Read This Before You See Toy Story 4

Toy Story just wouldn't be what it is without its two leads, so of course Tom Hanks is back as Woody, and Tim Allen returns as Buzz Lightyear. But it isn't just those two that help give so much heart to the world of Toy Story — and luckily, a huge number of fan favorite voice actors are reprising their roles in Toy Story 4.

Besides Hanks and Allen, the list of confirmed returns includes Annie Potts as Bo Peep, Joan Cusack as Jessie, Blake Clark as Slinky Dog, Wallace Shawn as Rex, John Ratzenberger as Hamm, Don Rickles and Estelle Harris as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Jodi Benson as Barbie, Michael Keaton as Ken, Jeff Pidgeon as the Aliens, Bonnie Hunt as Dolly, Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, Jeff Garlin as Buttercup, Laurie Metcalf as Mrs. Davis, and Lori Alan as Mrs. Anderson.

The big one there is the return of Bo Peep who, judging from the trailers, will play a big role in Toy Story 4. The character barely appeared in Toy Story 2, and was completely written out of Toy Story 3. It's good to see Annie Potts back in the role.

The extra wait for Toy Story 4 may have been frustrating for fans, but it helped the timing align in at least one crucial way: Keanu Reeves' voice work as new character Duke Caboom arrives in the midst of a career revival for the Hollywood veteran, who will make his debut shortly after slicing and dicing box office competitors as the star of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. It's just another reminder that Reeves can handle pretty much any type of role — and as the Pixar brass discovered shortly after arranging a meeting, he gives his all to any character, even the ones made out of plastic.

"Once Keanu came to the table, he was just asking all of these great questions about the character," Cooley told Entertainment Weekly. "It made us realize that we weren't digging deep enough for this character and there's a real opportunity to have him support Woody's story in a much bigger way."

Digging deeper, Reeves revealed, included building out a poignant backstory for Duke, a Canadian stuntman sold to kids with promises the toy might not have been able to fulfill. "Duke let his kid down when he couldn't do what the commercial said he could," said Reeves. "So he's a wounded person! He's needing to have some, I don't know, catharsis. Some feeling. I wanted him to have a real sensitivity and a soft heart."

Toy Story 4 has been through a rocky development process, and the director seems like a bit of a strange choice for one of Pixar's most beloved and important franchises. A look at director Josh Cooley's IMDb page will show you that prior to taking the helm for this sequel, he'd directed exactly zero feature films. That being said, there are a few good reasons to think he can pull this off.

Cooley has been at Pixar since 2004, when he started as an intern. He started as a storyboard artist on films like The Incredibles, Up, and Ratatouille, and eventually became a screenwriter and storyboard supervisor for Inside Out. He also directed the short Riley's First Date, which continued the story of the film and was released on the Inside Out DVD/Blu-ray.

Cooley has worked in many different areas at Pixar, and he was originally set to co-direct Toy Story 4 alongside former Pixar head John Lasseter. Lasseter stepped aside due to professional conflicts and personal conduct accusations, leaving the direction of the film entirely in Cooley's hands. In addition to directing, he's also voiced some memorable minor Pixar characters, like the horrifying Jangles the clown in Inside Out.

Toy Story 4 has been in the works for quite some time, and not just due to the fact that Pixar's animation process and attention to detail takes a long time to complete. The film has actually gone through a series of writing and directing changes since it was first announced in 2014.

The original directing duo was cut in half when John Lasseter stepped down, but that's just one of several behind-the-scenes shakeups. The film has also been through a number of writers, and even saw a near-total rewrite at one point. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack were originally in charge of the story, but they walked away about the same time Lasseter stepped down from his role as a co-director. As of right now, eight different writers are credited, with Andrew Stanton and Stephany Folsom as the top credited writers.

It's too bad for Pixar that the delays pushed back Toy Story 4 so far, but we did get the delightful Incredibles 2 to fill the space. Not a terrible second choice.

Although the main plot of Toy Story 4 has mostly been kept under wraps, we do know a bit about where things will head in the film. Disney screened the beginning to a select group of viewers, and it sounds like the story will go more in-depth with some of the themes we've seen in other Toy Story movies — most notably Toy Story 2.

Toy Story 2's central conflict revolved around Woody's choice between bringing joy to one child, Andy, or becoming part of something bigger: a museum exhibit. It sounds like Woody will face a similar crisis of faith in this film, as he discovers his old flame Bo Peep at a carnival and is tempted to join her.

At the same time, the film looks like it'll tackle the existential question of what it means to be a toy. Forky, a new character in the film, is just a spork with eyes glued on it, but he still gains sentience because he's a child's plaything. Pixar films have never shied away from thought-provoking topics, and it seems likely Toy Story 4 will follow the trend.

Considering that Toy Story 3 seemed to wrap up the franchise on a perfect note, many fans were surprised to hear that Pixar was making a fourth film. It might be hard to believe there's another great story to tell here, but according to the film's stars, Toy Story 4 is the most powerful and emotional chapter in the series.

Tim Allen, who plays Buzz Lightyear, appeared on The Talk and told the hosts that he actually struggled to get through the final scenes of Toy Story 4 due to their emotional weight. "I gotta resist getting emotional," he said. "I don't want to give it away, but this is an incredibly great story... It is so emotional, it's so funny, it's so big, the idea they've come up with, I'm startled. I couldn't even get through the last scene."

Tom Hanks, a.k.a. Woody, echoed those sentiments, telling The Chris Evans Show that he could barely even read his lines on the last day. "When I went in for my last day of recording, I wanted to have my back to them because usually you're facing them so you can look right up and you can talk about it," he recalled. "But I didn't want to see them and I wanted to pretend they couldn't see me."

Given that Pixar was once a famously sequel-averse studio — and given how long and hard the creative braintrust has had to fight to get Toy Story 4 ready for audiences — it might seem safe to assume that this fourth chapter is well and truly the end of the saga. But not so fast! According to producer Mark Nielsen, nothing is off the table where the future of the franchise is concerned. Out doing press to promote Toy Story 4, Nielsen told reporters, "Every film we make, we treat it like it's the first and the last film we're ever going to make. So you force yourself to make it hold up. You don't get in over your skis. Whether there's another one? I don't know. If there is, it's tomorrow's problem."

You know what that means, Toy Story fans — get those tickets early and often. Where there's an impressive box office tally, there's usually a way to continue a franchise, and this is one that's consistently proven itself worth watching. To Toy Story 5... and beyond!