Monkey (Toy Story)

“	It's not. Your REAL problem's the monkey. The Monkey's the eye in the sky. He sees everything... classrooms, hallways, even the playground. You can unlock doors, sneak past guards, climb the wall, but if you don't take out that monkey, you ain't going nowhere. You want to get out of here? GET RID OF THAT MONKEY!	„
	~ Chatter Telephone's warning to Woody as to how the Monkey prevents Sunnyside Daycare's toys from getting out with his surveillance.

The Monkey is a major antagonist in Pixar's 11th full-length animated feature film Toy Story 3, the third installment in the Toy Story franchise.

He is a cymbal-banging Musical Jolly Chimp Monkey Toy at Sunnyside Daycare who assists Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear on monitoring the daycare to prevent any toys who defy him from escaping. He has not spoken, but he does make monkey noises. He has two cymbals he can bang together.

His muffling sound effects were provided by the film's director Lee Unkrich.

Biography[]

The Monkey is first seen being played with by Bonnie Anderson when the much older Ms. Davis goes to Sunnyside to donate the toys and meets Bonnie's mother, and Bonnie is extremely shy to talk to Andy's mother.

During the times when Sunnyside was under Lotso's control, the Monkey has worked under Lotso as a nighttime guard watching all the security cameras in his office. Every time a toy tried to escape, the Monkey has pushed a button that turns on the P.A. and screams loudly into it while banging his cymbals together repeatedly, alerting Lotso and his other nighttime guard toys to capture that toy.

When Woody returns to Sunnyside to rescue his imprisoned friends, the Chatter Telephone tells information about the Monkey to Woody, and says that he’s going to have to get rid of the Monkey if he wants to escape.

That night, the Monkey is busy focusing his eyes on one camera where Ken, Big Baby, and the reset Buzz have cornered Mr. Potato Head (who escaped from his cell and left a real potato in it). Seeing as the escape was botched, the Monkey decided to not activate the P.A., failing to notice Slinky coming out of his cell in the Caterpillar Room through another camera. Woody and Slinky quietly go through the vent into the Monkey's office. With Slinky grabbing hold of Woody and swinging him slowly, Woody tries to put a black bag over the Monkey's face, but the Monkey already noticed them, and quickly turns around and screams at Woody, making him and Slinky fall on top of the Monkey due to getting startled. The Monkey and Woody both get up, and the Monkey turns and hisses at the surprised Woody and scatters off to go tell Lotso. However, before he can actually reach the door, Woody trips him over with the cord to the PA. This then leads to a brief fight, in which the Monkey overpowers Woody by repeatedly banging his cymbals on Woody's face. Woody tells Slinky to grab a nearby scotch tape, and the Monkey screams loudly in horror when he turns to see Slinky flying and charging toward him. Woody and Slinky then tie him up with the tape and lock him in a filing cabinet. Lotso's later knowledge of Woody and his friends' escaping in the first place is unrevealed, but it is likely that the Monkey freed himself or someone freed him and alerted Lotso, leading to Lotso beating the Chatter Telephone for information on Woody's whereabouts.

During the film credits, the Monkey has returned to his position of monitoring security cameras at night again after Sunnyside is revolutionized into a cool and groovy toy paradise by Barbie and Ken, Sunnyside's new leaders. Seeing a disco party taking place at the Butterfly Room through one of the security cameras, the Monkey, also enjoying the disco, puts on his star-shaped sunglasses, bangs his cymbals as if they were drums, and starts dancing to the music, signifying that he has reformed as well because Lotso and his tyranny are no more.

Trivia[]

Monkey is actually a real toy named "Jolly Chimp" which was considered as one of the creepiest toys ever.
Though the monkey typically monitors Sunnyside to ensure that prisoners are kept in their cells or returned to their cells if they attempt to escape, he did not notice Woody attempting to do so. This is presumably because he was being played with in the Butterfly Room at the time and/or that he doesn't monitor during the daytime. Even if the Monkey did see Woody leave, he would not able to alert the guards to pursue him right away, since it was broad daylight and the presence of young children and adults in and around the daycare would make it impossible for him to sound the alarm. Because the prisoners were toys and not humans and the general rule for a toy is to only come to life when there are no humans present, there was nothing he could do to prevent Woody from making his escape.
- As the Chatter Telephone noted, there has been an increase in security because of Woody's disappearance, so it was likely Lotso or any of his henchmen who noticed his absence, as they have already met him beforehand.
Some people have appreciated that as the security cameras filmed what was happening in Sunnyside late at night, anyone who recorded them could watch the toys move by themselves and discover that they have life. Given this, it is likely that every night after finishing his work, the Monkey will erase the recordings, or more specifically the captures of the toys moving, so that the humans will not find out what was happening after closing time.
This monkey may have been a major inspiration for the titular villain in the 2025 film adaptation of the Stephen King book Skeleton Crew short story The Monkey, which ironically may have been the likely influence for the monkey seen here.

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