game. Additionally, Woody, Jessie, and Buzz enter the second half of the level in Andy’s House by dropping from the ceiling.
- Deathbringer the Adorable: A Power-Up Mount in Toy Box mode is a dragon from Lotso's Garden, who has a very cutesy outward appearance... and also giggles like a little girl whenever she breathes a destructive fiery projectile.
- Demoted to Extra: Lotso only appears in one level in this version and is mostly treated as an afterthought. Justified, likely to avoid spoiling him being the Big Bad for people who haven't yet seen the movie.
- Disney Acid Sequence: Bonnie's House is this in spades. The level starts off with an evil witch flooding Bonnie's room with coffee, and just getting more ridiculous from there. Haunted Bakery is arguably even more so, with evil muffins coming after you and the same witch attacking you with deadly bubbles.
- Dissonant Serenity: The incinerator scene in the DS version. When Lotso leaves the toys to die, Woody's facial expression doesn't change and still has a big smile.
- Distressed Dude: In the Junkyard level, the Aliens get trapped on a conveyer belt going towards a shredder, forcing Buzz to keep throwing them to safety while Woody and Jessie try to stop it. Afterwards, Hamm, Slinky, and Rex get trapped on a Conveyor Belt of Doom, necessitating that Woody, Buzz, and Jessie work together to disable each part of the incinerator.
- Ditto Aliens: Most of the alien toys in the game are identical, with the only difference that some aliens have being their outfits. In the Wii and PC versions, this extends to the Toy Box mode, where all aliens will wear the same outfit as each other instead of being individually customizable like in the other versions.
- Earn Your Fun: Toy Box mode starts off fairly bare-bones. Collecting capsules and completing missions are needed to unlock most of the customization features.
- Easter Egg:
- In the second half of the level in Bonnie's house, you have to collect and place batteries. These batteries have the Buy n Large logo from WALL•E on them.
- During the Prison Break level, you can only play as Woody and Jessie since Buzz is currently brainwashed into serving Lotso. However, if you press a button while Buzz is the selected character, he will briefly stop moving and react to it.
- Endless Daytime: Played straight in the Wii version, which lacks the time-of-day toggle the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions have and has Toy Box mode permanently set to daytime.
- Eternal Engine: The junkyard incinerator, naturally.
- Evil All Along: Hamm in the Toy Box mode turns out to actually have been Evil Dr. Porkchop the entire time after you finish his last mission.
- Flame Spewer Obstacle: In Incinerator, there are broken flame-spewing pipes.
- Flashback: The story mode is told in this form.
- Game Within a Game: You actually get to play the entire Buzz Lightyear game from the second film's Fake-Out Opening.
- Lighter and Softer: This game is much more light-hearted than the film it is based off of. The Toy Box mode is pretty much all just fun and games, and the story mode has hints of some of the movie's intense moments but nowhere near the same level, and no hint of the more emotional scenes either.
- Race Against the Clock: The second half of the Junkyard level is this, as Woody, Buzz, and Jessie have to save Rex, Hamm, and Slinky from the conveyor belt; there are three machines that they have to turn off before they reach them and get destroyed.
- Reformulated Game: The PS2/PSP versions are much more standard platformers that have a completely different set of levels, no character-switching and no Toy Box mode.
- Resized Vocals: Characters who are grown or shrunken with goo in Toy Box mode have their voices altered accordingly, though their dialogue for giving missions is strangely not affected.
- Rising Water, Rising Tension: Or rising coffee rather, in the Bonnie's Room stage.
- Rogue Protagonist: As in the movie, Buzz, one of the playable characters in the story up to that point, gets brainwashed into serving Lotso during the Prison Break level and attempts to apprehend Woody and Jessie. He returns to the player's control by the Junkyard level.
- Space Zone: Zurg's Fortress in Toy Box mode. The second half of Bonnie's Room also counts as this, as does the Buzz Lightyear game level.
- Speaking Simlish: The blocky citizens of Toy Box mode speak in fast and exaggerated gibberish.
- Stealth-Based Mission: The Prison Break level has Woody and Jessie sneaking around the caterpillar room to free Slinky, Rex, and Hamm without getting caught by Lotso's security measures.
- Super Drowning Skills: It doesn't matter if the water is knee-high, it will instantly kill anyone who touches it. May be justified when you consider toys aren't meant to withstand getting wet, unless they're made of nothing but plastic.
- Teamwork Puzzle Game: In the story mode, each character has a unique ability they can use to aid in platforming: Woody can swing from grapple points with his pull-string, Jessie can jump onto small points and Buzz can throw objects and other characters further than the former two can.
- Toy Time: While the player characters are all toys, the levels themselves are usually not examples of this, with the exceptions being Sunnyside Daycare (in the level Fair Play, not in Hide and Sneak) and Lotso’s Enchanted Glen in Toy Box mode.
- Version-Exclusive Content: The PS3 version adds Emperor Zurg as a playable character in the Toy Box mode, but is otherwise identical to the Xbox 360 version. Complete Edition averts this by making this a feature on all platforms.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: You get to beat the tar out of NPCs and kick around the little figurines in Toy Box mode with no repercussion, leading to quite a lot of this. You can even get gold stars for doing it enough!
- Wide-Open Sandbox: Toy Box mode, naturally. Slightly downplayed, as you can customize the looks of buildings and every citizen (unless you're playing the Wii or computer versions, which apply figurine customization to everyone in town) as well as adjusting the time of day, but otherwise it's mostly an open world platformer.
- Writing Around Trademarks: While most of the licensed toy characters from the film were completely omitted from the game, the Chatter Telephone is dealt with in this fashion: he plays the same role he did in the movie informing Woody about the best way to escape, but he does so through an air vent and is never directly seen. Additionally, Hamm's Evil Dr. Porkchop persona is accessorized with an eyepatch instead of Mr. Potato Head's bowler hat (thus making him a Composite Character with Potato Head's One-Eyed Bart persona), while the orphans on the train in the opening play session are generic toys rather than Troll dolls.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Buzz will say this word-per-word in the Buzz Video Game level, upon encountering an impassable passage.