Toy Story 2

Movie Recap

In Toy Story 2, the cowboy toy Woody is accidentally stolen by a greedy toy collector named Al. Al wants to obtain a complete set of rare cowboy toys and sell them for a large sum to a museum in Japan—Woody is the last missing piece in the collection.

In Al’s apartment, Woody meets the other members of the cowboy series: Jessie the cowgirl, Bullseye the horse, and Stinky Pete the prospector.

Jessie once belonged to a little girl named Emily. They shared many precious moments together—playing, traveling, even sleeping side by side. Jessie was Emily’s favorite. But as Emily grew up, she gradually lost interest in her toys. Eventually, Jessie was donated and discarded like something “outdated.” This experience left Jessie with deep insecurity and fear. She tried her best to persuade Woody to stay with them and go to the museum, where they would never face the risk of being abandoned again.

The rest of the story tells how Woody succeeds in convincing Jessie to choose love over the safety of being a museum exhibit—and how they were eventually rescued by Woody’s toy friends and returns to Andy.

To Love or to be Safe?

I applaud brave Woody! True love will always be vulnerable to pain—God Himself was wounded because He loved us. In the book of Isaiah, God says with sorrow, “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

C.S. Lewis, one of Britain’s great literary figures, writes in The Four Loves about love and pain:

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one—not even an animal.”

Between true love and the safety of never being hurt,

which would you choose?
Like Woody, I choose true love—

not because I am brave,

but because true love will triumph

through the power of Jesus’ resurrection.