Erie Philharmonic Goes to Infinity and Beyond with Toy Story

Erie Philharmonic

You've got a friend in the Erie Philharmonic. The orchestra will perform the score from the well-loved family classic *Toy Story while the film plays on the big screen. It's sure to be an experience as magical as toys coming to life.

Saturday, Feb. 18

The Erie Philharmonic is bringing the Pixar classic Toy Story to the Warner Theater with orchestral accompaniment playing along to the movie. Starring Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear with a score composed by Randy Newman, the film broke ground with its innovative computer animation as Pixar's first feature film.

"Disney's Pixar films are now legends in the cinema," a Philharmonic representative explained. "Loved by audiences of all ages, these films bring touching and fun-filled stories to life through expertly-rendered digital animation that sets the standard in today's film-making. With a whiz-bang score by Randy Newman, 1995's Toy Story delights with its vivid characters and imaginative situational humor."

Newman, who was a songwriter for artists such as Dusty Springfield and a solo performer before scoring films, penned three original songs for the film along with the score, including "You've Got A Friend In Me." The warm, familiar sounds and down-to-earth songwriting style were what got him the job, as Pixar approached him to write the score to give the film emotion and heart to accompany the computer-generated animation. In the subsequent films, the emotionally-driven journeys the characters go on are punctuated by Newman's stylistic songwriting, including "When She Loved Me," sung by Sarah McLachlan for the second film.

The iconic music would go on to receive Academy Award nominations for Best Score and Best Song, and the album would peak at the 94th spot in the U.S. Billboard 200. Newman would go on to compose music for the film's three sequels along with the Pixar films A Bug's Life, Cars, and Monster's Inc. In addition to the Disney films James and the Giant Peach and The Princess and the Frog, he also composed the scores for Oscar-nominated live-action films such as Seabiscuit and the 2019 film Marriage Story.

Toy Story was directed by John Lasseter, with a script by Joss Wheadon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen, and Alec Sokolow. It premiered on Nov. 19, 1995 at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles, and would go on to gross $373 million during its run, receiving critical acclaim from critics and audiences. 

Saturday 8 p.m. and Sunday 3 p.m. // Warner Theatre, 811 State St. // $22 to $56 // eriephil.org