Toy Story Present

Submission 22,837

Part of a series on Toy Story. [View Related Entries]

About

Toy Story Present refers to a two-panel object labeling meme format in which a boy carries what appears to be a small gift, with the second panel revealing that the gift is in fact very large. Based on the scene from the 1995 animated film Toy Story, the format gained notable popularity online in April 2020, particularly on Facebook and Reddit.

Origin

On November 22nd, 1995, Pixar animated film Toy Story premiered in the United States.^[1] In one scene of the film, a boy is shown carrying a present to Andy's birthday party. While the box under his arm appears to be small from the front, it is then revealed to be very long when the boy turns.

On March 31st, 2020, Redditor^[2]^[3]^[4] RealReagatron posted the first thee memes based on the format to /r/brandonsanderson, /r/cremeposting and r/MemeTemplatesOfficial subreddits (shown below, left and right), also providing a template for the meme. The posts, received over 1,000, 500 and 320 upvotes in one month, respectively.

Spread

On April 1st, 2020, Facebook^[5] user Jake Marley Connor posted a Pokémon meme based on the template to Pokémon Poképosting Facebook group, gaining over 1,600 reactions and 140 shares in one month (shown below, left). The post prompted the spread of the format on Facebook in the following month.

On April 2nd, 2020, Twitter^[6] user markdalgleish tweeted a version referencing the coronavirus quarantine (shown below), receiving over 250 likes and 20 retweets in one month (shown below, right).

Starting on April 5th, 2020, the format received further spread on Reddit. On April 6th, Redditor^[7] Wows_Nightly_News posted a World War 2 meme that received over 53,900 upvotes in /r/HistoryMemes (shown below, left). On the same day, Redditor^[8] DogeJacket posted a The The Longer The Icon of Sin Is on Earth, The Stronger It Becomes meme that received over 3,500 upvotes in r/Doom in three weeks (shown below, right).

In the following weeks, the format saw a moderate spread on Reddit, Facebook and other online platforms. For example, an April 26th meme posted by Redditor^[9] thesmarmellus received over 46,100 upvotes in three days.