The release of Toy Story 4 is right around the corner! In the years since the Toy Story franchise began, we have had a total of 3 movies and more shorts than we would care to remember. This summer we will be getting a fourth movie, which means I get to analyze the trailers and theorize the basic plot based on the same plot devices in the previous Toy Story films.
Now, you may be asking what these same basic beats are. Fear not, dear reader, I am here to explain. In each of the Toy Story films, at least three of a few things happen: Woody somehow gets separated from the rest of the gang, One party or another is almost convinced to stay away from Andy, there is at least one creepy toy that is actually just misled or misunderstood, and the villain is introduced as a trustworthy and/or wise character.
I’m going to explain each of these plot points and how they play out in each of the first 3 films, then compare it to the upcoming fourth film to explain what I believe will happen over the course of it.
Toy Story
In the first Toy Story, Pixar was setting up the building blocks for the future of the perfect trilogy. We have Woody getting separated from the gang, a character not wanting to return to Andy, and creepy toys that end up being helpful friends.
Firstly, we have Woody getting separated from the gang. This happens in the form of Woody getting thrown out the window by the other toys due to Buzz getting knocked out prior.
In this film, Buzz is the one who doesn’t want to get back to Andy. Upon realizing he cannot fly and breaking off his arm, he gives up hope until a rousing speech from Woody convinces him to fight to get back to him.
Lastly, in what is arguably the most memorable scene in the entirety of the first film, we have our misunderstood toys in the form of Sid’s toy experiments. Including such characters as the baby head with a spider-like body, the jack-in-the-box with a hand instead of jack, Legs (the fishing pole with legs attached to it), and the doll we see Sid maim during the course of the movie. As anyone who’s seen the movie will know, they end up helping Woody and Buzz escape Sid’s house while also traumatizing a child that caused them to be unable to speak and come off as super terrifying.
Thus, we fulfill the first film with our three main points hit.
Toy Story 2
Pixar’s third film and the second film in the franchise, Toy Story 2, introduces some of the most recognized characters from the series, Jessie and Bullseye. Along with introducing these two, we also get all four of our common themes.
Woody, gets separated from the rest of the gang by being stolen by Al, a Woody’s Roundup obsessed man who owns a failing toy store. He brings Woody to his office, where he meets Jessie, Bullseye, and The Prospector.
The Prospector ends up being our big villain in the end, though he is introduced as an informative, wise character that is handicapped in that he is still in his box. In a turning point scene, however, we find him outside of his box, as he keeps Woody and the rest of the Roundup gang from going back to Andy’s. This paints Stinky Pete as the villain for the remainder of the story.
Prior to that, The Prospector had almost convinced Woody to go to Tokyo to go on display for a museum. This would mean Woody wouldn’t go back to Andy, and he wouldn’t even be on the same continent as his main owner. Any hopes of getting back to Andy are logically removed at that point.
Finally, we have the misunderstood character. He isn’t so much creepy as he is a villain. Zurg, Buzz Lightyear’s nemesis per the video game and story on the side of the Buzz Lightyear box, borrows the twist from the original Star Wars trilogy and reveals himself to be (Utility Belt) Buzz’s father. This leads to a rather funny father-son relationship between the two.
All four points are fulfilled in this second film.
Toy Story 3
The third, and what many believed to be the final, Toy Story film takes place for the most part at Sunnyside Daycare, where we meet a plethora of new toys, including Lotso the Bear, Ken, and Big Baby.
The gang thinks Andy tried to throw them away, and so want to go somewhere they’ll have a good life. They see the donation box in the back of Andy’s mom’s car and decide to go inside it, figuring donation is better than being thrown out. All but Woody are extremely excited upon arriving as Lotso explains to them that when a group of kids grows up, there’s a new group, and this cycle continues on forever. Until they realize the reality that they’re being used for the little kids and won’t be living the nice, peaceful life they thought they were, the gang likely would have stayed at the daycare forever.
Woody separates himself from the gang to go back to Andy’s after they reach Sunnyside Daycare, where they end up after the gang thinks Andy was trying to throw them out. He feels that as Andy’s toy, he has an obligation to go back to him. This goes contrary to the other toys, who are enthralled with the idea of being played with again until the foreseeable future. Woody attempts to leave the daycare but is catches his string in a tree. Bonnie hen finds him and takes him home with her.
Lotso is our big baddie, but he is introduced as a kind bear who is a self-proclaimed hugger. To further throw off the trail, he smells like strawberries. However, we realize that he is bitter towards humans because his owner lost him and her parents replaced him. This causes him to have an iron grip on the daycare’s toys, going so far as to cage up the main characters because they had second thoughts.
The creepy character is less of a major point in this film but remains ever-present throughout the duration. Big Baby, the babydoll toy that acts almost as a bodyguard for Lotso, is another toy devoid of speech and rather beaten from living the life of a forgotten toy until finding Sunnyside. This messy appearance and lack of speech are very much similar to Sid’s toy experiments from the first film, as well as some new characters in the upcoming Toy Story 4.
Once again, we get all four major plot points.
Toy Story 4
The first official trailer for Toy Story 4 has been out for about a month and a half now, we can already see these plot points shining through. We’re introduced to some more new characters and get to see the old ones we missed.
A new group of characters that immediately stood out to me upon watching the trailer was Gabby Gabby and her small following of voiceless dummy dolls. This group is very obviously being painted as villains in the film, but I’ve learned not to take anything from Pixar at face value. I believe that these characters will simply be misunderstood. We can see in the character descriptions that Gabby Gabby has a broken voice box, which is cause for her rather creepy voice. It’s likely her driving force is wanting a new voice box so someone will buy her. By the end of the film it’s highly likely we won’t think them so terrifying anymore.
Woody gets separated from the group once again, as we can see he jumps out of a moving vehicle after Forky, Bonnie’s hand-made spork toy, who doesn’t seem to understand why he is alive. This leads them to a carnival-like place with an antique store in which Woody notices Bo Peep’s lamp. Naturally, he goes in to find her.
Bo Peep was with us for the first two Toy Story films and was shown to be Woody’s romantic interest from the start. She was written off of Toy Story 3 with an off-handed line that would lead us to believe that she had been sold or donated. We find her in the trailer saving Woody from Gabby Gabby and her hench-dummies, and throughout the course of the trailer, we get snippets of her convincing Woody to stay at this carnival with her. One phrase, in particular, (“Who needs a kid’s room when you can have all of this?”) makes me feel she may take a turn for the worse and become something of a villain over the course of the film.
Because Bo peep is the one trying to convince Woody to stay with her, it’s obvious he’s going to have some serious grappling to do. He has an obligation to go back to Bonnie, because he is, after all, her toy. However, he also loves Bo, and the idea of getting to stay with her and see her again is undoubtedly extremely appealing to him. His line “I was made to help a child. I don’t remember it being this hard.” shows he’s having some serious back-and-forth with himself over the whole ordeal.
Regardless of if the plot is indeed this predictable or not, I’m certain the film is going to be a captivating masterpiece. There are plenty of characters I didn’t mention (Duke Caboom, Ducky and Bunny, Giggle McDimples, etc.) that are sure to play an important role in the film as well. Toy Story 4 is certain to be a beautiful and captivating film that forces all of us to relive our childhood, and will undoubtedly have many surprises and twists we won’t be expecting.