I know that all toys in the toy story universe are alive, but when does something stop being a toy?
By example, we are shown they are kept alive even when their parts are separated, but when they are no longer in sid’s room and instead in some sort of place where nobody plays with them do they count as toys?
Also what defines a toy? Does it only need to be made with the intention of somebody playing with it? So if i make a doll only for my collection and not for playing with it, does it still gain life or does it keep as a inanimate object?
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I think it’s just a simple definition: If a child plays with it, or if it’s something whose inherent purpose is to be played with, it’s a toy. Once that “spark” is given it can never be taken away, short of fully destroying the toy.
As for your doll example, dolls by definition are meant to be played with so your “for collection only” toy would be alive. Stinky Pete would be your precedent; he was never taken out of the box and played with yet he was still alive, because a doll (action figure, etc) is explicitly meant to be played with.
There are instances shown of Christmas decorations, ventriloquist dummies or lawn decorations being alive (at the beginning of 2 when everyone is looking for Woody’s hat Hamm says he talked to the neighbor’s gnome about it), so something doesn’t necessarily have to be played with. Perhaps the spark is defined by a human giving an object any sort of personification, be it as a toy, an art piece, a decoration, a performance prop, whatever.