Toy Story Fangirl

Tim Allen made another appearance on The Talk today, and just like his earlier press tour a few months back, he didn’t disappoint with his remarks on Toy Story 4.  In fact, he elaborated even more on some of the things he had said in the past.   And also today, Tom Hanks announced that he has finished recording his lines as Woody for the film.

During Tim Allen’s interview, hosts Vanessa Williams and Sara Gilbert fielded the questions that brought up the upcoming sequel:

So later this year you’re playing Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story 4.  So they just found Bo Peep… now where has she been?

Now, this is funny, because not even 20 minutes ago, I left Disney and came here.  I just finished up a little bit of Toy Story 4, and Hanks was coming right after me; we’re old good buddies.  And I asked him, I said, “what can I tell them about this?”  He goes, “well, you’ve already said a little bit too much.”  Cause I’ll say, Tom and I both – I gotta be careful – we both read the last two lines of this movie – I get choked up – and he even said, “I had to turn around in the booth.”  I said, “I did too.”  The last couple scenes, especially the last line of this movie, it’ll be a memorable moment for everybody.  Oh, it’s wonderful.  It’s wonderful.  And Bo Peep has been missing, and you’re going to find out – in a very tragic way – where she’s been, and what that means for toys like her.  And Woody has to decide where he’s gonna fall on that deal.  And it’s really – it’s so clever, so wonderful, so warm about – and how they do this, and how these guys  – I just said, this story is so emotional, so funny, so brilliant.  I guess all I’m saying – how does this – does it end like this?  Toy Story 3 ended originally with a little girl just sitting there, but all of us saw that little girl smile, and Andy said with his eyes – a cartoon character – that she might take care of these toys.  Because we were originally, in Toy Story 3, waving on the porch, that was it.  But it looked like maybe this little girl would take care of us.  Well… maybe she didn’t take care of us so well.  It’s just wonderful where it goes, and how we come together, and what it means about…

I just can’t wait to see the drama of it.

Oh it’s wonderful.  But the best thing, I think, is Forky, the new character.

You can watch the entire segment here:

As always with Allen’s interviews, that’s quite a bit to process.  We knew from before the movie’s ending was going to be emotional – thanks to both him and Tom Hanks – and Allen’s “memorable moment” statement goes along with Hanks’ “moment in history.”  We also pretty much assumed Bo’s story was a tragic one – something that was corroborated by Laurie Metcalf‘s comments about her flashback scene early in the film, that she said made her cry.  And the latest synopsis, which dealt with Woody and Bo being worlds apart since they separated years ago, lines up with him having to decide where his place is in her life, and his own standing as a toy.

But the most interesting aspect of this new information is Bonnie’s role in things.  Part of the significance in Toy Story 3‘s ending was that we were supposed to feel comfortable with the toys being passed along to Bonnie – that she would give them a good home.  Now, we learn that she might not have been as good to them as we would’ve hoped.  This is very surprising, since she seemed to be a caring owner in the specials and shorts.  If she’s in kindergarten now – which should only be a year or two since the end of Toy Story 3 – how have things changed so quickly and so drastically?

While all that keeps us guessing, the other news is that Toy Story 4 recording is wrapping up – most notably, that Tom Hanks has completed his lines for Woody.  It seems that the session Allen mentioned seeing him at earlier in the day was in fact his last one for the movie:

I will say this of his tweet… he does say “Woody of Toy Story 4.”  He doesn’t say final session as Woody ever.   I will never give up hope that, no matter how this particular story ends, that it’s not the end of the road for these characters, and we’ll see more of them in the future.

I’m still hoping that the trailer will give us a clearer picture of things, and that we’ll have that this weekend during the Super Bowl.  Ad Age has confirmed an “undisclosed number of spots” for the Walt Disney Company, so our odds are good that we’ll see it then.  I don’t think any Pixar movie – at least in recent years – has been so secretive, and it’s really been a struggle for fans like myself!

Images © Disney/Pixar.