At the conclusion of Toy Story 3, Andy leaves for college, and hands off his beloved toys to a young girl in his neighborhood, Bonnie. This seemingly wrapped up the storyline for Buzz and Woody – they were given a new purpose as Bonnie’s toys, rather than collecting dust in Andy’s room. Toy Story 3 felt like the logical conclusion to the story. But nearly 10 years later, it’s clear that Pixar had one last story to tell about these beloved characters.
Toy Story 4 picks up not long after the conclusion of Toy Story 3, with Bonnie getting ready to start kindergarten. During orientation, she struggles with coming out of her shell to connect with other students, and instead makes herself a new toy out of craft supplies: Forky. The plastic spork gains his sentience as a toy and immediately has an existential crisis – he doesn’t know why he’s alive, he doesn’t know what it means to be a toy, and he would prefer to go back into the trash where he thinks he belongs. However, Bonnie has deemed Forky her new favorite toy, and Woody takes it upon himself to make sure that Forky doesn’t fling himself into the trash.
When Bonnie’s family decides to take a road trip, she packs up all of her toys to come along as well. Forky uses this opportunity to fling himself from the vehicle in the middle of the night, as he refuses to admit he’s a toy. Woody chases after him, and on their way back to the RV he’s able to convince Forky of the upsides of toyhood. But on the walk back, Woody notices a certain lamp in a window of an antique store, and decides to look for his old beau Bo Peep. So rather than going back to Bonnie, the two end up on a detour in which Woody gets separated from Forky, meets a vintage doll named Gabby Gabby and her four bodyguards (all ventriloquist dummies named Benson), and has to stage a rescue mission to get Forky back from Gabby before Bonnie’s family leaves town and leaves them all behind.
There’s a lot going on in this film, but the main conflict that a lot of characters end up having is regarding what it means to be a toy. Woody continues to struggle to find his place in the world after Andy moved on to college, Gabby was defective out of the box with a malfunctioning voice box and never had the opportunity to give joy to a child to begin with, and Forky straight up has an entire existential crisis about his whole existence. Meanwhile, Bo Peep has moved on from having a kid to serve herself, and is instead making the most of life on her own as a lost toy. Her newfound independence both inspires and confuses Woody, who still clings to memories of his life with Andy.
All of the voice acting in this film is at the superb level we’ve all come to expect from Disney and Pixar, with everyone returning to their roles from previous films. Tom Hanks is… well, he’s Tom Hanks, what do you expect? He carries the emotional weight of the film as Woody in a fashion that really only he would be able to do. Annie Potts finally gets her time in the spotlight as Bo Peep, who plays a huge role in this film – long overdue, in my opinion. Tony Hale brings just the right amount of anxiety to the role of Forky to the point where it’s more charming than concerning.
Toy Story 4 ends up kind of being a Woody-focused feature, despite how the trailers seemed to focus more on Forky’s entire existence. The story is ultimately about Woody’s growth – Forky’s existence is important and key to the storyline, but it’s really just a catalyst for Woody’s storyline in this film. I was a little disappointed in an overall lack of other characters accordingly; there’s far less Buzz Lightyear and Jessie in this film than in previous entries, and many of Bonnie’s other toys are seemingly reduced to cameos.
However, characters I expected to just be fun celebrity cameos ended up being much bigger: Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), Canada’s Greatest Stuntman, brings the bravado, while Ducky and Bunny (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) are just edgy and rowdy enough to mix things up while keeping everything G-rated. Christina Hendricks adds the right level of the creep factor to her portrayal as Gabby Gabby – she’s able to turn it on in the scenes where it called for a level of concern, but was able to switch back to genuinely sweet and sympathetic when necessary as well.
I was five years old when the original Toy Story came out, so to see things wrapped up in such a fashion at this point in my life (I turn 30 this year) felt a little bittersweet. Not to spoil the ending, but it does feel as though this is sort of it for Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang – I can’t really see them continuing, at least not with these characters, after this film. The characters here ended up being as much a part of my childhood as they were for Andy and Bonnie, and it’s a little tough to say goodbye.
Toy Story 4 manages to hit the right amount of sweet nostalgia without ever getting to the point of being cloying. It matches the rest of the franchise in terms of its genuine emotional weight as well as its humor. It’s absolutely a must-watch for anyone who’s enjoyed the previous entries in this franchise, but is also a worthwhile trip to the movies for those looking for a good dose of family-friendly film-watching.
-Carrie Wood