This past week has been quiet, with only a few little tidbits of Toy Story news here and there – nothing really warranting its own report, in my opinion. So, now that I’ve had a chance to take a little bit of a break and catch up on some other things in my life, here’s a recap of what we’ve gotten since my last post…
Toy Fair New York
I’ve already made a few posts about the releases coming out of Toy Fair – including Legos and some of the Mattel toys – but there really isn’t a ton more to say about it. I’m kind of glad, honestly, because it was rather overwhelming for me to sort through all the news the first couple days of the event! I’m used to focusing on more movie-specific news, so trying to keep up with toy line announcements was a bit of a challenge for me.
Thinkway’s presence at the fair was extremely secretive, with their display behind closed doors and a strict no-photography policy. The only glimpse we got of their Toy Story 4 merchandise (hi there, Duke Caboom) was tweeted by @BridgetCarey during event set-up:
Many Toy Story fans were very disappointed by this, but my guess is that many of their new products are still a little too spoilery to be previewed.
We did learn more about the one Bo doll that was seen during Annie Potts’ GMA appearance which will be sold by the Disney Store/shopDisney…
Available in May, and set to retail at $32.95, this Bo Beep Talking Action Figure will be able to detect other characters nearby and activate over 10 phrases and sounds. You can also unlock special phrases when paired with other talking action figures from the same line. Her skirt shown here doubles also as her cape.
An official image of a movie-scale Forky action figure was released by Mattel as well…
I’ll admit, it’s a hard sell to get people to buy a spork, but he’s pretty cute.
Among my favorites of the other collections were the plushes shown by Disney Baby, as shared here by @laughing_place on Twitter:
There’s also a fun line of Pillow Pets coming, two of which were shown on Twitter by @chipandcompany:
I wasn’t at Toy Fair, so I can’t even begin to give a full account of what all was there. For a great comprehensive look at the Toy Story 4 merchandise that was on display – including lots of photos – read Dan the Pixar Fan’s blog post for all the details!
Ice Cream and Cereal
Another recent development is the discovery of Toy Story 4 branded food items, just starting to pop up in stores. The Instagram account Candy Hunting showed them first – two ice cream flavors by Edy’s/Dreyer’s, and cereal.
The ice cream comes in two flavors, one a cinnamon-laced vanilla with churro bits, and another a rich chocolate with character-shaped chocolate pieces filled with peanut butter. The final names became Caramel Churro Cravings and Chocolate Peanut Butter Prize Winner – and I know this because I found both in my local Food Lion grocery store yesterday!
Both are delicious, and I hope they remain in stores well through the summer so we can enjoy many more cartons.
There are fantastic movie-themed graphics on the back of the cartons – it’s the same illustration on each, just with different captions.
The image quality of the cereal isn’t the greatest resolution, but it’s still big enough to get a good idea of the box. It looks to be similar to berry-flavored Froot-Loops or Cheerios, and I’m sure my family will be trying it! I haven’t seen any reports of this being found in stores yet, though.
‘Road to Toy Story 4’ Begins at the Disney Store
The first new wave of promotional Toy Story merchandise hit the Disney Store and shopDisney site yesterday, kicking off their “Road to Toy Story 4” event that will bring us a new launch of exclusive items on the fourth Thursday of the month until the movie’s release. I went yesterday to my own Disney Store, where I purchased some of the adorable “Tiny Big Feet” toys.
It’s great to see Toy Story starting to have a bigger presence in the store again – there’s also a new line of Al’s Toy Barn merchandise, and the toys themselves are out in full force.
The next “Road to Toy Story 4” release will be on March 23, and it’ll feature Toy Story 2. The Disney Store was giving out the following flyer…
… but shopDisney UK is showing that Jessie is coming, too.
Bo wasn’t shown on last month’s flyer, so I’m hoping Jessie’s omission in the US was a similar oversight. There should also be another pin set. I can’t wait to see what else we get in this collection!
John Ratzenberger Interview
This past week, John Ratzenberger – the voice of Hamm, as well as other characters in every Pixar movie – was interviewed by Wisconsin radio station WIFC on their Kallaway on the Rise show, and you can listen to the entire interview here. Although not much was mentioned about Toy Story 4 specifically, he did say that he finished his recording several months ago:
“My part’s been done for a couple of months now. Don’t forget, with Pixar, they’ll take three or four years on every movie. They don’t just rush these out without thinking about it.”
And that leads into my last little bit of news…
Toy Story 4 Animation Wrapping Up
Several Pixar animators have tweeted in the past week or so that they’ve finished their final work on Toy Story 4…
Pixar has a little under four months left to get the film through the rest of its production pipeline, so it’s exciting to see things are close to completion!
That’s about all I have for now. I wish we had a trailer to report on – I don’t even want to speculate any more on when that might drop, since everyone’s reasonable guesses so far have all fallen through. But, in case we don’t get it over the next few days – and I don’t have anything else new to share – I’ll be heading out to spend some time in Toy Story Land later this week! I can’t say how much I’ll be able to post on here (family and friend time comes first on vacation!), so keep an eye on my Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, where I can quick-share stuff on the go!
Images © their respective original posters as mentioned. Bo doll © shopDisney; Forky © Mattel. Thanks to Ryan F. on Facebook for sharing the UK Tiny Big Feet photo.
Toy Story Fangirl 