Andrew Stanton explains why people shouldn’t worry over Toy Story date swap

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Not too long ago we reported that TOY STORY 4 was being pushed back, and INCREDIBLES 2 would be moving up to take its place. This kind of thing is normal, but some folks took this as “Oh my God the movie is in trouble! Gather your loved ones the world is ending!” On that note, Pixar vet Andrew Stanton has some comforting words…so put down the machete.

While talking with Cinema Blend, the FINDING DORY director talked about why the move happened and why it’s totally normal for switches in the schedule to happen:

There's no big conspiracy about anything, even though I know that would be juicy. The truth is that every time we develop films, we always have five or six films privately that we're in the middle of developing. We've learned over time to make them like magnets, because what we want to be respectful for is whether the stories are ready or not. So we end up, for economic reasons, we end up having to announce sometimes when a film might be released, but then we go, 'Wait a minute, we want more time on the story to really nail it.' So if we find that another film on the stove is going well, and we can move it up, then we do a swap, so there's no more drama than we just want to get the stories just right.

In fact, if Stanton had his way everything would be kept secret till the perfect moment:

It's always been like that. I think if we had our way, we would never announce our slates, period, until we were done so that we don't create phantom drama.

No one is immune from getting a little irked when stuff gets pushed back. I’m sure guilty of it, but it’s important to take a breather and realize it’s what’s best to ensure the movie is getting the greatest possible treatment. The same goes for reshoots, like with ROGUE ONE where everyone lost their minds, despite it being a typical process. TOY STORY 4 will now get an extra year to be worked on, meaning it will undoubtedly be better, even if the animation or script is worked on just a little bit more. It better be f@cking spectacular, though.

TOY STORY 4 is set 4 (heh) June 21, 2019.