Review: "Toy Story 4" Finds Great Reasons to Exist

Scene from Toy Story 4

In spite of being one of the most beloved family franchises for 24 years, Toy Story 4 has been put in an interesting position. It's the first to be met with strong skepticism. Why does there need to be another entry when Toy Story 3 wrapped everything up in a critically acclaimed, Oscar-winning, billion-dollar grossing bow? It's a fair assessment, especially as Pixar has made plenty of sequels that audiences don't love that much over the past nine years. However, that's arguably the greatest piece of marketing that this film could have ever wished for. The latest film, which also features breath-taking animation, is all about the sense of reaching that point when all hope seems lost; when your use has been used up. In spite of being a film that feels inessential, it's actually one of the best fourth entries in a franchise since Mad Max: Fury Road as well as evidence that there's so much more to explore in the talking toys genre than we ever thought there could be.

*NOTE: This review contains spoilers for Toy Story 4

In the opening scene ("nine years ago"), the film creates a familiar scenario inside Andy's room. On a rainy night, Woody and the gang notice that racecar R.C. has not only gotten out but was in a gutter about to be washed away. It's a harrowing way to open the film but helps to establish the growth of the protagonist. In the 1995 original, a similar scene plays out involving Woody and R.C., but in which the cowboy uses the racecar to push another toy into the darkness with hopes of being forgotten. Even if it's never addressed, there's a sense of regret 24 years later as he bravely climbs down the side of the house to save him. Against all odds and with exuberant teamwork, he does it. However, it comes at the expense of another loss. Woody, the hero of the past three films, has been seen as the hero of the series capable of getting the gang out of any trouble... but there's one even more personal that he never got to achieve.

Consider the story "the girl who got away." As he rescues R.C., Bo Peep is being carried away to be donated. She doesn't care about her new situation, believing that it was time to move on. There is a pain in Woody as he watcher her drive away. Time has moved on and Andy is now a bygone memory. He's now Bonnie's toy, though only in a passing sense. His value begins to diminish and leaves him in a sense of disappointment. His life is pretty much over until he encourages Bonnie at Kindergarten to use trash to "make a new friend." His name is Forky and he's a sentient fork who, like Woody, seems to regret being alive. With additional guilt of causing Forky to be alive, Woody begins a journey that is not unlike the first film, only with several shifts of character. When Forky jumps from a window on a road trip, Woody follows out of obligation, noticing that Forky is Bonnie's greatest gift, even as Forky wishes to end his life by jumping into anything shaped like a trash receptacle.

Already the film has taken on an impressive balance of tone. Where Toy Story 3 got acclaim for becoming incredible dark and alluding to death, Toy Story 4 addresses these themes head-on in a more personal fashion. When Woody ends up at an antique shop, it may as well be a graveyard on the edges of life represented by a glowing carnival. It's Woody looking into the past, feeling like he sees Bo inside when he sees her old lamp in the window. All he finds is fine china caged in glass cases and a doll named Gabby Gabby, who was made in the '50s like Woody. Much like Woody, she feels useless in part because she doesn't have "a string" that connects the outside world to her inner voice. Everyone knows about Woody's inner voice, which comes from pulling the string on his back. Buzz Lightyear uses buttons that comically tell him how to save Woody before realizing that the best way to save him is to let him go. Gabby obsesses over it and holds Forky ransom to get him to give it up.

What makes Gabby one of the quintessential "villains" of the Pixar studio at large is that she's three-dimensional. She has a simple request, which is to be able to talk with the outside world. She is an antique, stuck in a store where she's likely lived out decades in misery. When Woody sacrifices his string to give her a chance at happiness, the scene reaches one of the Toy Story's most emotional moments. Woody's iconic trait is about to be sacrificed to better Gabby's life. She asks him what it was like to be played with, and the joy in Woody's voice alludes to something that's missing in his life. He hasn't felt that good since his days with Andy, and the tragedy is letting go of that reality. Gabby may spend the first two acts as a stock villain with something to ransom in one of the most visually exciting settings that Toy Story has created since Al's Toy Barn, but she grows and understands where her frustrations really come from, which is jealousy. There's an acceptance that is more powerful than merely tossing her to the cat that tears lesser toys apart. She isn't evil, just incredibly depressed.

The whole film is a powerful ode to depression. Forky is quite possibly one of the studio's most groundbreaking characters because of this. One has to wonder what it takes for him to become trash again. It's comical to watch him thrust into a trashcan, though anyone who knows the symptoms will notice a manic depressive. If a human said they were trash, it would be dark. Because Forky is sentient and unable to die, it only makes his quest for death funnier. Whereas the film begins by Woody losing Bo, Forky getting a girlfriend (also made from trash) that he convinces is not trash does suggest a lot, including that it does get better and that everyone has someone out there. From a studio who has done incredible work exploring emotional complexity in films like Inside Out (or parent company Disney's Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph). To have a spork hold something more powerful in sadness and comedy only shows their strengths as animators and writers. He is arguably their greatest new character since Jessie cried out the window in Toy Story 2 almost 20 years ago.

Woody, who has been the audience's entry into the series, continues the arc of sadness by reflecting a more operational kind of depression to Forky's suicide or Gabby's static state. He is a toy who is used to saving the day, being validated by pleasing Andy and Bonnie. The franchise at large has followed him from Toy Story exploring his understanding of the world at large. He's almost served as a therapist to toys with less fulfilling lives, trying to understand how cruel the world around them is. As much as Andy and Bonnie represent purity, there's been foes that have hurt toys. It's why Jessie has grown claustrophobic of tight spaces and worries about being abandoned yet again. For 24 years (or however much time chronologically it's been since the last film), he's been there hearing the follies of humanity and has finally run out of enthusiasm. If Bonnie doesn't care for him, what stops him from taking a note from Forky and just doing everything in your power to die?

It's why the carnival and antique shop is an excellent dichotomy, comparing a toy's metaphorical life and death. Unlike real life, death for toys isn't permanent. In Bonnie's case, she was able to be resurrected by Woody giving her a new life with his string. It's something he's realized when he runs into Bo, who also escaped the antique shop in favor of a life as a "lost toy" (not to be mistaken with Mary Poppins Returns' "The Place Where the Lost Things Go"). Where she was docile in the earlier films, she's taken on a more independent streak that's almost inspired by Mad Max's Furiosa. When her ceramic arm breaks off, she merely tapes herself back together. She drives around in a skunk to break the toy's code of playing dead every time they're around. Basically, she's cool now. She's the one who got away and bettered her life in every way. Most of the film's best action set pieces are improved by her nonchalant desire for doing danger. It could be that she now hangs out with toys like Duke Kaboom (a Canadian stunt daredevil who is surprisingly charming) and must navigate a cruel world. She's learned to not wallow in despair, which is the perfect analogy for Woody's present disposition.

While Toy Story 3 was an extroverted form of despair, focusing on the fear of loss of a child, Toy Story 4 is more about the introverted issues. It's about wondering what value we all have as we age and the pleasures that used to fill our lives no longer can. It can cause depression, but what Toy Story 4 explores is how it can be overcome. Woody learns to find joy in a new life with Bo rescuing toys from carnivals, Gabby gets a second chance with Woody's string, and Forky learns to appreciate life. As much as the film is entertaining and features some excellent new characters and voice acting, the film manages to summarize the journey of Woody learning to find his independence and joy. While it's sad to see Buzz and the gang wave goodbye, it's the perfect bookend to the franchise. Whereas Woody once feared Buzz for replacing him, he is now fine with him becoming the leader. The ending hits hard not because it's unexpected in the best ways possible, but because of how it summarizes the franchise in ways that go beyond sentimentalism. It's about the reality of moving on and the pain that comes with joy.

By having the public question why Toy Story 4 needs to even exist, it manages to perfectly summarize what this franchise has been leading to. As entertaining as the films are and feature excellent moments and characters, the reason that it has continued to endure is that it has been about deeper themes. Pixar has always pushed to explore existential themes in abstract ways, and making a film about depression and self-worth is rather bold. Don't worry. It also has some of the franchise's best moments and callbacks. Unlike Toy Story 3, the pain isn't as obvious in the third act. It relies more on the personal experience of everyone in the audience, who have had those relationships and hard decisions to pull from. While Toy Story 4 is itself surprising in how well it works, the idea of continuing beyond this does seem baffling, in part because the gang is now broken up and living separate lives. As a story about toys, the arc is complete and has nowhere to go. This is the best farewell that Woody and the gang could get, and all it took was looking back and understanding what's important in life isn't just making others happy, but also ourselves.