WHY MAKE ‘TOY STORY 4’?
Pixar director Josh Cooley knew fans would ask the question. The matter wasn’t whether Pixar should make a sequel but whether he should return to the beloved franchise that launched the pioneering animation studio into feature filmmaking.
Nearly a decade after Pixar completed the “Toy Story” trilogy with a high emotional flourish and fitting passage of childhood, why return to the land of Woody and Buzz and their fellow embraceable playthings for a fourth film?
“That is the ultimate question,” Cooley says by phone. “I agree: The end of ‘Toy Story 3’ is so amazing.”
First, the question was: “Why are we even doing this? The trilogy is complete,” says Cooley, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter (“Inside Out”) and storyboard artist turned director.
Yet that view of the trilogy was centered on the arc of Andy, the boy turned college student who, at the end of “Toy Story 3,” gave his gang of toys to Bonnie, the wide-eyed young neighbor girl.
“But that’s not the end of Woody’s story,” Cooley says.
Cooley and his colleagues became fascinated by the possible emotional progression of Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), the spindly toy sheriff who has always been loyal to his assigned child.
It’s worth remembering that with each “Toy Story” movie, the filmmakers set out to create a new, specific challenge for Woody. The first “Toy Story” introduced the concept of these secret lives of toys, but for Woody, it was also about getting lost.
In “Toy Story 2” — which centers on wearing out and showing age — Woody is is “repaired and he repairs the family bond,” producer Jonas Rivera says. And 2010’s “Toy Story 3” centers on how Woody copes with the fact that his kid has grown up.
“Toy Story 4,” then, tackles the challenge of being in a new environment, with a new child. “This is a movie about second chances,” Rivera says.
So the filmmakers decided to bring back Bonnie, who faces the disorienting unknown of kindergarten orientation day.
While Woody is trying to help Bonnie, however, the filmmakers decided to place him between two crucial characters: Forky (Tony Hale), a spork-and-pipe-cleaner toy made by Bonnie, and Bo Peep (Annie Potts), who hasn’t been seen since “Toy Story 2.” Woody must guide the innocent Forky while himself being guided by Bo, who has grown wise beyond the world of loyal-toone-kid assignments.
By following Woody’s evolution, the Pixar leaders believe they found the proper way to walk in the trilogy’s massive boot steps.