Over the course of the past 25 years, the Toy Story franchise has given audiences some of the most lovable and memorable characters that have graced the silver screen. But with four feature-length films and a toy chest of shorts and television spin-offs, some pretty crucial characters are going to get left behind.
Here are some of the most memorable characters that didn’t make an appearance in Toy Story 4.
Wheezy
Wheezy might not be the most memorable character in the Toy Story universe, but while his screen time in Toy Story 2 is brief, he’s still an important character in the franchise who gets film’s plot off and running.
For those who don’t remember Wheezy, he’s the squeaky penguin toy with the broken squeaker collecting dust on the top shelf in Andy’s room. Andy’s mom grabs Wheezy and several other discarded toys when she collects stuff for her garage sale in the beginning of the movie. Woody, in an attempt to save Wheezy from certain doom, sacrifices himself at the last minute.
Wheezy is seen at the end of Toy Story 2, where he sings a new rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” along with Barbie backup singers. We last see Wheezy in Toy Story 3, though he only appears in a home video flashback.
Mutant Toys
The Mutant Toys, also known as Sid’s Toys are only seen in the third act of the first Toy Story movie when Woody and Buzz are trapped in Sid’s room. At first, the two heroes are terrified of the ghastly creatures, but they soon come to appreciate the disfigured toys as they assist in the great escape in Sid’s backyard.
During that key scene, the group of nine toys team up and give Side a little payback for all of the pain and torment he put them through over the years. As Sid flees his demented creations, the toys are seen rejoicing for finally standing up to evil teenager.
The Mutant Toys are never mentioned again in the other three films in the series.
Hockey Puck
There are some memorable toys that were left out of future installments in the Toy Story franchise, and then there is Hockey Puck. More of a paperweight than a toy, this character is as forgettable as he is useful. Perhaps the only memorable scene with Hockey Puck is when Mr. Potato Head arranged his face to look like a Picasso painting and looked at the puck and asked what he was looking at it.
It’s not known what happened to Hockey Puck following the scene on the moving truck at the end of Toy Story. Maybe he was forgotten, by Andy, by Andy’s mom, the toys, or even the filmmakers themselves.
Etch A Sketch
Etch A Sketch was one of the original toys in the Toy Story franchise and actually played a key role in several important scenes with Woody and the rest of Andy’s toys, which makes his abrupt disappearance from the franchise all the more frustrating.
While Etch was only a minor character in the first Toy Story with his functionality only being used to make drawings for other characters, the toy would go on to help Buzz and the rest of the gang discover the true identity of Woody’s captor and how to find him. Outside of that, however, Etch only appears in the background or in flashbacks, as is the case in Toy Story 3. He did get a mention from Woody as one of the toys that was lost along the way between Toy Story 2 and 3.
Lenny
Fans of the first film might remember Lenny, the set of binoculars that was used by several characters to get a better look at the action in multiple key scenes. His functionality was first tested when Buzz wanted to get a look at what Sid was doing to toys in his backyard, and then again when Bo Peep wanted to get a closer look at Woody and Buzz on RC to prove that Woody was telling the truth about not intentionally throwing Buzz out of the window earlier in the film.
Lenny had a smaller role in Toy Story 2, and only appeared in a series of home videos shown during Toy Story 3. At one point in the latter film, Woody reveals that Lenny was sold at one of Andy’s mom’s yard sales. It makes sense not include Lenny in any of the gang’s later adventures when you consider the fact that they never found themselves in a situation where they needed a closer look at anything.
Rocky Gibraltar
Rocky Gibraltar is one of those characters that most of us couldn’t name but we definitely remember him due to his size, yellow wrestling tank top, and ridiculous mask. Mostly relegated to doing heavy lifting for Buzz in the first Toy Story and trying to hold back the door to keep Buster out of Andy’s Room in Toy Story 2, Rocky is tragically another forgotten character.
The character does make a brief appearance near the beginning of Toy Story 3, but he is never seen or mentioned during any of the scenes in the present day. It’s not entirely known what happened to poor Rocky - donated, given away, or lost - but the one thing that is for sure is that he was all but forgotten by the other toys.
Troll
Troll mostly appears in the opening scenes of the first and third installments - watching One-Eyed Bart steal money in Toy Story and then on the train being robbed by, yet again, One-Eyed Bart in Toy Story 3 - but she does show up occasionally throughout all three films.
Not much is known as to what happened to the mute Troll after Toy Story 2, but it’s safe to say that she was most likely lost, sold, or destroyed somewhere along the way.
Well, there you have it. Those are just some of the memorable (and not so memorable) characters from the Toy Story franchise that failed to make any significant appearances in the later installments of the series. We’ll probably never know what happened to these characters along the way. They could have been lost during the moving process, destroyed during the gang’s adventures, or more realistically, forgotten by the filmmakers who couldn’t find a believable way to insert them into the plot of the latest movie.
Who knows, maybe they’ll show up in any future films or spin-offs.
