Teenage brothers spend 8 years recreating the entirety of 'Toy Story 3' in stop-motion with real toys

Toy Story is one of the most beloved children's franchises in history. It spans multiple generations and has inspired thousands of children to pursue animation as a career. That's definitely the case for Morgan and Mason McGrew, two brothers from Des Moines, Iowa, who fell in love with the movie when it was released more than a decade ago.

The movie inspired the boys so much that when Morgan was just 15 years old, and Mason was 12, the pair set out on an eight-year journey to recreate Toy Story 3 in its entirety using real toys and stop-motion film techniques. The duo, now 27 and 25, released the final version of their creation and it's taking the Internet by storm.

"As soon as we saw Toy Story 3, it became our favorite film, and will forever be," Mason McGrew told BuzzFeed. "We’d always been [such] huge fans of Pixar and the Toy Story franchise that we eventually decided we wanted to pay tribute to the studio and film that we love so much."

"Overall, the hardest thing about this film was staying disciplined," Mason added. "It was very important to us that we finish what we began as kids."

You can watch their creation, with a runtime of one hour and 39 minutes below. 

Unsurprisingly, a lot has changed since the brothers undertook their massive project. Morgan graduated from Buena Vista University with a digital media/business degree. Mason is just about to finish the same degree at the same school as his brother. They both hope to pursue careers in stop-motion animation.

As you can imagine, people are impressed with the project. 

One user wrote: "I can't imagine spending eight years on anything. Every year I've done something different. You two spent eight years on this, and I enjoyed watching it. Sorry that your dog Buster died. I am happy you could use him in your movie. His memory will live as long as this version of your movie is in circulation."

While another added: "Now this has ruined Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 3 for me. The brothers did an even better job. Fantastic 10/10. I'm sure it was made with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears and certainly paid off."

This article was originally published on February 7, 2020. It has since been updated.