Mattel unveils animatronic Toy Story figures with synced speech and motion

Mattel’s latest Toy Story collection brings Buzz Lightyear and Woody to life with animatronic features such as blinking eyes, neck rotation and mouth movements that match each of their 73 spoken lines, plus the ability to interact with one another. Designers Kristen Sanzari and Baxter Crane, who have been collaborating at Mattel for two years, built the line based mainly on script excerpts rather than film footage. Senior vice president Nick Karamanos explained that the new antagonist, LilyPad—a frog-shaped smart tablet—presented the biggest design challenge, requiring a balance between a tech device and a character with personality.

The toys use infrared technology to switch between a normal "toy mode" and an "alive mode" where they converse with each other, all driven by a single motor per figure. Priced at about $89, the six-inch figures join a broader rollout of roughly 200 Toy Story items, from plushes to Hot Wheels cars, all produced at Mattel’s Handler Team Center in El Segundo, south of Los Angeles County.