The song is played during the opening credits for
Toy Story,
Toy Story 3, and
Toy Story 4, establishing the importance of
Woody and
Andy in the first film and the importance of
all his toys in the third and fourth.
Toy Story 3 also uses it for irony and dramatic effect, as the opening credits hark back to the first film and the song abruptly fades out with "And as the years go by, our friendship will never die", before showing that Andy's remaining toys in the present day are boxed up and unused. When they were unused, Andy was 17 years old. In
Toy Story 4, the song is heard during the opening montage, that features Andy playing with Woody, giving him to
Bonnie as a teenager, and Bonnie playing with him, but soon starting to neglect him. In two sequels, the song is listened to by the characters as part of the story, as cover versions done at the end of the film for thematic reasons: at the end of
Toy Story 2, the character
Wheezy starts to sing it to the other toys in the style of
Frank Sinatra; during the end credits of
Toy Story 3,
Buzz Lightyear and
Jessie perform a
pasodoble to a Spanish version of the song, deliberately played by Jessie to get Buzz to dance. In the third act of
Toy Story 2, an episode of ''Woody's Roundup'' (the fictional 1950s puppet show he was based on) shows the puppet Woody singing the song, directed at the young audience and featuring a small child hugging the puppet. Woody sees this and has an
epiphany, realizing that his mission as a toy is to be there for a child. The ''Woody's Roundup'' version was performed by
Tom Hanks, with acoustic guitar backing; Wheezy's version was sung by
Robert Goulet (though the character was voiced by
Joe Ranft); and the Spanish version, "You've Got a Friend in Me (Para el Buzz Español)", was performed by the
Gipsy Kings. == Personnel ==