A TOY'S REAL WORK IS PLAY; FILMMAKERS EXPLORE THE CONCEPT OF PLAYTHINGS AS COLLECTIBLES IN `TOY STORY 2'.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

It doesn't rate as a big surprise that the man behind the ``Toy Story'' movies likes to collect toys. In his office at Pixar Animation Studios in Richmond, Calif., John Lasseter proudly displays an assortment of Hot Wheels cars, G.I. Joe dolls and a number of other rare collectibles. These are the kinds of toys that Lasseter played with as a child in Whittier, and they're the playthings that fondly remind him of the carefree days of his youth.

And they're not to be played with - which is a problem, given that Lasseter and his wife have five boys, ages 2 to 18. When they come to their father's office, the kids are like bulls in a china shop, ransacking Lasseter's prized possessions while he looks on in horror.

It was during one of these pillages that Lasseter happened onto the subversive idea for ``Toy Story 2.'' It's subversive in the sense that here we have the sequel to one of the top-grossing animated films of all time, a collaboration with Disney designed to entertain and sell lots and lots of toys to both children and collectors.

And what the movie is telling these toy collectors is basically this: Take the toys out of their boxes and packaging and play with the darned things - even if that means (gasp!) that it will reduce their future resale value on E-Bay.

``It struck me one day as I was freaking out about my kids playing with my `precious' toys that I learned absolutely nothing from the first movie,'' says Lasseter, the executive vice president of Pixar who directed both ``Toy Story'' movies as well as last year's computer-animated hit, ``A Bug's Life.''

``Toys are put on this earth to make a child happy. And that's what they want to do more than anything else. So when you say a toy is `valuable,' you're sentencing it to be put on a shelf and behind a pane of glass and never to be played with by a child. And what kind of life is that?

``Toy Story 2,'' which opens at the El Capitan Theatre on Friday before going into wide release on Wednesday, runs with that theme. Woody (voiced again by Tom Hanks) discovers that he is a valued collectible from a 1950s TV show called ``Woody's Roundup.'' When a greedy toy collector kidnaps Woody with designs on selling him to wealthy Japanese enthusiasts, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog and the rest of the toys venture into the outside world to rescue Woody and return him to his rightful role as a child's plaything.

The film will, naturally, be launched with the customary merchandise rollout in Disney Stores and with Happy Meal tie-ins at McDonald's. ``The more people like a movie, the more they'll want a piece of it,'' says Tom Schumacher, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation.

And the happy news for film enthusiasts is that Lasseter and his group of more than 250 artists, animators and technicians have made a movie that, in many ways, tops its predecessor, a rare accomplishment in the dicey world of sequels.

``I couldn't believe they did something as original as they did with this,'' Hanks says with genuine admiration. ``They came up with something that's every bit as dazzling as the first film.''

``Toy Story'' actually came out of left field when it was released four years ago on Thanksgiving weekend. Pixar had revolutionized computer animation with its short films, winning an Oscar in 1989 for ``Tin Toy.'' But even though they were generally considered to be the best in their field, there was a great uncertainty about whether moviegoers wanted to see a 90-plus minute film that was completely computer-animated.

``We wanted Barbie for the first movie, but Mattel didn't have any idea who we were,'' says Ash Brannon, who co-directed ``Toy Story 2'' after serving as directing animator on the first film. ``They saw us as just this start-up company, and in a way, they were right. We hadn't done anything that really registered with the general public.''

``Toy Story'' changed that. The movie grossed $360 million worldwide and sold more than 22 million videocassettes in the United States alone. The success was so unanticipated that Disney, in a rare display of poor planning, didn't have much in the way of merchandise on the shelves for all the kids who fell in love with the movie that Christmas season.

That won't be the case this time. (In fact, Woody and Buzz joke about the coming merchandise bonanza in the film.) And Mattel respectfully asked if Barbie could participate in ``Toy Story 2.'' The writers had no trouble working her in: A Tour Guide Barbie plays a key role in the search for Woody, spoofing her image in the process.

``There's a lot of people poking fun at themselves in this movie,'' Schumacher says. ``And why not? If you can't laugh at yourself, you don't belong in this business.''

Of course, given the movie's success, Disney can afford to laugh. The ``Toy Story'' sequel wasn't even supposed to be a feature film. As with many of their animated hits (``The Lion King,'' ``Aladdin,'' ``Pocahontas'' and ``Beauty and the Beast''), Disney originally slated the second ``Toy Story'' movie as a direct-to-video title.

For such projects, the animation is done overseas. The goal: Make it fast, make it inexpensively and keep the kids (and their parents, who usually have to watch - or at least listen to - the movies several dozen times on video) happy.

Lasseter, naturally, wanted to break the form, believing if he could come up with an idea clever enough, Disney would be obliged to put it on the big screen.

``That's where the movie belongs,'' Lasseter says. ``I can't see spending the time and the effort otherwise.''

Hanks and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) agreed to reprise their vocal duties, and supporting cast members Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head), Jim Varney (Slinky Dog), Wallace Shawn (Rex), John Ratzenberger (Ham) and Annie Potts (Bo Peep) signed on again as well.

Three new characters - the other prized toys from ``Wo`ody's Roundup'' - were added. Kelsey Grammer voices the Prospector, Joan Cusack plays lonely cowgirl Jessie, and there's a high-spirited horse named Bullseye. ``Seinfeld's'' Wayne Knight provides the voice for the greedy toy collector, Al McWhiggin.

Hanks and Allen were each given substantial pay raises for reprising their roles. After making less than $50,000 for ``Toy Story,'' each actor will receive around $5 million for the sequel, plus a percentage of worldwide home video royalties. The movie itself cost about $90 million, more than three times the original's $25 million budget.

``All my career working with computer animation, every couple of years computers get 10 or 20 times faster and everybody just assumes that, wow, you can do what you're doing 10 or 20 times faster,'' Lasseter says. ``And what we do is make something 20 times more complex and it still takes a long, long time to do.''

Thanks to the increased budget and the technological advances the Pixar team made during ``A Bug's Life,'' the animators were able to vary the settings for ``Toy Story 2'' far beyond Woody's room. Much of the movie takes place outdoors, and the look of the film is much richer, with more natural lighting and a greater depth of field. Human (and dog) hair looks much more realistic, and their movements seem normal, although still somewhat caricatured.

``Everybody knows what a human being looks like and how a human moves, and if you set out to duplicate those things, it would look fake,'' Lasseter says. ``Animation is a caricatured world, and if you put realistic movement into a caricatured world, it just stands out. But oddly enough, if you caricature it, then it looks real.''

``Besides,'' Lasseter adds, ``reproducing a human being in computer animation has never been our holy grail. For us, the holy grail is telling a great story and entertaining the audience. People get caught up in the technology, but really, we're just storytellers who use high-tech tools. If we didn't have good screenwriti`ng, directing and acting, it would all be useless.''

Pixar's next project, ``Monsters, Inc.,'' will again mix the real with the unreal. The movie is a buddy picture about two monsters who live in an alternate universe. The only way they can move from one world to another is to go through the closet doors in children's bedrooms. The film is set for 2001.

And if ``Toy Story 2'' is another Pixar-Disney smash?

``I'll have a glass of champagne,'' Lasseter says, smiling. ``And then, maybe I'll see if we have another good story to tell.''

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4 Photos

Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) Short shelf life

`Toy Story 2' director wants playthings where they belong - in kids' hands

(2) Buzz Lightyear and other toys from Andy's room - including Barbie and Mr. Potato Head - devise a rescue plan when their friend Woody is toynapped in Disney/Pixar's computer-animated comedy ``Toy Story 2.''

(3) ``Toys are put on this earth to make a child happy. And that's what they want to do more than anything else,'' says ``Toy Story 2'' director John Lasseter, center, with co-directors Ash Brannon, left, and Lee Unkrich.

(4) Woody takes a spin on a record player with co-stars Jessie the cowgirl and a pony named Bullseye.