TOY STORY 4 (2019)
A Fitting End For Woody
As a departure from previous entries to the TOY STORY movie franchise, TOY STORY 4 doesn’t start with an elaborate playtime, but a flashback to a daring rescue by Sheriff Woody Pride (Tom Hanks) and his toy family. RC Car is stuck outside in the rain and Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) assist Woody in getting him back home. Unfortunately, Woody gets trapped outside when Andy (John Morris) and Molly’s mom (Laurie Metcalf) shuts the window, but he witnesses Molly (Beatrice Miller) decide to donate some toys including Bo and her sheep. While outside, Woody attempts to rescue Bo, but she accepts that she’s not Andy’s toy and that Molly has moved on from her. She suggests that Woody should come with her, but after hearing Andy calling from him, he somberly lets her go and waits to be found.
We pick the story up with the toys hiding in the closet while Bonnie’s mom (Lori Alan) cleans her room. Woody and his family of toys seem to be adjusting well to Bonnie’s veteran toys outside of being shut in the closet. The audience is rewarded for remembering from the previous movies that Rex (Wallace Shawn) and Jessie (Joan Cusack) suffer from claustrophobia and Woody knows precisely how to soothe them. Dolly (Bonnie Hunt) questions whether they’re going to be able to stay in line, but Woody assures her that they’re all veterans and know how to rally when it counts. It’s clear that Dolly is the leader of Bonnie’s toys and Woody, former leader of Andy’s toys, doesn’t have the easiest time adjusting to her command. In addition to no longer being the leader of his toy family, Woody gets relegated to the closet when Bonnie picks the toys she wants to play with and plucks his sheriff star from him to promote Jessie as the sheriff. Woody is bothered but tries to hide it until he notices that Bonnie has to leave for kindergarten orientation without a toy.
During a lull in playtime, Woody tries to convince Dolly to send a toy to school with Bonnie, but Dolly defers to Bonnie’s dad’s (Jay Hernandez) statement saying that toys can’t go to school. When Woody further pleads his case, Dolly snaps back that “Bonnie is not Andy” and tells him to go back to the closet. Woody defies Dolly and hops into her backpack after seeing her fear of going to school. Later, watching through an opening in her backpack, Woody sees Bonnie create a toy named Forky (Tony Hale) and becomes determined to protect him to keep Bonnie happy. Defending Forky to the other toys after his introduction, Woody tells the toys that Forky is important to Bonnie because she created him when she needed a companion and is a symbol of hope from her orientation. The contrast is stark with the previous movies as we’ve seen Woody reject Buzz when he’s first introduced in the first movie and reject incorporating himself into the daycare in the third movie. Woody’s been humbled and knows how to put others before him, especially his kid, and thus believes strongly in Forky and wants him to be there for Bonnie. Forky, on the other hand, believes he is literal trash amidst an identity crisis after he comes to life. Forky dives into the trashcan and while Woody continuously throws him back onto Bonnie’s bed throughout the night, Forky swan dives into the trash every chance he gets.
Bonnie’s parents decide to take her on a road trip before school starts and the toys are brought along for the ride. Woody is determined to make sure Forky stays by Bonnie’s side to keep her happy, but it’s clear that’s become his sole purpose in “life” as he spends every waking moment keeping track of Forky’s escape attempts.
One night, Buzz offers to keep watch, but Woody exclaims that he can’t give up and will continue to watch over Forky for Bonnie. Unfortunately, in the short break he takes to talk to Buzz, Forky presumably saw a trashcan outside that he wanted to dive into and vanished. Woody leaves the RV to retrieve Forky and ends up having an honest conversation with him about Andy and how important it is for a toy to make a child like Bonnie happy, finally getting through to Forky.
Seeing a familiar lamp in a shop window, Woody remembers it as Bo Peep’s and goes into Second Chance Antiques with the hopes of possibly reuniting with his lost love. Instead of the hopeful reunion Woody wanted, he and Forky find themselves cornered by Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) alongside Benson and the Dummies (Steve Purcell). Gabby makes it clear that she wants Woody’s voice box for herself. After a tense chase, Forky gets nabbed by one of the dummies and Woody is only able to save himself by pulling his drawstring, drawing the attention of the shop owner Margaret’s (June Squibb) granddaughter, Harmony (Lila Sage Bromley).
After getting snatched up by Harmony, Woody ends up at a playground where he reunites with Bo Peep and her sheep Billy, Goat, and Gruff (Emily Davis). Catching up, he learns that they’re “Lost Toys” that have been on their own for seven years. While Woody is initially mortified, he sees that Bo is actually quite happy and spares her his “you need a child” speech that he’s used in almost every movie in the series. Bo and her friends, including her sheep and Giggle McDimples (Ally Maki), agree to help Woody get to the antique store but warn him that he’d be better off cutting his losses and going back to Bonnie. While sneaking through the store, Woody becomes too laser-focused on his mission to save Forky and doesn’t stick to the plan Bo came up with. Woody, having never learned that his plans almost never work when he goes solo, causes Bo’s sheep to be lost to Benson as he runs back to Gabby, sending Bo into a furious tirade against Woody for not listening to her. The mission parameters have now changed for her to get her sheep back and leave.
After awkwardly stumbling his way through introductions at a hidden party with some of Bo’s acquaintances, Duke Kaboom (Keanu Reeves) decides he can help them make the jump to Gabby’s cabinet. Woody is scared of the impending jump but given the many jumps and daredevil stunts Woody’s done in previous movies, you’d think this would be the least death-defying but Woody stays true to his grounded cowboy ways and like his boots on stable ground. The thing that sets Woody apart is that he will always stuff his fears in order to help those he cares about; we’ve seen this multiple times from the first movie when he realizes that he needs to get Buzz back home because Andy cares about him and when he decides to go back and save his friends from the daycare after learning that they were in danger in the third movie. Duke ends up botching the heroic jump attempt when he daydreams about his lost child. During the retreat, while Bo is attempting to climb back up to Buzz and his new buddies Bunny (Jordan Peele) and Ducky (Keegan-Michael Key), Woody drops to try and rescue Forky, which drags everyone down to a wild escape run from Margaret’s cat.
After escaping without too much going wrong other than an almost-death and still not having Forky, Woody tells Bo that he needs to save Forky because “it’s all [he has] left to do” and Bo snaps back at him, saying that what he really needs is Bonnie.
She continues her retort saying that “there’s plenty of kids out there. It can’t all be about the one you’re still clinging to.”
In reply to that—and please note that this scene is an absolute zinger and I definitely cry every time I get to this part—Woody tells Bo that “it’s called loyalty. Something a ‘Lost Toy’ wouldn’t understand.” Bo finishes the conversation by saying that she’s not the one who’s lost and leaves with all toys excluding Buzz. Buzz tries to go ahead and encourage Woody to come back to the RV with him, but Woody says that he won’t leave a toy behind and goes to try and save Forky alone.
This time, when Woody confronts Gabby, she explains that she’s always wanted a child and has waited 60 years but blames her lack of a voice box for not being lovable. After hearing her story, Woody relents and allows her to take his voice box as long as she lets him take Forky with him. Post-operation, Woody notices that Bonnie’s backpack is still in the store and hears her come in with her parents to retrieve her bag. Trying to usher Forky into the bag before it's too late, Woody witnesses Gabby being rejected by Harmony and discarded into a crate despite now having a voice box. She’s resigned herself to feeling unworthy and offers Woody his voice box back, but he instead offers to bring her to Bonnie’s house. Forky runs off and informs Jessie of their situation, leading her and the toys to commandeer the RV to drive it back to the fairgrounds.
Elsewhere, we see yet another example of Woody’s aforementioned self-sacrificial loyalty to his friends inspiring them. Previously, we saw this in the second movie when they lodged a rescue to get him back from Al’s apartment. This time, we see Bo determined to get her crew ready to join the carnival while Giggle goes off about how Woody only cares about himself. Bo stops and fiercely defends Woody, saying he is always trying to do right by his kid and she loves him for his loyalty. Rejoining Bo and her toys when she comes back, Woody brings Gabby along after telling her that she’s worthy and will make Bonnie happy. Prior to fulfilling that vision, however, Gabby notices a little girl who lost her parents at the fairgrounds. After gentle encouragement from Woody, she chooses to go home with the little girl, comforting her during her time of need and thereafter.
In the end, as the toys line up to reunite and go their separate ways, Buzz lets Woody know that he’s fulfilled his duty to Bonnie. He brought Forky back home and made sure the toys stayed intact. Quite literally telling Woody that “Bonnie will be okay,” Buzz helps Woody make the choice he could never make due to his strong sense of loyalty to his child. He decides to become a “Lost Toy” with Bo and her friends, choosing his happiness and love while making it his mission to help other toys. When Rex exclaims that Woody is now a “Lost Toy,” Buzz says that Woody is now no longer lost and exactly where he belongs.
While watching this fourth installment, I remembered sitting in the theater for TOY STORY 3 and believing it was the last movie, bawling my eyes out at the nostalgic ending. Nine years later, however, I found myself bawling doubly as hard at the end of TOY STORY 4. I wasn’t crying due to nostalgia at the end of this movie; I was crying because this movie felt like the perfect ending to Sheriff Woody Pride’s 24-year story arc. While I can see them continuing stories for Buzz and the toys that went back to be with Bonnie, Woody’s story feels complete having proved his loyalty through action to Andy, Bonnie, and his chosen family of toys. He finally got the chance to choose his own happiness–admittedly after a gentle push from Buzz. Throughout the four main films in the TOY STORY franchise, Woody had a full childhood with Andy, was able to help put the toys in the right position to give Bonnie a fun and loving childhood, and is now in the position to enjoy his life with Bo Peep and being free to help other toys find homes with children.
