Teen brothers spent 8 years making a stop-motion version of ‘Toy Story 3’

The “Toy Story” movies hold a special place in a lot of people’s hearts. The first “Toy Story” premiered in 1995, followed by sequels in 1999, 2010 and 2019. For a certain generation of kids, they grew up right alongside the franchise.

Eight years ago, brothers Morgan and Mason McGrew began recreating “Toy Story 3″ with stop-motion animation. They were just 15 and 12 years old at the time. And after nearly a decade of hard work, they have completed their ambitious project.

“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.”

To pull off their amazing remake, the brothers from Des Moines, Iowa, used toys, real people and their iPhones. It took serious persistence to keep the project going over the years and, with the permission of Disney, they were finally able to show it to the world.

Their full hour-and-40-minute movie, entitled “Toy Story 3 In Real Life,” is available to watch on YouTube:

Since the video was posted to YouTube on Jan. 25, 2020, it has racked up more than two million views.

If you want a glimpse into their labor of love, they documented their creative process on their Facebook page, Toy Story 3 in Real Life Project.

On Jan. 29, 2019, they posted an update letting their fans know that the finished product would likely be ready the following year:

“I just hope that everybody who views it sees it as a result of what can happen if you stick to something and just keeping the idea that you should always finish what you start,” Morgan McGrew told “Good Morning America.”

Today, Morgan, 23, is a recent graduate of Buena Vista University with a degree in digital media/business, and Mason, 21, will graduate this year with the same degree.

We’re guessing these two will have a lot more awesome collaborations together in the future.