If someone told you that TOY STORY 4 had something in common with AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR, you would think they were referring to the very similarly shaped heads of Buzz Lightyear and Thanos. Well, Lightyear voice actor Tim Allen actually thinks the upcoming entry in the animated franchise has a lot in common with the massive superhero blockbuster, at least when it comes to the sheer emotional weight of the story. Wait, is there some sort of plastic gauntlet we’ve missed in the last three movies?
Allen was on THE TALK recently and talked about his reaction to reading the script for TS4, saying he’s had trouble getting through some parts, overwhelmed by the deepness of the story. But don’t ask him to give any more away, but he won’t do it, ya hear me!
I gotta resist getting emotional because I don't wanna give it away, but this is an incredibly great story. If you're at all a superhero fan, Infinity War – I'm a big superhero fan – that didn't seem like it was going to work but, it was a lot of vignettes that all made sense. This Toy Story 4, we've only been through it once, there will be several more incantations, but it is so emotional, it's so funny, it's so big the idea what they've come up with. I'm startled. Three was I thought amazing. This one, I couldn't even get through the last scene, ok? I'd love to be a Washington leaker. I just can't do it. I can't give any more away. They've got great characters, but a couple of scenes towards the end were really hard to get through.
So, what we can take from this is that the movie will be the grandest epic Pixar has ever produced, bringing together all the toys we’ve ever seen in this series, fighting against one massive enemy that threatens to leave half of them in a box on the curb. I don’t know about you, but I do want to see Buzz taking on some sort of giant, stuffed dog like he was Iron Man, only to fail and get his wings ripped off. Now that’s a sequel!
The movie has gone through some production hurdles since it was announced in 2014. Originally slated for 2017, the movie has been pushed back twice, now set for June 2019. Josh Cooley has taken on the sole director credit after John Lasseter stepped down, and Rashida Jones and Will McCormack stepped away from screenwriting duties. Stephany Folsom replaced them, and though the original story found Buzz and Woody (Tom Hanks) searching for Bo Peep (Annie Potts), we don’t know how much of that has been left intact.
Perhaps the Bo Peep angle is still present, and all the toys are going off in separate ways to find her. That would give it some similarity to INFINITY WAR, even if it doesn't result in several massive showdowns all happening at once.
TOY STORY 4 is set for June 21, 2019.