Remember “Toy Story 3?” I do -— it came out around the time I started college. I can still remember the first time I watched Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang clasp hands as they prepared for their fiery demise. 20-year-old me cried like I was three again. I won’t bore you with a description of the tears that came with the happy ending.

See, they were a part of my childhood. I was five when the first movie came out — I can still remember sitting in the theater, munching on popcorn with my dad while marveling at the screen. I never owned a toy inspired by “Toy Story,” but I remember how much more I valued the toys I did have after that movie — and how strange it felt to outgrow them.

In what was either a very happy coincidence or a brilliant storytelling move, this kids trilogy concluded around the time those of us who grew up with the franchise concluded our childhoods. It’s why so many of us openly wept when Buzz and Woody braced themselves for the flames — our childhoods were going to burn with them, in a way.

But they didn’t really. Movies like “Frozen” and “Tangled” and “Brave” and the two new Muppets movies are all aimed at children — or parents. We college students are, for the most part, not in that demographic. And yet you’d be hard pressed to find a current student who can’t at least hum “Let it Go.”

We’ve gone far past the point of donning the occasional, sepia toned nostalgia glasses that adulthood gives us. It doesn’t surprise me in the least that older generations tend to view ours as “immature.”

But I don’t think that’s it. Sure, there are a few of us who really need to put our big kid pants on, but for the most part we’ve embraced adulthood, right? So why this fascination with the new kids’ movies?

Maybe it’s something to do with staying in touch with our inner child. We’ll be happier if our inner child is happy. We need to chill out, man. We need to become more like children. Make naps, not war.

Okay, maybe not. Maybe it’s more along the lines of storytelling and art? Walt Disney’s “Snow White” certainly supports this — the original tale was softened for the kiddos and the art intrigued Mom and Pop, but we know that already. It tells us nothing about why people our age are consuming products aimed at the G-rated audience.

My last idea was the pandering to the older folks in the audience. Think about some of the banter in “Frozen:” “Shoe size doesn’t matter.” “All men do it.” “Oh, look. I’ve been impaled.” Okay, that last  one the internet made dirty, but the other two still stand.

But again, if we look back, we still see the off color, adult humor slipped into the classic kids’ movies. Using “Snow White” as reference again, adults know what Grumpy is talking about when he talks about the “wicked wiles” of women. Yes my friends, Grumpy is worried that Snow White is going to polish more than just the brass doorknobs.

Each of the three ideas unravel further when we look at the amount of material available to those of us old enough to partake. There are plenty of movies aimed at adults who want to appeal to their inner child (think of all the superhero movies that are rated pg-13 and up). As for art, older audiences are finally able to handle watching movies that push the boundaries of movies for art…without having to worry about giving little Tommy nightmares. And goodness knows clever adult humor can be found in films made for adult audiences. We all have other options, so why do we keep going back to the ones designed for kids?

At the end of the day, I’m left without an answer. And for once, I really don’t mind being left wondering why we college kids are so obsessed with childrens’ movies. Honestly, whatever the reason we young adults have such a fascination with the movies aimed at kids, I’m cool with it so long as someone brings popcorn.

Kjerstine Trooien is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at [email protected].