Buster (Toy-Story Franchise)

**Buster** is a dachshund in the Disney/Pixar *Toy Story* film series. He belongs to Andy Davis, who received him as a puppy for Christmas at the end of the first film, but made his first full appearance as a grown-up dog in the second film and grew old in the third film.

## Background

### Personality

Because he was still somewhat young in *Toy Story 2*, Buster was energetic, friendly, and playful around Andy's toys, but whenever Andy was present, Buster acted like a confused dog. Contrasting with the vicious Scud, Buster is considerably nice to Andy's toys and is fiercely loyal to Woody.

In *Toy Story 3*, Buster is now elderly and obese, who is a teensy bit weak to help Woody and his friends out, even though he remains loyal to them. He does maintain some of his excitable energy whenever Andy is around.

## Appearances

### *Toy Story*

At the end of *Toy Story*, Andy receives Buster as a puppy for his Christmas present. Although Buster isn't seen, he can be heard barking offscreen, and Andy says, "Wow, a puppy!" Both Woody and Buzz exchange worried smiles when they hear Andy say this, due to their earlier encounter with Scud.

### *Toy Story 2*

In *Toy Story 2*, Buster makes his first full appearance as a brown miniature dachshund. He is able to understand the toys when they talk to him and is shown to be friends with Woody.

He is first shown as he bursts into Andy's room to find Woody having to hold off by Rocky Gibraltar and the Green Army Men, and after he takes Woody out of Andy's backpack, he tosses Woody to the ground and growls at him, but quickly begins to lick him repeatedly after sensing that Woody is actually alive. It turns out that Buster and Woody were playing hide-and-seek. It's also implied that Buster had somehow been involved in the earlier disappearance in Woody's hat, as when Slinky Dog reveals he found Woody's hat as the good news, he admits "well, that's the bad news..." when Woody asked where he found it, which was followed by Buster barking offscreen.

Woody then asks Hamm how Buster did, and it is revealed that Buster set a new record of 13.5 seconds, as shown on Mr. Spell. A little later, when Andy's mother takes Wheezy with a broken squeaker, out to be sold at a yard sale, Woody, thinking quickly, whistles for Buster (though Woody had to use his other arm due to his good arm having been inadvertently broken by Andy earlier), and he takes him out to the yard sale (though Buster, when told to be "subtle," does it in an exaggerated manner before Woody pointed out he didn't mean that level of subtlety), where Woody climbs into a box to dig out Wheezy and bring him back to Andy's room. Unfortunately for Woody, Buster jumps over a toy while heading back to Andy's room, causing Woody to fall – which leads to the events of the movie. Buster is later heard barking offscreen at Al McWhiggin who is trying to steal Woody and Mrs. Davis tells him to quiet down.

At the end of the film, Buster is shown alongside Slinky, who understands that Buster wants to get out of the room, and Jessie performs a stunt with a Hot Wheels car and track to reach the doorknob to let Buster out, which surprises Buzz Lightyear. He is last seen when Woody sees Andy, Molly, and their mother go out for another family outing.

### *Toy Story 3*

In *Toy Story 3*, Buster, now 10 years older, makes his final appearance. He is now very old, fat, and is unable to help Woody and his friends, even though he continues to remain friends with them.

Buster is first shown in a filmed video his mom recorded.

After seeing his friends getting thrown away by Andy's slightly aged mother, Woody, thinking quickly, whistles for Buster for help getting downstairs to rescue his friends from getting thrown away. However, after Woody hops onto Buster's back so he can run outside to save his friends, the elderly dachshund instead yawns and falls fast asleep on Woody. Then, Woody turns Buster around for air.

Buster is last seen being with a 17-year-old Andy who departs for college, telling his pet dog to keep Molly away from his stuff.

## Trivia

* An early version of Buster, named "Speck" by the toys, appeared in the *Toy Story* comic story *Pup and Circumstance*, printed in the November 30, 1996 issue of *Disney Adventures*. The character's name was oddly not corrected when the story was reprinted in the September 2005 issue. This version of Buster has the same body shape as the Dalmatian puppies from *One Hundred and One Dalmatians*.
* In *Toy Story 2*, Buster's ears are longer than his older self in *Toy Story 3*. The reason for this was probably to make Buster look closer to an appearance of a real wiener dog and can be considered a goof.
* Real-life dachshunds are believed to have a lifespan of around 14–17 years, so Buster would be considered quite old, 10 years old by *Toy Story 3*.
* Buster is one of the few non-toy *Toy Story* characters who knows toys can come to life.
* Sound designer Gary Rydstrom owns a dog named Buster whose growls were used for Scud in Toy Story's sound designing process.
* Unlike many of the other *Toy Story* character models, the model of young Buster was not updated for *Toy Story 3*.

## Gallery

Toy-story2-disneyscreencaps.com-781.jpgBuster in Andy's room.4k-toystory2-animationscreencaps.com-1084.jpgBuster finding Woody.Toy-story2-disneyscreencaps.com-808.jpgYoung Buster and Woody.Toy-story2-disneyscreencaps.com-821.jpgBuster stands on his hind legs, like being tamed in a dog showToy-story2-disneyscreencaps.com-834.jpgBusterToyStory.jpgAndy doing a trick with BusterBuster2.jpgBusterAndWoody.jpgBuster and Woody rescuing Wheezy from the garage saleToystory2 395.jpg5D9054A1-DC71-447B-A527-1AEF69ACB657.pngBuster in the home videos Andy's mom recorded of Andy playing with his toysBuster-woody.jpgOlder BusterWoody-old-buster.jpgBuster yawningToy3story1509.jpgOld Buster falls asleep on WoodyBandicam 2020-02-01 13-38-25-303.jpgConcept art of BusterBandicam 2020-02-01 13-38-15-239.jpgBandicam 2020-02-01 13-38-06-958.jpg
## References

1. ↑ *Toy Story 3* "Beyond The Toy Box: An Alternative Commentary Track"