The Sad Penguin meme is from a scene in Toy Story 2 where Wheezy the squeaky toy looks forlornly at Woody after being forgotten on a shelf. TikTok users turned this moment into a popular reaction image that caught on in September 2024 and used it to express feelings of depression, loneliness, or being overlooked.
The captioned screenshot is often paired with the song “Un-Thinkable (I'm Ready)” by Alicia Keys—a slow ballad about two people who are considering starting a relationship together despite personal or social barriers.
The meme’s creator grabbed the Toy Story 2 screenshot right at the moment that Wheezy looks at Woody after coughing up dust. Woody had just discovered him between some old books on a neglected shelf while the more popular toy was dealing with the fallout from a rip on his arm, bringing up fears that he, too, would suffer a fate like Wheezy’s.
The expression on Wheezy’s face is meant to portray a kind of pitiable despair mixed with a desperate need for care and attention. This is the emotion meant to be evoked when paired with captions like “how my hb be looking at me when I’m eating my food.”
Pixar's Toy Story 2 was released to general audiences in the U.S. on November 24, 1999. Over two decades later, the screenshot from the meme began to appear on social media platforms as an example of the saddest kind of facial expression one can conjure. On October 2, 2022, a popular reaction meme Twitter account posted the image for its potential.
One of the earliest examples of the Sad Penguin meme appearing on TikTok occurred on June 25, 2023, when user @evilmckillaperson posted a close-up version of the screenshot with the caption "Me when they find me living in their closet" to the sound of Superheaven's "Youngest Daughter."
@evilmckillaperson So sad:( #couragethecowardlydog #toystory #penguin ♬ Youngest Daughter - Superheaven
The first known instance of the meme as it's known today was found on September 2, 2024, by TikTok user @xoxo_cherry5 and captioned "When he grabs my phone and see's [sic] my bsf using his face as a meme."
@xoxo_cherry5 #fyp #foryoupage #bsf #sadpenguin #trend #meme ♬ Un-thinkable (I'm Ready) - Alicia Keys
Weeks later, the hashtag #sadpenguin had hundreds of entries under its belt. The sound with the Alicia Keys song boasts over 70,000 posts, though many of these are not associated with the Sad Penguin meme. However, at least in September 2024, the strong majority of posts under this sound feature poor Wheezy.
By the middle of September, it had spread to other social media accounts including Twitter and Reddit as a simple reaction image. It appears to be nearly as effective without the aid of Alicia Keys, but she does help with the sad vibes.
The intent of the meme also expanded to cover pretty much any situation in which someone might be sad or even just feel inconvenienced.
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