It’s been 9 years since we’ve seen Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang from Pixar’s Toy Story franchise, but that changes this year with the release Toy Story 4. The fourth film in the beloved franchise has had a long road to the big screen, but it is finally nearing completion. To that end, Tom Hanks has now recorded his last lines as Woody in Toy Story 4 and the moment was capture for posterity. Take a look:
This tweet from Tom Hanks shows that Toy Story 4 is inching ever closer to being completed, and it looks like the actor had a lot of fun recording his final lines. His accompanying caption is also poignant and perfect, combining the Woody-ism “Ride like the wind Bullseye!” with Buzz Lightyear’s signature line “To Infinity and Beyond!” That Tom Hanks sure knows what to say to tug at our heartstrings.
I’m choosing to view the happy expression on Tom Hanks’ face in this picture as an indication that his final lines recorded were happy ones, and that that’s indicative of the story in this film. The Toy Story movies, and Pixar movies in general are known for being emotional gauntlets so each entry naturally carries the fear that Pixar will deliver another waterworks-inducing gut punch.
Of course, Tom Hanks has previously said that he could barely record the ending of the film, so best bring your tissues just in case.
Despite the happy picture, there is already something melancholy about Tom Hanks’ tweet, with the repetition of the word ‘final’. If Toy Story 4 winds up being the last film in the franchise, that word carries infinitely more weight. Although we long thought that Toy Story 3 was the final film in the franchise until it wasn’t.
Those are concerns for another day, and now we have Toy Story 4 to look forward to-- which is another step closer to complete with Tom Hanks wrapping his lines as Woody. It seems like Woody could have quite the story in this fourth chapter. At one point the word on the story for Toy Story 4 was that it would focus on the romance between Woody and the returning Bo Peep, who was absent from Toy Story 3.
The new synopsis for the film is that the new and returning toys get a road trip when Bonnie brings them along on vacation. Presumably that provides an opportunity for them to run in to Bo Peep again. Whether her and Woody rekindle their romance is unclear, but Bo Peep is definitely back and she’s got a whole new look and her return is bound to have an effect on her former flame.
Toy Story 4 opens in theaters on June 21. Check out our 2019 Release Schedule to see all of the other huge titles coming to theaters this year.
