Toy Story 3 (2010): Cast, Plot and Ending Explained

The full plot of Toy Story 3 runs from Andy's packing, through a daycare that turns out to be a trap, to a landfill with an incinerator, and it ends with Andy handing his toys to a girl named Bonnie.

Andy sorts his belongings into a bag for the attic and a few things to take with him. His mother accidentally puts the toy bag out with the trash, and the toys escape and hide in a box of donations. The box delivers them to Sunnyside Daycare, where they are welcomed by Lotso, a strawberry scented teddy bear who seems friendly.

Woody refuses to stay and heads home, but the others like the idea of being played with again. They soon find that Lotso rules the place like a dictator and sends newcomers to the rough toddler room. Buzz is switched into demo mode and starts obeying Lotso. Meanwhile, Woody meets a girl named Bonnie, who takes him home, and he learns the truth about Lotso from her other toys. He then goes back to rescue his friends.

The group makes a break for it, and a reset accidentally leaves Buzz speaking only Spanish. Lotso's gang catches them again, and the toys end up in a garbage truck and then a landfill with a recycling and incinerator plant. This is the film's climax, and Pixar artists built it after visiting Northern California landfills and an incinerator. The toys are nearly destroyed before the Aliens rescue them with a crane. Lotso is left strapped to the front of a garbage truck.

Andy later gives all the toys to Bonnie and says goodbye, and the toys settle in with her.

The Toy Story 3 ending is Andy handing his toys to Bonnie, taking one last moment to play with them, and driving off to college. In my opinion, it is the cleanest goodbye in the series, because the story lets Andy leave as a person and lets the toys continue as toys.

What actually happens is simple. Andy gives all the toys to Bonnie and says goodbye, the toys accept the change and begin a new life with her, and a closing sequence shows that Barbie, Ken and Big Baby have helped make Sunnyside a better place for the toys there. Lotso, by contrast, ends the film strapped to the front of a garbage truck, so the daycare's tyrant does not get a comfortable ending.

It could be argued that the film is really about being chosen. The toys fear being thrown away at the start, nearly are thrown away at the landfill and incinerator, and finally are chosen on purpose by Andy, which is the opposite of the mix-up that started the story. That being said, the film does not pretend the loss is painless. The toys lose the one child they have known since Toy Story (1995), and the final scene gives them time to feel it.

Is Toy Story 3 the last movie? No. Pixar returned with Toy Story 4 in 2019, which picks up with Woody being played with less than he used to be in Bonnie's room, and Toy Story 5 followed in 2026. If you want the ending to stand alone, you can stop here. The Toy Story timeline shows how the later films follow on.