‘Toy Story 4’: Pixar Threw Out Three Quarters Of The Script
Toy Story 4wasoriginallysupposed to arrive in theaters in June of 2017, but it swapped release dates withCars 3and moved back a year. But it wasdelayed again, swapping release dates withIncredibles 2this time and being reassigned to a June 13, 2025 release date.
Now, one of the film’s voice actors has explained the reason for theToy Story 4delay: Pixar tossed out 75% of the movie’s script.
In a new interview withRadio Times(viaScreenRant), actressAnnie Potts– who provides the voice of Bo Peep in theToy Storyfranchise – says that the reason for the movie’s delay is because Pixar rewrote a huge chunk of it:
“[Toy Story 4] was supposed to come out this year and then they threw out three-quarters of it and rewrote. Usually, it takes – from start to finish – two years. But because they threw most of it in the bin and started over [my time on the project has] been extended a little bit. I’ve done a lot of work on it.”
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack were brought on as writers at the start, but they left the project in 2017. One report indicated that the reason they left was because of the alleged sexual misconduct ofJohn Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Animation Studios and original co-director ofToy Story 4. Jones sinceclarifiedthat the reasons were far more complicated than that, citing “a culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice.”
Toy Story 4wasoriginallysupposed to be a love story/romantic comedy between Woody and Bo Peep, the latter of whom vanished sometime in-betweenToy Story 2andToy Story 3, apparently lost or sold. Woody and Buzz Lightyear go on a quest to find her, and encounter lots of new characters along the way. We’re not entirely sure if that basic plot has remained intact, but Potts confirms that she has “a big part” in the new movie, so at least we know Bo Peep factors in considerably.
There’s one other fascinating bit from that Radio Times interview. Potts says she wasn’t asked to return because Bo Peep wasn’t a main character inToy Story 3, but she says the reason was that Lasseter told her he had plans for her character in the future: “That hurt my feelings a little bit. But John explained to me the reason was because they were saving me for4.” But in2014, Lasseter went on the record saying, “Toy Story 3ended Woody and Buzz’s story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing anotherToy Storymovie.” So unless Potts is misremembering (and I have no reason to believe she is), it sounds like the people at Pixar are trying to makeToy Story 4seem like it hasn’t been in development for as long as it actually has.
Josh Cooley, who was going to co-direct alongside Lasseter, became the movie’s sole director after Lasseter stepped away from the company in the wake of multiple sexual misconduct allegations. It’s still unclear at this point whether Disney/Pixar willbring Lasseter backinto the fold.
WriterStephany Folsomwashired early this yearto take over for Jones and McCormack, and as of now, the movie still has aJune 21, 2019release pencilled in. This isn’t the first time aToy Storymovie has been under fire:Toy Story 2was famously intended to be direct-to-video, but was entirely reworked in an insanely short production time in order to get a theatrical release instead. Here’s hoping this one turns out well, too.
