For anyone who ever wondered where Andy’s mom might’ve gotten Buzz and Woody in Toy Story—it turns out one particular San Francisco toy shop sparked the imaginations of Pixar creatives. Now, after 86 years in business, it’s closing its doors.
Jeffrey’s Toys, located in downtown SF, was a valuable resource for the team behind the first feature-length computer-generated animated film—inspiring tales of toys that secretly come to life, and spawning a long-running franchise in the process. Sadly, Jeffrey’s Toys is soon to go the way of many brick and mortar places where a kid could wander the aisles for that special gift. Its storied legacy was carried by the Luhn family for generations; in an interview with SF Gate, co-owner Matthew Luhn shared that the beloved shop “had this real magical thing.” Luhn is also an animator, and worked on Pixar films including Ratatouille and Cars.
In an age where formative toy store visits are being traded in for purchases a click away, it’s really sad to lose some of that magic that inspired the beloved Pixar stories. One can wonder if the next Toy Story film might just tackle that— toys versus Amazon-esque corporations—just as it criticized the collector’s market before it. It would be timely, as kids seem to be losing more and more physical spaces to play and have their imaginations run wild.
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