Fun Facts about Toy Story 4 from Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Keanu Reeves, and more!

Toy Story 4 is hitting theaters on June 21st and there are a lot of people out there with questions about this new installment in the Toy Story franchise. I was lucky enough to attend the Toy Story 4 press junket at Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios where we sat down with producers Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera, Director Josh Cooley, Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear), Tom Hanks (Woody), Annie Potts (Bo Peep), Christina Hendricks (Gabby Gabby),  Tony Hale (Forky), and Keanu Reeves (Duke Caboom).

It's been 9 long years since Toy Story 3 premiered and seemingly wrapped up the Toy Story franchise. The ending was beautiful and I think most people left with the warm and fuzzies, knowing all was right in that animated world. So, it wasn't really a surprise to me when people sounded a little apprehensive on social media about a new Toy Story movie debuting this year. Was it necessary? Would it live up to the expectations? Where else could this story go? In my spoiler-free Toy Story 4 review, I addressed most of these things and I was happy to report that the movie was moving and everything I hoped it would be.

I was also thrilled when I was invited to the Toy Story 4 press junket and found out I'd get to share space with some of the creative minds behind the film and the cast who bring these beloved characters to life. At the junket, we were led into a room with a large stage (where we'd actually sat the night before to screen the film) and the cast was brought out in two groups. The first group consisted of Tim Allen, Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves. The second group included Tom Hanks, Annie Potts, and Tony Hale. Producers Mark Nielsen and Jonas Rivera and Director Josh Cooley were present for both panels.

So, without further ado, let me share my top takeaways from the Toy Story press junket by sharing some fun facts about the making of the film and about Toy Story 4:

1.) According to Tim Allen, the best part of the Toy Story 4 is the new guys. Mr. Allen told us, " The best part of this whole thing is the new guys, the new women, the new stories, the new characters. It really is the coolest part of this to see this whole family rise up."

2.) This movie caused a lot of sleepless nights. One of the audience members asked about why they decided to make another Toy Story movie after Toy Story 3 placed a perfect bow on a trilogy and Josh Cooley said that they had the same question. He stated, "We had the same questions everybody else has right now. 'I thought you guys were done.' But we had those questions five years ago when we started. [It was] tons of responsibility, tons of pressure. A lot of sleepless nights knowing that we were going to attempt this. Because we love the end of Toy Story 3. And feel like that’s the completion of Woody and Andy’s story. But there was more Woody story to tell. So that’s how we approached it."

3.) Duke Caboom was almost entirely animated by Canadians. When a Canadian in the audience asked if the plan was always for Duke Caboom to be Canadian and wear the Canadian flag, Josh Cooley replied yes, from day one. He went on to ask if that was why Keanu Reeves was perfect for the role. Cooley said, "Yes, that. And also, when we cast these roles, we don’t want to see faces. We have a casting department. They bring in a bunch of recordings. We say turn the headshots over. We don’t want to see who this person is. We just want to hear the voice. We don’t even know who we’re listening to. So we’ll listen to a bunch.  But right away... we all went 'Whoa. Who is that?' And they said that’s Keanu Reeves."

Producer Mark Nielsen then added, "There’s a lot of great Canadians that work at Pixar, too. And they all volunteered to animate all of the Duke Caboom shots. So he’s mostly animated by Canadian animators. Almost 100%."

Check out Duke Caboom's TV commercial spot here:

 

4.) Christina Hendricks didn't find Gabby Gabby's henchmen that creepy. In the movie, Hendrick's character Gabby Gabby is presented as a villain. And, like all good villains, she's got helpers to do her bidding.

In Toy Story 4, Gabby Gabby's henchmen come in the form of ventriloquist dolls. Hendricks told us, I thought [Pixar] had done weird background research on me. Because I actually have a ventriloquist doll in my house that I wanted my entire life. Every year I would ask my parents for this Charlie McCarthy ventriloquist doll and they’re like, 'You’re weird. We’re giving you a baby doll. You’re never going to get it.' And then as an adult, I finally got one.

Producer Jonas Rivera added, "It was so funny. Because I think we were pitching it saying, 'Of course, these dummies are awful and no one would want one.' And you go, 'No. I have one.'"

5.) Tom Hanks and Annie Potts actually got to record voice work together for Toy Story 4. One of the first things I learned when doing press events for Disney•Pixar is that the actors always record their parts separately.

When asked if anyone got to work together on this movie, Josh Cooley said, "We had Tom and Annie working together for a lot of their scenes where they’re back and forth."

Tom Hanks added, "Even separated by two microphones and two stands, the way Annie Potts will look at you with her eyes... And when she says the words that [she] might have said more than any other two, 'Oh Woody.' It gets you every time man. You become a little jar of pudding when that happens. Start quivering a little bit."

6.) Mr. Potato Head was voiced by Don Rickles, even though he passed away in 2017. For Toy Story 4 creators, it was important to include Don Rickles in this movie since he's such a large part of these films. Mark Nielsen told us, "We had signed him on to be part of the project before we lost him. Kind of at the request of his family, and it was an idea we had been talking about as well, we wanted to see if we could craft a performance from all the incredible sessions we’ve had with Don through the years. He recorded for theme park rides and toys and commercials, short films, feature films. A lot that we hadn’t used before. So we were honored to really be able to kind of keep his memory in the film and our editorial department did a great job really creating his performance out of his own voice from past projects."

7.) Tim Allen wasn't allowed to ad lib. You'd think that these hysterical actors would come up with some of the funniest ad-libs ever, and you'd probably be right. BUT, that's not always the best thing for animated movies. An ad-lib could cause major delays in re-animating sequences. Tim Allen told us that although this is a family-friendly movie, his comedy is not always so G-rated. So, his ad-libs aren't always appropriate, or even when they are it can be painful for animators. He said, "When I ad-libbed, it’s not a happy moment for the animators. Because they’ll go, 'Oh, that was funny. Gosh darn it, that was funny.' Which means they’ve got to go back and reanimate. And Miss Nesbeth, when I got drunk on Darjeeling tea, and I’m holding my own arm in my hand... and I said, 'Is the hat too much? Is the hat too much?' It’s under my breath as I walk out of that scene. It was hysterical. They left that in. Those moments are great to me. Because early on they would give it to me. But lately it's, 'Tim, read it as written please.'"

 8.) Tony Hale could definitely relate to his character Forky. When asked what it was like to join this already-established family, he said "It’s overwhelming. Which helps because Forky is very overwhelmed. I remember when they brought me up to Pixar and they kind of described him as he’s kind of nervous. I was like, 'Check.' He asked a lot of questions. 'Check.' And he’s kind of gullible to a fault now. It’s like, 'BINGO. I’m in.' So, I just love that he sees everything as new. And mainly I love that he’s a character that his home place is trash. That’s all he knows is to help people eat soup. And then Woody comes along and shares that he has a greater purpose. I think just in life, anybody who might see themselves that way and they have worth. They have purpose. That’s just a beautiful message that Toy Story is giving us.'

9.) The actors were never presented with a script for Toy Story 4. I found this fun fact to be hilarious and it just goes to show how much trust that these actors have in Pixar. An audience member asked Tom Hanks what his reaction was when he read the script of Toy Story 4 for the first time and he stated, "Haha, reading the script. That’s hilarious."

He went on to add, "The way this has worked, with the first one, and this is now 24 years ago, we actually did read a script. There was a screenplay that looked like every other screenplay. You read that and then you saw every storyboard animatic of the entire film. The second movie, there was a script. But, when we had the understanding of it, we realized there’s no real way you can appreciate the weaving of imagery and character that Pixar did on the paper. So, we really did wait to see the sequences put together. The third one, they didn’t even bother doing anything other than showing us the movie in animatic form before we began recording. And on this one, I never read a complete script. I don’t think anybody did."

Hanks went on to add, "But we read the sequences that we were in. And it had a continuous running dialogue of what was going. These movies are made with great flexibility. They work on it. We record it. They start off with the storyboards and words that you say. Then you record them. Then they go away for six months and refine and alter and change and test what we have done up to that point. And so every time we would show up to work, there would be some new iteration of this idea that had been presented to us at the beginning of what everybody is going through. What was brand new on this one was that Annie and I got to record together at the same time. And that never happens. You’re always in a sound stage by yourself, not being able to move off mic. And we got to actually relate with this vast history between the two of us. You leave a recording studio, the session thinking, 'Wow, we took it pretty far there.' But every time we showed up for the next one, something was revealed to us in the pages that they had for us. So we always knew what territory we were going into, but never the specific route."

10.) 'Transition' is the theme of Toy Story 4. Someone asked Josh Cooley if the theme of the movie is about starting new adventures, and he said, "The way we were thinking about as we working on it, if I was to just sum it up in one word is transition. Every character in this movie has gone through a transition or is struggling with going through one or has not gone through one. Bo Peep has gone through a transition we learn about while working on the movie. Woody is struggling with moving from Andy’s room to Bonnie’s room. Forky doesn’t even want to transition at all. And Gabby Gabby is kind of stuck in time. That’s part of the reason we put her in an antique store. Things are not changing around her. There’s dust everywhere. And even Duke is haunted by his past as well. So that’s how we approached it when we were working on it. Just kind of thinking all these characters are kind of having the same theme that way."

11.) The antique store is FULL OF EASTER EGGS. While discussing the animation techniques for Bo's porcelain skin, Josh Cooley said, "We researched a ton of how porcelain reacts to light. How it breaks. We broke a lot of stuff and filmed it. The technical challenge in this one was the antique store. Because there are 10,000 items in an antique store. It all had to built and shaded and set dressed and everything. And we didn’t even know if our computers could actually render that. There’s so much stuff... Then we needed to just make more stuff to go into that antique store. So a lot of it was made for this film. There are a lot of Easter Eggs in this movie because we just got lazy. And so you can find, I swear, if you pause any frame when they’re in the story, you’ll see something in the background."

Mark Nielsen added, "Yeah. From every movie Pixar has ever done, there’s something in the antique store."

/12.) Forky is coming to Disney + streaming service. When asked if there might be any spin-offs on Disney's new streaming service, Disney +, Mark Nielsen told us, "Right now, I’m producing some short films for Disney Plus which star Forky, our very own Tony Hale... It’s a series called 'Forky Asks a Question.' There’s ten episodes that will be on Disney + when it comes live in November.

Tony Hale added, "I love it. These questions that maybe people are embarrassed maybe to ask. But they really don’t know. And I learn so much just from all these simple questions that I probably should know and I didn’t."

Toy Story 4 hits theaters on June 21st!
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