2. Toy Story 2 – When Somebody Loved Me / Jessie’s Song
Goodness me. This one will reduce anyone to a sobbing wreck. Jessie reveals why it is she is scared to go back in her box, why it is that she feels betrayed by the girl who first loved her and who, she assumed, would always want her around. As she sits huddled under the bed, realising that her friend has moved on to other concerns and no longer has any time for “dolls”, your heart breaks, even more so when Jessie is left by the side of the road to be collected by a charity, seeing the car drive off forever.
Whereas Lotso from Toy Story 3 has become angry, bitter and unkind, Jessie has retained her innate goodness and cheer, but it is undercut by a sadness that never really lifts. It is an astonishing piece of characterisation for an animated film, a few lines in a song and some subtle facial expressions conveying everything that we need to know.
That subtlety perhaps reached its apex for Pixar in the opening sequence of Up, but as a self-contained bona-fide musical number, Jessie’s Song just about wins through. Given how affecting it is, whether you owned and then cast off toys as a child or not, shows just how universal were (are?) the themes and emotions that Pixar tap into. Hugely impressive.
