Toy Story and the Inner World of the Child offers the first comprehensive analysis of the role of toys and play within the development of film and animation.

The author takes the reader on a journey through the complex interweaving of the animation industry with inner world processes, beginning with the early history of film. Karen Cross explores digital meditations through an in-depth analysis of the Pixar Studios and the making of the Toy Story franchise. The book shows how the Toy Story functions as an outlet for exploring fears and anxieties relating to new technologies and industrial processes and the value of taking a psycho-cultural approach to recent controversies surrounding the film industry, particularly its cultural and sexual politics.

The book is key reading for film and animation scholars as well as those who are interested in applications of psychoanalysis to popular culture and children's media.