Wheezy first appeared in Toy Story 2 in 1999 as a squeaky penguin toy with a broken squeaker, left on a shelf collecting dust until Woody tries to save him from a yard sale. Voiced in the film by Joe Ranft, the character became a shorthand for beloved things that have fallen into disrepair. His coughing, widely shared in Spanish-speaking meme circles as a tos clip, spread on soundboards as a quick reaction for illness, dust and old age, long after the film left cinemas.