Toy Story 4 Was Secretly Being Written Before Toy Story 3 Released

When Toy Story 3 was released in 2010, the response was that Pixar had stuck the landing. This animated film series had the perfect ending for a trilogy and would stand the test of time. Even director Lee Unkirch said it plain as day: “We don’t have any plans for Toy Story 4.” Speaking with director Josh Cooley and producers Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera about Toy Story 4 though, we now know that this wasn’t exactly true….

“Andrew Stanton one of the writers, who’s written on all the Toy Story films, one of the godfathers of Toy Story, he actually started the outline for number 4 while 3 was still finishing,” Cooley said. “And but he kept it secret. We didn’t know, I’m speaking for all of us.’

Only Stanton and a select few others at Pixar even knew he was writing an outline, but other projects got in the way of full development, that being the Oscar winning Inside Out. Even the people at Pixar had the same reaction to the idea of a Toy Story 4 that you likely did, “Why?” Stanton stood his ground though, convinced that they could branch off into something new.

Rivera elaborates, “That started to light us up a little bit, and slowly, we started to crack that open and go, ‘What would happen if Woody did everything right, he survived it all, he landed on his feet with Bonnie.’ And what we realized in that discussion was the end of 3 is really the end of Andy’s story, but the story of Toy Story is Woody….Now that I’m saying it, I’m realizing Andrew’s kids had gone off to college and moved out. So there’s definitely some of that in there. Like, what do you do when you’ve done everything right and your life’s not over? You have to reinvent yourself. And that was kind of the crack in the nerve, like okay, how would Woody do that? That was interesting to us.”

This deeply personal journey for Woody wasn’t the primary thing that Stanton brought to his original idea, his primary point was the return of Bo Peep to the franchise.

“It had Bo returning. That was pretty much it,” Cooley adds. “It wasn’t until after you work on it for a while, you start to understand this is what the movie’s telling me it should be, and also that’s me in the movie as well. So it’s not like Andrew sat down, ‘I’m going to tell a story about being an empty nester,’ he just sat down like, ‘What if Bo Peep came back?’ That was it.”

From there the beats of the new sequel began to take shape, how Woody’s new owner Bonnie wouldn’t be the same as Andy, and they couldn’t just make him the defacto favorite toy again. That alone leads to an interesting path for him as a character.

“It was interesting. We know this character. What would he do in this new situation? So we just kept going down these different paths, and just a random thing of coming up with Forky. And then we were like, ‘Well, actually, Forky forces him to explain what it means to be a toy.’ And so, all of these things just started to kind of fall in line very slowly over time. And just speaking about that part of Woody on the road with Forky talking about basically what it means to not have your kid living at home anymore. When Andrew wrote that, I read it and was crying because it was just so awesomely written. And I even told him like, ‘Nobody else could write this. You’ve experienced this and I could feel it on the page there.'”

Toy Story 4 opens in theaters this Friday, June 21! Get your tickets by clicking here!

Toy Story 4

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FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES -- In Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” the toys find themselves in the dusty shadows of Second Chance Antiques—a massive set that had to be stocked with thousands of objects, creating nooks and crannies that serve as the toys’ secret corridors. Featuring Annie Potts, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key as the voices of Bo Peep, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Bunny and Ducky, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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AND BEYOND – Buzz Lightyear is back on the big screen in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” joining Woody and the whole gang on an eye-opening road trip that takes them to unexpected places, including a carnival. Featuring Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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ROAD TRIP – In Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” Buzz, Jessie and the rest of Bonnie’s toys concoct a plan to find their friends when Woody and Forky go missing. Featuring the voices of Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Blake Clark and Jeff Garlin, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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THREE-IN-ONE – He’s not a fork. He’s not a spoon. And most of all, Forky is not a toy! At least that’s what he thinks. Bonnie created him from an assortment of supplies Woody’s retrieved from the kindergarten trash can. So, it’s no wonder Forky feels strongly that he’s trash and not a toy. Featuring Tony Hale as the voice of Forky, Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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IT’S ALL IN THE DETAILS – Artists created detailed sets in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” because their main characters are toys—details are important as they showcase the small size of the toys and their unique world perspective. In these images set in a carnival game booth, artists and technicians were able to illustrate the mobile nature of carnival booths, adding details like slight bends and welding detail in the metal grid near Buzz Lightyear. Directed by Josh Cooley, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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LIGHTING -- To create a sequence in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” the lighting department is responsible for lighting the scene in a way that supports the story—in this case, using shadow and color to help convey the tone of the sequence as it progresses from uncertain to mildly menacing. Directed by Josh Cooley, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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LAYOUT – To create a sequence in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” members of the camera and staging team use the storyboards to further explore how best to shoot the sequence. This team determines placement of the virtual cameras, which informs the sets teams where to place set pieces and props. Camera and staging also roughly choreographs the movement of the characters, considering framing, composition, lens, camera angle, stage lines and screen directions. This image shows the team exploring camera placement within the virtual set. Directed by Josh Cooley, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Toy Story 4

DETAILS, DETAILS – Artists created detailed sets in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” because their main characters are toys—details are important as they showcase the small size of the toys and their unique world perspective. In these images set in Second Chance Antiques, artists and technicians added a layer of dust to sell the setting. They were able to dial up or dial down the dust to best serve the needs of a given scene. Directed by Josh Cooley, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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Toy Story 4 "Bo Is Back" Presenters (L-R) Patty Kihm (Directing Animator), Mara MacMahon (Characters Modeling Artist), Tanja Krampfert, Becki Tower (Directing Animator), Carrie Hobson (Story Artist), Valerie LaPointe (Story Supervisor) on April 3. Photo by Marc Flores. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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Stephen Karski (Sets Supervisor) as seen on the Toy Story 4 Long Lead Press Day, on April 4, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. Photo by Marc Flores. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Toy Story 4

STORYBOARD – To create a sequence in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4,” one of the early steps in the production pipeline is building storyboards. Artists sketch the key beats in a sequence, suggesting possible set positioning, camera angles and character poses. This sequence is when Woody and Forky meet Gabby Gabby for the first time. Directed by Josh Cooley, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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THEN AND NOW – Filmmakers behind “Toy Story 4” were committed to keeping the new film in the same universe as the original “Toy Story.” But 24 years have passed since “Toy Story” debuted and the technology—as well as the experience and knowledge of the people behind it—has advanced lightyears, so to speak. These images showcase those advances in terms of character shapes and textures, rigging, rendering and lighting. Directed by Josh Cooley, “Toy Story 4” opens in U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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Characters Modeling Artist Mara MacMahon during the Toy Story 4 Long Lead Press Day as seen on April 4, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. Photo by Marc Flores. ©2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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Directing Animator Becki Tower during the Toy Story 4 Long Lead Press Day as seen on April 4, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. Photo by Marc Flores. 2019 Disney/Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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Kristian Norelius and Yekaterina Satanina look at Daniel Holland's pinball machine, used as reference for Toy Story 4, as seen in the art department room on August 7, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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A Toy Story 4 art review, including Director Josh Cooley and Dan Holland, as seen on September 11, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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A Toy Story 4 art review, including graphic artist Josh Holtsclaw and Director Josh Cooley, as seen on September 11, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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Toy Story 4 Director Josh Cooley during a review, as seen on October 23, 2018 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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The Toy Story 4 art gallery, as seen on March 18, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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The Toy Story 4 art gallery, as seen on March 18, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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The Toy Story 4 art gallery, as seen on March 18, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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Rosie Cole as seen on the Toy Story 4 Long Lead Press Day, on April 3, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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Claudio De Oliveira presents details about the creation of the character Forky, as seen on the Toy Story 4 Long Lead Press Day, on April 3, 2019 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
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NEW TOY? – Everyone’s favorite pull-string cowboy sheriff Woody, along with his best friends Buzz Lightyear and Jessie, are happy taking care of their kid, Bonnie, until a new toy called “Forky” arrives in her room. According to Forky, a spork-turned-craft-project, he’s not a toy at all—and he’d rather skip this big adventure completely, if only they’d let him. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack return as the voices of Woody, Buzz and Jessie, and comedian Tony Hale lends his voice to Forky. Directed by Josh Cooley (“Riley’s First Date?”) and produced by Jonas Rivera (“Inside Out,” “Up”) and Mark Nielsen (associate producer “Inside Out”), “Toy Story 4” ventures to U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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PICK ME! -- Ducky and Bunny are carnival prizes who are eager to be won. But when their plans are rudely interrupted, they find themselves on an unexpected adventure with a group of toys who have no idea what it feels like to be tacked to a prize wall. Funny men Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele provide the voices of Ducky and Bunny, respectively. Directed by Josh Cooley (“Riley’s First Date?”) and produced by Jonas Rivera (“Inside Out,” “Up”) and Mark Nielsen (associate producer “Inside Out”), “Toy Story 4” ventures to U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019. ©2018 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
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