By the D23 Team
It’s Toy meets Tech in Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5! Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Disney Legend Tim Allen), Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack) and the rest of the gang’s jobs are on the line when they come face-to-face with Lilypad (voiced by Greta Lee)—a brand-new tablet device that arrives with her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears). Which begs the question: Will playtime ever be the same?
Toy Story 5 is directed by Academy Award® winner Andrew Stanton, co-directed by Kenna Harris, produced by Lindsey Collins, p.g.a., and written by Stanton and Harris from a story by Stanton. The film features the original song “I Knew It, I Knew You”—performed by Taylor Swift and written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff—along with an original score by Oscar® winner Randy Newman, who returns to score his fifth Toy Story feature.
With Toy Story 5’s June 19 premiere just over the horizon, D23 is able to debut some exclusive portraits of Allen and Hanks taken during the recent CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, NV, seen above and throughout the article. Below, hear from the iconic pair about exploring their characters, what they hope audiences take away from the film, and more…
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
D23: Realizing your characters have been part of the fabric of people’s lives for over 30 years must be pretty cool. But it’s also rather unique that they’ve evolved over the decades… Knowing what Woody and Buzz have been through, what were you excited to explore this time around?
Tom Hanks (TH): The battle against tech—Lilypad, bless her. The difference between being engaged in tech or playing with toys is as different as, I don’t know, apples and doorknobs. There’s no comparison.
Tim Allen (TA): I was stuck on emotional things. I needed that hug; you know, I really had emotional separation from my best friend in Toy Story 4. I kept saying, is there a moment where I admit [that we’re back together?] … He shows up in the windowsill and I don’t go, “Hey, it’s Woody!” Instead, they have this clever way where I act like he’s new again. It was just a quick little hug, and that was really what I wanted.
TH: We’re very much aware of time having passed but adding to the experience of seeing each other. We pick up right where we left off. Good friends do that.
D23: Now that you know these characters so well, what was it like getting to play around a little bit more?
TH: [Pixar] does this thing where you work and they say, “We’ll show you the next scene.” So the first time they showed me another scene that they were working on, it was all those Buzz Lightyears that show up. I thought, “Oh, like Woody needs this! I need this!” [chuckles] Okay, all right…
TA: Well, a lot of us needed that… I like the fact that we’re teaming up to help Jesse. It’s Jesse’s story. And I love the fact that we have to team up and help her. It’s not about me. Although I do have a badge, and Woody doesn’t—that whole thing was funny. But I like that we are working together for Jesse’s good, and for Bonnie’s. I love that whole thing.
TH: These Pixar folks, they load this thing up with stuff that just makes it a wonderful deck of cards to play.
D23: Can you talk about your characters specifically and what they’re going through?
TA: There’s a layer to it with Buzz, because you catch him up front at this one particular scene where he takes everything literally… He’s a literal person—so that whole thing is growth right there, where he kind of admits to the audience—and to himself—that Jesse may mean more to him than he realizes.
TH: Jessie reaches out because Bonnie is losing her sense of play. That rattles not just Woody, but everybody. And there’s that moment where Bonnie’s feelings are hurt—what her “friends” text about her. That, to me, is so prescient to modern day. It’s part of the human condition writ large in this movie about toys that are rushing to save the day. You can’t get better than that.
D23: Kids who saw the original Toy Story three-plus decades ago are now bringing their own kids to see this film… what kind of conversations do you hope this film will inspire?
TA:I don’t want a discussion; I want engagement. I want the kids to think, “I should play with all those toys I’ve got in my room that I got for Christmas or birthdays,” instead of them getting stuck on the endorphin rush [of technology]. The toys in this film are saying, “Come take me off the shelf!” See how your imagination works.
TH: I’d love for the parents to put their phones down… When you sit down at dinner, everybody’s got to put their phones in the bowl and it goes on the other side [of the table]—leave them alone and just talk. And if the conversation doesn’t start right off the bat, just wait; something will come. It really can start with the parents.
See Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 in theaters beginning June 19!