TOY STORY 4
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The Cast of Toy Story 4 Share Emotional Reactions to the Last Day of Recording

January 31, 2019
By Kelle Long

There comes a day in every cowboy’s life when it is time to hang his hat for good. For Woody, that day has come. Tom Hanks tweeted out a photo from the recording studio where he spoke what may be his last words as the Toy Story star.

After nearly 25 years since the first film dropped, Toy Story 4 has wrapped recording.  “Final line, final session as Woody of Toy Story 4. We rode like the wind, to infinity and beyond,” Hanks tweeted. It is a bittersweet moment for the fans who have been there since the beginning, and more so for the original cast.

Tim Allen, the voice behind Woody’s best friend, Buzz Lightyear, shared his thoughts on the film and promises it is going to be another crowd pleaser. “Finished my Buzz for Toy Story 4 today and it got emotional,” Allen said. “Wonderful full body story. You are all going to love the work this incredible team at Pixar created. We are all going to love this story….man its got everything.”

Comedic genius Tony Hale (Arrested Development, Veep) is joining the cast as Forky, a new character who feels out of place. As a plastic spork that a creative child has given life with eyes and a mouth, he’s set to be at the center of the latest installment. Hale also shared a photo from the last day of recording with the hashtag #forkylives, most likely referencing his character’s unlikely sentience.

I have to be honest. This might be the most emotional I have ever been about a franchise. I was six when it began, and we have just come such a long way together. Toy Story 3 was teased as being the finale, and when they were in that incinerator, I thought it just might be. However, the toys made a miraculous escape and lived to play another day.

Toy Story was transcendent. I distinctly remember how my family and I marveled at just how real the characters looked. “It doesn’t even look like a cartoon,” my dad said in wonder. In fact, I went to a Randy Newman concert three years ago, as I am wont to do, and Newman (maybe) joked that he didn’t even know it was animated until someone mentioned it to him after it was released.

It is difficult to remember now that we have adapted and it has become commonplace, but Toy Story was the first major movie to strip away the delicacy with which we treated children audiences. Adults would finally have a movie to watch that entertained them as much as their child. The approach was completely inoffensive, but it melted the plastic façade that everything for children is good and pure and perfect. Woody had jealousy and spite, but also a whole lot of caring. The naiveté was eroded and replaced by a refreshing voice.

This is truly what movie magic is made of and little did we know when we first laid eyes on Toy Story that it would do as Buzz promised. Woody, Bo Peep, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest have taken us to infinity and beyond.

Toy Story 4 gallops into theaters June 21.

Featured Image: om Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack return as the voices of Woody, Buzz and Jessie, and comedian Tony Hale lends his voice to Forky. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelle Long

Kelle has written about film and TV for The Credits since 2016. Follow her on Twitter @molaitdc for interviews with really cool film and TV artists and only occasional outbursts about Broadway, tennis, and country music. Please no talking or texting during the movie. Unless it is a musical, then sing along loudly.