Toy Box is a world that appears in Kingdom Hearts III. It is based on the 1995 Disney/Pixar film Toy Story and its film franchise.
Setting[edit | edit source]
Andy's Room[edit | edit source]
Galaxy Toys[edit | edit source]
Story[edit | edit source]
A surprise is in store for Sora, Donald, and Goofy as they find themselves both shrunken and transformed into plastic by Donald's world order keeping magic. They emerge from underneath a giant bed, only to find a group of Heartless awaiting them. They dispatch of the Heartless and are then greeted by Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Hamm, Rex, the Aliens, and the Green Army Men, who had been watching them from afar. Rex is overcome with excitement at the site of the Sora, declaring him to be Yozora, the main character in his new favorite video game, Verum Rex. Woody and Buzz are less welcoming, concerned that the trio may be working with the Heartless. Rex is unperturbed and is adamant that the three new arrivals must be toy figures for Verum Rex that are here to help them. In his insistence he reveals the strange things that have happened to him and his friends, such as the rest of the inhabitants of their world going missing, Buzz's laser suddenly becoming real, and the new presence of the Heartless. Rex's ramblings convince Woody that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are trustworthy, but Buzz remains skeptical. When he quizzes Sora on his origins, Sora is bound by his duty to keep the world order and is unable to provide answers, which doesn't ease Buzz's caution.
Woody explains that their world wasn't always this empty and how he misses his owner, Andy. Goofy points out that the disappearances might be related to the appearance of the Heartless. Inspired by Woody's obvious love for his friends and owner, Sora suggests they start investigating the disappearances. He prods the toys into thinking of any other strange occurrences, which leads to Buzz recounting that the Heartless were accompanied by someone in a black hood. Knowing this likely means the Organization is involved, Sora tells the toys he will sort things out. As this mission involves the fate of their friends, Woody insists the toys join them, help which Sora readily accepts. The Army Men tell the group that the hooded person was last seen at the Galaxy Toys store, so the group leaves Andy's Room in search of their next clue.
Upon arriving at Galaxy Toys, Sora notices a non-moving toy and asks why it isn't sentient. As Woody explains that the toy mustn't have "figured it out yet", he is interrupted by the appearance of Young Xehanort, who Sora remembers from his exploring dreams. Young Xehanort summons a horde of Heartless and sends them to the non-moving toys. The Heartless pilot the toys, bringing the Gigas' to life to attack. Sora asks Young Xehanort why he is doing this and Young Xehanort explains that the Organization is looking to reclaim a darkness and they believe that the way hearts connect and bring toys to life can provide them with the answers they seek. He reveals that it was the Organization who split the Toy Box in two in order to further their search. This confuses Sora even more, but Young Xehanort disappears before revealing anything else.
As the Heartless controlled Gigas robot's attack, Donald and Goofy suggest Sora jump into a Gigas of his own. Sora does so and gets to work eliminating the enemy robots. When the battle is won, Buzz seems perturbed by the way the Heartless were able to control the Gigas'. At Woody's questioning, Sora explains how Toy Box has been split in two--everyone is in one version of the world and they're in the other, which means one of the worlds must be fake. Buzz dismisses this idea as the foolish thought of a video game character and demands the group return home, but Woody is intrigued and tries to convince his friend that they need to stick together. The two argue over what to do, but are interrupted by Sarge, who reveals that Rex was abducted and the Aliens and Hamm are missing. Woody convinces Buzz that they should work together to find their friends, which Buzz reluctantly agrees to after reiterating his suspicions about Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Together the group travel through the Space Capsule in the middle of the store and use it to ascend to the higher floors.
The group finds their way to the Action Figures room, where they are attacked by a large dinosaur-like toy called the Supreme Smasher that is being controlled by the Heartless. Buzz steps in with his laser to help the fight, surprising Sora with his willingness to assist against the possessed toy. Just as they think the last Smasher is defeated, one more materializes and is about to assault the group when Rex reappears, swinging around on a toy hanging from ceiling. Rex loses his grip and goes flying, inadvertently smacking into the Smasher and knocking out the Heartless controlling it. Sora defeats the Heartless and the group huddles around Rex, who is ecstatic with having helped save the group. However, disappointment soon sets in when Rex reveals that he doesn't know anything about where the other toys have gone. Luckily Sarge arrives to tell the group that his men have spotted Hamm over in the Babies and Toddlers section of the store. He explains that he has since lost contact with his men, with one of the last things he heard from them being unfamiliar music. Fearful, Rex decides it is safer for him to return to the entrance, while the rest of the group continues on in search of their missing friends.
The toys travel through the vents of the store to reach the Babies and Toddlers: Dolls room. As they discuss their next move, Sora and Donald joke with each other, which prompts Woody to point out to Buzz that they must be good guys after all. Buzz agrees that Woody's judgement is sound and that he is willing to trust the new trio for now. With their only clue being music, the group search the room for things that make noise, until they end up at a large set up of instrument playing frogs in the corner of the room. Sora finds a record player nearby and finds that when he runs on top of the record, it produces strange sounds. Woody is quick to point out that Sora is using the record wrong, and after setting him right the two of them run together, eliciting a slightly off song from the frog orchestra. Closer examination of the orchestra reveals that one of the frogs is fidgeting out of tune. Sora reaches into the frog's tuba and retrieves the missing army man, who is scared stiff from a traumatizing experience he is too shaken to explain. Sarge sends the soldier off to recover, leaving the group to search around once again. They are drawn by strange noises to a dollhouse by the window, inside which they find Hamm, who has been imprisoned inside. As they peer inside the house, a large face looms through its window, causing Hamm to make a quick exit. The face belongs to an Angelic Amber doll, controlled by the Heartless, which the group work together to defeat. As the doll slumps, lifeless once more, Buzz stops to examine it, contemplating out loud what would happen if one of the group were to lose control of themselves like the doll did. Woody and Sora explain that so long as his heart is strong, darkness will never be able to affect Buzz, which puts him somewhat at ease. As they make their way out of the Dolls room, an alien saucer flies by, which Woody and Buzz immediately know will lead them to the aliens. Hamm decides to wait for everyone by the store entrance, leaving the rest of group to follow the spaceship to Babies and Toddlers: Outdoors.
The group arrives in the Outdoors room in time to see the aliens being abducted by the Heartless controlled toy spaceship. The group takes on and wrecks the spaceships, setting the aliens free. The aliens are sad to have their ship destroyed, but are comforted by knowing they still have Andy's Room to return to. Enlightened by their comments, Buzz agrees that Andy's Room is their haven and they should all return to it to be safe. Sora is shocked that they would want to return to a room they now know is fake, but Woody agrees with Buzz, deciding that now that everyone is accounted for, they should stick together in a familiar place. Sora is disappointed not to have Woody and Buzz with him as allies for much longer, but offers to accompany them to the entrance to see them off.
Upon arrival at the entrance, it is revealed that Rex has disappeared once again. Hamm explains Rex wanted to prove Sora was trustworthy and that he was heading to the video game area for proof. Woody asks Sora, Donald, and Goofy if they will help find Rex again, which they of course agree to do. The group travels to the Video Games room, where they find Rex rummaging through the Verum Rex displays. Rex holds up a copy of the game as proof that Sora is its lead character, but Sora only sees a passing resemblance in his and Yozora's clothes. Woody is more convinced, sure now that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are figures for the game. With Rex retrieved, Buzz insists they now return home, but before they can leave, Young Xehanort appears. Young Xehanort refuses to let them go and gets a Marionette to sneak up and take over Buzz, forcing him to attack Rex and Woody. Young Xehanort explains how he used Sora's presence to drive a wedge of mistrust into Buzz's heart and how he has now filled that space with darkness in an effort to test the bonds of his heart. Sora rushes to help Buzz, but is instead captured by Young Xehanort and thrown into the Verum Rex video game. Young Xehanort challenges him to find his way out of the game, which--through the use of Gigas'--Sora manages to do. When he arrives back in Video Games, Buzz has disappeared through a dark corridor. Unable to open dark corridors, Sora feels defeated until Sarge returns and reveals that the Army Men have seen a dark corridor inside the Kid Korral room. With the rest of the toys staying at the entrance to be safe, Woody, Sora, Donald, and Goofy head out to rescue Buzz.
Sarge's intel leads the group to the Kid Korral room, where Sora uses the Gigas' to stack the blocks around the room into a pathway up to the vents, where a dark portal awaits. They travel through the portal and arrive in a world of darkness where Young Xehanort is watching darkness surround Buzz, who he explains had been weakened by his separation from Andy. Scared by the sad sight of his friend, Woody falters and darkness begins to encroach on him too, until Sora defies Young Xehanort, explaining that as long as their friends are in their hearts, they're never apart. Young Xehanort scoffs at the idea, but Woody, emboldened by Sora's words, stands up to him, demanding he put Buzz back the way he was. Woody knows that Young Xehanort's explanations of the inevitability of darkness are wrong, and that Young Xehanort is someone who is without love and therefore cannot understand its power. Woody's conviction pushes the darkness back, and when Sora joins him at his side, light surrounds them, banishing the darkness and setting Buzz free. Young Xehanort attacks, but Sora, Donald, and Goofy hold him off, distracting him long enough for Woody to grab Buzz. Young Xehanort seems unbothered by the rescue, commenting that now he knows that hearts can be placed in the vessels of his choosing. Sora attacks but Young Xehanort fades away, telling Sora to "find the hearts joined to yours" before he disappears. As his parting move, Young Xehanort allows the darkness surrounding them to fade, revealing a large heartless that attacks the group. The team works together once more and the Heartless is soon defeated.
The group returns to Galaxy Toys' entrance, but Sora is saddened by both Young Xehanort's escape and his failure to return the toys to their true world. The toys share a smile before they tell Sora that they're okay with staying in this world, as they're not ready to bid him goodbye just yet. Sora is touched, even more so when Buzz apologies for not trusting him earlier. They shake hands, wish each other well on their journeys, and Sora, Donald, and Goofy set off for the next world.
Characters[edit | edit source]
- Woody Pride KHIII.png
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Enemies[edit | edit source]
Heartless[edit | edit source]
- King of Toys KHIII.png
- Strawberry Flan KHIII.png
- Focus Popcat KHIII.png
- Gold Beat KHIII.png
- Magic Popcat KHIII.png
- Marionette KHIII.png
- Munny Popcat KHIII.png
- Pole Cannon KHIII.png
- Toy Trooper KHIII.png
- Vitality Popcat KHIII.png
Other[edit | edit source]
- Angelic Amber KHIII.png
- Air Droids KHIII.png
- Beasts & Bugs KHIII.png
- Bouncy Pets (Dog) KHIII.png
- Gigas (Power Class) KHIII.png
- Gigas (Speed Class) KHIII.png
- Gigas (Gunner Class) KHIII.png
- Patchwork Animals (Lion) KHIII.png
- Patchwork Animals (Panda) KHIII.png
Patchwork Animals
- Supreme Smasher KHIII.png
Development[edit | edit source]
The world was first revealed in the D23 Expo 2017 trailer for Kingdom Hearts III. It was the first world revealed based on a Disney/Pixar film. Attempts to include the Toy Story franchise can be traced back as early as the first Kingdom Hearts, which featured concept art for a Toy Story-based world, despite Disney having not acquired Pixar until 2006. Later, un-textured models for Buzz and Woody summons were found in the game assets for Kingdom Hearts II. However, Nomura explained that these assets were simply to present to Disney for approval, and because they were never approved, did not begin development and were never actually part of either game.[1]