Quentin Tarantino was right. Not about Paul Dano, who is a fine actor, but when he told Bill Mahr in an interview a couple of years ago that Toy Story 3 was the perfect way to end the series and he has no interest in seeing any more. “I don’t care if it’s good,” Tarantino said of Toy Story 4. “I’m done!”
When I heard this clip making the rounds a couple of years back, I remember thinking that, after Toy Story 3, I should have been done myself. Much like I’ve made a conscious choice to ignore every Terminator film after T2, I should have wired my brain to say that there are no Toy Stories after the third one.
But I’ve grown up with these characters. I saw Toy Story in theaters when I was nine and I’ve been there for every film and short and TV special since. I remember holding my breath when the toys were nearly incinerated in Toy Story 3 and openly crying when Andy gave Buzz and Woody to Bonnie at the end. I’ve also passed on my love for these characters to my own kid. And while this franchise has touched millions of people, as a now-adult toy collector, the connection feels extra personal to me. So when the gang returned to theaters with Toy Story 4, the siren call of Woody’s pull string was too great. I bought myself a ticket.
I wish I hadn’t.
Despite the fact that Toy Story 4 is well written, beautifully animated and even manages to introduce some interesting new ideas to the franchise, the movie left me with a profound feeling of sadness and discomfort.
For starters, it introduces too many new characters. While every film in the franchise does this, Toy Story 4 was the first time the new characters almost entirely canceled out the longstanding characters we’ve loved for decades. Ironically, I actually like all the new characters from Toy Story 4. Forky is hilarious and a truly bizarre, interesting addition to the group for how he redefines what a toy can be as a plastic spork with googly eyes and pipe cleaner hands. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele’s characters Ducky and Bunny are also really funny, as is Duke Kaboom, Giggle McDimples and the trio of Combat Carls. But there’s only so much real estate in an hour and 40 minute film, which is why Hamm, Rex, Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head and Bullseye are all reduced to basically cameos.
Speaking specifically of Mr. Potato Head, it’s worth mentioning that, yes, Don Rickles died before Toy Story 4 and Pixar used archival recordings of his voice to bring him back. The studio even did some back-patting about this in the lead up to Toy Story 4. But in the final cut, the character didn’t say much of anything. He’s mostly just reduced a few crowd noises with lines like “Look at that!” thrown in to remind you he’s there. This is from a guy who had hundreds of hours of television and film to draw from. Forgive me if I’m not impressed.
I also don’t like how the movie makes me feel about Bonnie. At the end of Toy Story 3, when Andy gives Bonnie all of his toys, there’s a beautiful scene where he tells her to take good care of them, especially Woody. Yet by Toy Story 4, Woody is basically forgotten. At the end, she doesn’t even notice he’s missing, which leaves me feeling resentment towards Bonnie for breaking her promise to Andy. That’s obviously a ridiculous feeling for me to have towards an animated cartoon child, but the movie puts Bonnie in a position to be blamed.
To be clear, all of these progressions “make sense.” It’s logical that a little girl would favor Jesse over Woody, and kids outgrow toys all the time. But the problem with Toy Story 4 isn’t that it makes illogical choices, but that it was an entirely unnecessary chapter. It was like a TV show that went on a season too long and began to chip away at its own legacy.
Which brings me to the biggest problem I have with Toy Story 4: the fact that Woody leaves at the end. The movie does a nice job justifying his departure. Pretty much the entire movie leads up to him leaving his friends at the end to be with Bo Peep. But it still made me feel awful. Andy was always Woody’s most profound connection. Yet, when Andy gives him away at the end of Toy Story 3, it still feels right because Andy doesn’t really need him anymore and Woody still gets to be with his fellow toy friends. Even more than Andy, Woody belongs with Buzz, Slinky, Jesse and the rest of the gang.
There’s a line in Toy Story 2 where Woody says, “Who am I to break up the Roundup Gang?” referring to himself, Jesse, and Bullseye. Yet in Toy Story 4, Woody does exactly that. He breaks up the gang and it makes me feel terrible. While both Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 end with scenes of profound sadness and departure, that feeling is earned by the end of the original trilogy as all of those movies are about Andy growing up. Yet for Toy Story 4, it feels like Woody is abandoning the same friends the previous movie told us he belonged with.
That feeling has sat in my stomach since 2019.
Ever since, all I wanted was a Toy Story 5 to come along and fix what Toy Story 4 broke: bring back Woody, reunite him with his friends, and give the original supporting characters that were nearly absent from Toy Story 4 the attention they deserve.
So far, it looks like my prayers have been answered. Rex, Hamm and Mr. Potato Head (now voiced by the supremely talented Jeff Bergman) each get funny lines in the first trailer for Toy Story 5, which is hopefully a sign that they’ll get more screentime this go-around. And speaking as a parent, the creep of tech into a child’s life feels like a great story to tell with Bonnie. I’m also all for Jesse taking center stage over Woody and Buzz, as she’s probably the only other character besides Woody with enough depth to handle a lead role.
Most importantly, already in the first full trailer, it’s been established that Woody reunites with his pals. I just hope he sticks around this time. It isn’t the Roundup Gang without him.