Toy Story 4 Will Feature A Don Rickles Tribute
In April 2017, Don Rickles, who voiced Mr. Potato Head for the Toy Story franchise, passed away. Rather than recast the role for Toy Story 4 since recording had not begun when Rickles died, it was announced earlier this year that he will still serve as the voice of Mr. Potato Head thanks to archived audio. It’s also been revealed that the next Pixar movie will feature a tribute to the stand-up comedian. In director Josh Cooley’s words:
CinemaBlend’s own Dirk Libbey visited Pixar Animation Studios to learn more about Toy Story 4, and Don Rickle’s presence in the movie was among the topics discussed. Considering that Mr. Potato Head is one of the main supporting characters in the Toy Story franchise, as well as the fact that these movies introduced Rickles to an entire generation, and it’s incredibly fitting that Toy Story 4 will pay tribute to the man.
Aside from Don Rickle’s voice being featured in Toy Story 4, it will be interesting to see how the folks at Pixar honored him for the movie. I can easily imagine a short message being displayed onscreen either before or after the credits roll, but perhaps there will be a more unique way that the tribute unfolds. In any case, since it looks like Toy Story 4 could really be the end of this film series, it’s all the more appropriate that Rickles is properly commemorated here.
This isn’t the first time the Toy Story franchise has had to deal with the loss of a main cast member. In 2000, only a few months after Toy Story 2’s release, Jim Varney, the original voice of Slinky Dog, passed away. When it came time to record Toy Story 3, Blake Clark was tapped as Varney’s successor. But in Mr. Potato Head’s case, there was so much audio from a variety of projects that recasting the character for Toy Story 4 wasn’t necessary.
Along with Don Rickles, Toy Story 4 will feature old favorites like Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger and Annie Potts all reprising their respective roles. The new cast members include Tony Hale, Jordan Peele, Keegan Michael-Key, Christina Hendricks and Keanu Reeves.
Toy Story 4 hits theaters on June 21, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release schedule to learn what other major motion pictures are opening later this year.
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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.