Little Vinny Donnelly, who captured hearts worldwide when his beloved toys waved him off for his first day at school in an emotive nod to the Toy Story films, has now had a night beyond his wildest dreams by joining Woody and Buzz Lightyear on the red carpet.
From Viral Photo to Red Carpet Guest
Disney Pixar invited Vinny to be the guest of honour at the UK premiere of Toy Story 5, six years after his father Sean's touching photo went viral in 2020. The image showed Vinny, then aged four, heading off to school with his collection of Toy Story characters lined up at the front door, recreating the goodbye scene from the third movie.
Mr Donnelly, 38, a lorry driver from Loughborough, Leicestershire, shared the adorable snap online at the time. Speaking at Thursday's event at the Odeon Luxe in London's Leicester Square, he said: 'We'd kind of forgotten about the photo – it was so long ago. At the time it was bonkers, we were getting messages from all over the world.'
A Dream Come True
Vinny, now ten, attended the premiere with his father, mother Charlotte, and sister. The family walked the red carpet and Vinny got to meet the legendary voices behind the film's stars, including Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz).
'A few weeks ago Disney got in contact and invited Vinny to the premiere,' Mr Donnelly added. On the viral image, he explained: 'We decided to recreate the moment where Andy leaves his toys behind when we did the traditional going to school photo.'
Toy Story 5 Release
Toy Story was first released over 30 years ago in 1995, starring Hollywood legend Tom Hanks as cowboy Woody. The film series, which currently has four installments, is set to release a fifth film later this year in June.
