Trivia / Toys

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $43 million. Box office, $23.3 million.
• Completely Different Title:
  • Brazil: The Toy Uprising
  • Germany: Deadly Toy
  • Greece: Games
  • Poland: Little Toys
  • Taiwan: Toy Corps
• Creator Killer: Valerie Curtin (who's better known as a character actress) hasn't had a screenwriting credit since, although her divorce from Barry Levinson may have something to do with that. This film, by way of being overshadowed by Aladdin and some of the circumstances surrounding it, was also one of the factors that crushed studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg's tenure at Disney.
• The Danza: Nurse Debbie is played by Debi Mazar.
• Doing It for the Art: This was a real passion project for Barry Levinson, who spent a decade trying to get it made.
• Dueling Works: With Aladdin, oddly enough. Robin Williams knew that there would be a lot of buzz over him having a major role in a Disney film, and as Toys was a passion project for him, he asked Disney to downplay his presence in the film's marketing so as not to overshadow it (as well as making up for the major pay cut he took). Disney, of course, couldn't resist taking advantage of Williams' star power, and as a result the Genie is one of his signature roles while Toys languished as an obscure oddity.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Robin Williams is blond in this movie. To this day no explanation has been given, although it could be to underscore Leslie's childlike personality. Williams, according to sources, wanted also to be the next Willy Wonka with Toys, so the blond hair may well have been his tribute to Gene Wilder.
• Extremely Lengthy Creation: It took writer, producer, and director Barry Levinson over ten years to develop this movie. It took ten months to shoot. In fact, this was supposed to have been his directorial debut.
• Follow the Leader: Robin Williams was reportedly very attracted to the role because he felt it would do for him what Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory did for Gene Wilder.
• Harpo Does Something Funny: The scene with Leslie Zevo addressing his troops was ad-libbed. Barry Levinson kept a camera rolling everytime Robin Williams was on-set.
• Throw It In!: The end credits roll over a clip of Kenneth Zevo's tombstone sliding down the hill and apparently taking flight. This was actually footage of the crew removing the prop statue from the field after filming was complete. The crew thought the visual of the statue flying around in the air fit the surreal nature of the film and decided to use it for the credits.

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