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I also began having this problem just a few weeks ago.  2000 4runner about 160,000 miles on it.  I have never owned a automatic transmission in my Toyota and was hesitant to buy  it. Too many reasons for it to go bad.
The truck has been starting hard and one real cold day and a hard start I got it out the driveway but it would not go once on the road. Reverse back in and switched vehicles. Scares me cause I just bought it. I thought the brakes were stuck. Am gonna try a new battery, before I do anything else. I might take it in for a trans oil change and filter also.
steve  

I read this forum a while ago. I had the same problem. 2000 4runner with 127k. I changed the battery, which was the original, I am the original owner, and the problem went away. Bottom line, if the battery is old, change it first.  

Now my trans is slipping. I had a bad feeling about a used vehicle with an auto trans all along. Had a 94 manual for years never a lick of trouble, gonna be pissed if this costs me an arm and a leg. Can't afford that right now.
Steve  

from what most of these people are describing it sounds to me like the low sprag is slipping.This would tend to happen when it is cold out and the vehicle has been sitting overnight.once it warms up a little it will work   until eventually it goes completely.When the sprag slips if you put the trans in low {1} the vehicle should stop slipping because the low/reverse clutches come on and hold the same drum as the sprag does.The only way to repair this is to completely disassemble the trans.I dont think the battery is the problem in any of these cases.  

I have a 99 4Runner Limited 4WD with 165,000 miles.  Great truck, had it since it was new.  I have had the same problem with my automatic transmission for about 6 months.  It worked fine backing out of the garage, but put it in Drive and it barely moved while the engine rev'd for about 5 seconds.  It ran great after that.  This would not happen every time, just sometimes, but always when the engine was cold. I had the transmission flushed at the Toyota place two months ago, no change. Last week I bought a new battery and the transmission problem went away.  The 5 year old Diehard I had was not dead, but would not hold a charge over the weekend.  Sears said it was fine. Finally got tired of jumping it off on Monday mornings and bought one at Wal-Mart, MaxxStart.  I was still seaching the internet in case the transmission problem came back and found this site.  I hope the $75 battery was the solution.