At a fast-food chicken restaurant called "Poultry Palace", a parody of McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's or White Castle, Bonnie isn’t sure why she had the buzzing electronic belt buckle that comes with her kid's meal. When she asks for a Buzz Lightyear-themed toy, she is told the restaurant's supplies of them have run out. When her mother asks for the one in the display case, she is told that one is for display only. Inside the display, Mini Buzz Lightyear groans they will never be played with, as they are just the display toys, to Mini Zurg (who actually prefers to stay). Bonnie goes on to play in the ball pit with her own toys; when no one is looking, Mini Buzz privately climbs in. He pulls the real Buzz underneath the balls so that Bonnie ends up picking up Mini Buzz when she leaves the restaurant. Once Mini Buzz gets home, he clarifies to the other toys that the balls in the ball pit shrunk him, and proceeds to generally irritate the whole gang (save a gullible Rex) with his obvious ruse and antics.
Meanwhile, the real Buzz is stuck at the restaurant, trying to escape. He crawls through the venting system, but suddenly falls into a storage room where a "fast food-toy support group" is being held, led by Queen Neptuna, a warrior mermaid (voiced by Jane Lynch). The support group thinks Buzz is just another rejected toy and Neptuna obligates him to take part. Forced to engage in a role-playing group exercise, he finally escapes by using a grappling hook toy, much to the abandoned toys' dismay. Back at Bonnie's house, the gang restrains Mini Buzz and forces him to give up the real Buzz's whereabouts. They begin devising a rescue plan when the real Buzz returns. Mini Buzz is returned to the support group, but with Buzz now volunteering as his sponsor. In a post-credits scene, Mini Zurg is left with the electronic belt buckle as his sole companion, much to his delight.
Poultry Palace's food containers are "printed and packaged in Emeryville, CA, USA." Coincidentally, Pixar Animation Studios are based there.
When Buzz attempts to escape the restaurant, he manages to climb up a vent. This is very similar to Toy Story 2, when the gang tries to rescue Woody from Al McWhiggin.
T-Bone's line: "Don't run away from your problems, brother," is a reference to famous professional wrestler Hulk Hogan.
This is the second Pixar short, after Tokyo Mater with Bolt in 2008, and only Toy Story Toons short that was paired with a film not produced by Pixar. It is the first time the film is a live-action film.
Small Fry was not included on The Muppets DVD and Blu-ray, possibly for an eventual compilation release.[4] However, it is available as a digital download on Amazon Instant Video and iTunes and was shown on TV. And it was included on Pixar Short Films Collection Volume 2.[5]
This is the second time that Buzz is replaced by another Buzz of extremely different personality. The first time was in Toy Story 2.
In Japan, this short was screened with Brave rather than The Muppets. The Muppets was released in cinemas there on May 19, 2012, and it is likely they removed the short from the theatrical release and found it was reasonable to put the short in front of a Pixar movie.[citation needed]
This short film marks Henry Jackman's first music score in a Pixar production.
The ingredients listed on the containers of Ye Olde Tartar Sauce that Buzz sits on are basically inedible, including low fructose corn syrup, water, yellow dye no. 6, moulted feather extract and distilled chicken perspiration.
Condorman with the Condormobile from the 1981 live action Disney film "Condorman" makes a cameo among the group of discard fun meal toys.
Tae-Kwon-Doe bears strong resemblance to Bambi's Mother.
