25 things you didn’t know about your favorite rom-coms

Sleepless in Seattle: A Toy Story connection you’d never expect

Sleepless in Seattle is the story of a recently widowed man named Sam from Chicago who relocates to Seattle with his son after his wife dies of cancer. On Christmas Eve, his son calls a radio show and convinces his father to talk about how much he misses his late wife.

Listeners are so touched that women start writing letters to Sam. One of those letters is written by Annie, played by Meg Ryan. Sam is played by Tom Hanks, and this is just one of a few ’90s rom-coms starring Ryan and Hanks.

This piece of trivia may seem a little obscure, but bear with us.

On the soundtrack to Sleepless In Seattle, there are multiple songs by Gene Autry. Autry was a country music star in the 1930s known for his crooning style who starred as a singing cowboy in movies, on television, and on radio shows.

You may be asking, “why are they talking about some country music singer from, like, a hundred years ago? What does that have to do with Sleepless in Seattle?”

Well, as we pointed out, the movie stars Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks also starred in the Walt Disney classic Toy Story as the voice of the cowboy Woody, as well as voicing the toy in both sequels. Guess who inspired the character of Woody? None other than Gene Autry!

Alright, so this is more of a Tom Hanks fact rather than a rom-com fact, but aren’t you glad you know that now?