Thousands of people have joined an online campaign to reunite a lost Woody the Cowboy Toy Story doll found on the roadside – with his real-life Andy.
The incredible tale – which mirrors the plot of the Hollywood movie – began when motorist Bev McNeill, 50, saw the doll lying on the side of the M4 after it appeared to have fallen from a moving car.
She was travelling too fast to pull over and rescue the lonely toy – which was sprawled on the hard shoulder – but made a note of the location.
Miraculously she found herself stuck in a traffic jam at the very same spot seven weeks later and was astonished to see the stricken cowboy still lying in the dirt.
She rescued the drawstring doll – which was missing an arm but still smiling and wearing his cowboy hat and boots – and took him home.
Now Woody, who has ‘Liam’ rather than Andy penned on his right foot, has become the centre of a web campaign to get him home.
A Twitter appeal has been retweeted more than 2,300 times in 24 hours and the hashtag #getwoodyhome was trending across the social network this afternoon.
The motorway drama mirrors the scene in the first Toy Story film where Woody is booted out of the back of a removal truck by the other toys amid suspicions he killed Buzz.
Speaking today, sales executive Bev said: “I think some little boy was playing with him near the window and he got dropped out.
“I’m a big fan of Toy Story and of Woody in particular and it was so sad to see him lying there on the side of the road – just like in the movie.
“But the cars were starting to move again and I didn’t have time to get out, but I made a note of the lamppost number.
“Seven weeks later I was stuck in exactly the same spot and I thought of little Woody again.
“I hopped out of the car, jumped over the barrier and found him.
“The guy in the car behind me was giving me a very strange look, but when I held up Woody to show him he just said ‘aww’.”
Bev was driving from her home in south east London to her second home in Marlborough, Wiltshire, when she spotted and picked up the doll close to Heathrow Airport.
He had been sitting in her office for two weeks before her colleagues launched a Twitter campaign – with the hashtag #getwoodyhome – in a bid to reunite him with ‘Liam’.
The appeal has so far had 2,000 retweets including celebrity backers like TV chef Phil Vickery, cricketer Phil Tuffnell and Football Focus presenter Dan Walker.
Bev added: “It would be wonderful to see little Woody and Liam reunited. I bet Liam is really missing him.”
The plea to find Woody’s owner had been tweeted more than 3,000 times.
The #getwoodyhome message was even re-tweeted by Toy Story writter and Pixar director Andrew Stanton – also the voice behind Toy Story 2’s Emperor Zurg.
A spokeswoman from Disney said: “We’re delighted to join the quest to reunite Liam and Woody.
“We’ll be running a campaign across our social media channels including Disney for Mums to help spread the word and hopefully give this toy story a happy ending.”
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