Though they don't have a significant role in Toy Story (per se), the ABC blocks (based on real life, classic designs) do play a big part of the overall look and feel of Andy's room! In both Toy Story and Toy Story 2, alphabet blocks can be seen stacked and placed around in the background (and foreground) of Andy's room in many, many, shots. Check out a select few below- In fact, ABC blocks are so much a part of Andy's room that even the imagineers behind the Toy Story Midway Mania ride at Disney World utilized them heavily in the design of the entrance and line queue! So in my quest to find as many of the toys seen in Toy Story as possible, I knew I needed the alphabet blocks in order for my collection/Andy's room display to feel complete. But since they are real life items (such as Barrels of Monkeys, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, etc.), there has never been an official Toy Story release of the blocks...so that meant finding the most film accurate ones through my own research. Believe me, it was no easy task! Much harder than you'd think. I had been keeping my eyes out for years. There are lots of versions (both vintage and modern) of wood ABC blocks out there from many different companies. I've probably looked through hundreds... But I think I finally did it. And here they are! Here are the main components of the most film accurate Toy Story block: Primary colors (red, blue, green and yellow only) Correct font with solid colored border Horizontal white grooves behind letter Correct large size wood cube (about 1 3/4") Simple illustrations of animals, numbers and other objects on sides Check, check, check, check and check! This set of blocks has all the components I was looking for. I can't tell you how happy I was when I finally stumbled upon this! There are so many blocks out there that have most of what I was searching for, but they would be missing one or two key aspects (most of the time they were too small or were missing the white grooves. Sometimes they had everything right except no little pictures on the sides). I almost settled for a set not quite as accurate, but I'm glad I kept searching! At one point last year I even bought a vintage set on eBay that I thought was perfect, but they turned out too small as well (it was hard to tell from the pictures). Many Toy Story fans and collectors have settled for the most popular set of ABC blocks out there right now; the ones made by the Melissa and Doug company. However, though they have almost all the right components, they are much too small (only about 1")! To show you the difference, I brought a few of my blocks to Toys R Us for a size comparison pic. Well, hopefully this helps all you Toy Story collectors out there! My hope is that this post will save you time looking through hundreds of eBay and Amazon listings. Though not 100% screen perfect (the edges with these aren't quite as rounded as the ones in the film, for example, but that's nitpicking), these really are the absolute best I've seen in my many years of searching. Check out how great they look with the rest of Andy's (what I call) "secondary toys." I had a lot of fun setting up this display today! Follow me on Instagram @danthepixarfan Pick up these blocks up on Amazon using the direct link below:
