Toy Story 4, the new instalment in Disney Pixar's celebrated animated saga starring toys, opens on 26 June. A film about change and second chances. Even if you're a plastic fork.
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It was 1995 when Toy Story arrived in cinemas — the first film made by Pixar Animation Studios and the first feature-length animated film to be made entirely with computer graphics. A revolution that changed the history of cinema forever and ushered in a new era, definitively dispelling the idea of animation as "children's stuff" and transforming it into a form of entertainment for everyone. It had been predicted by Steve Jobs himself, then chief executive of Pixar, who had called Toy Story "a landmark".
Today, 24 years and around twenty tremendous successes later, Toy Story 4 arrives on the big screen (in Italy from 26 June), the latest instalment in a saga that has known how to grow alongside its audience over time, winning over new generations one by one. The protagonists — a mix of old friends and new faces — are once again the toys, who on screen, just as in children's imaginations, magically come to life. A fanciful transposition, yet full of realism and with a strong identification hook, for young and old alike. Running through the entire story is the theme of change and second chances, which will lead Sheriff Woody and his friends to an unexpected turning point and an ending that will change their fates forever.
When Toy Story 3 (awarded two Oscars) came out in 2010, the story of Woody and the other toys seemed to have reached its logical and metaphorical conclusion. After so many years and so many adventures spent alongside their little owner Andy (in the first instalment and in the second, Toy Story 2, from 1999), the moment of parting had come: he, now grown up and ready to leave for college, had given them to Bonnie, a little girl ready to welcome them lovingly into her bedroom and spend happy new days with them. The perfect coming full circle. Or so it seemed.
With the great intuitive ability that the creative team at Disney Pixar has by now accustomed us to, Toy Story 4 manages to open a new narrative thread rich with still-unexplored possibilities. "Like many people, I too thought the story had ended with Toy Story 3," admits director Josh Cooley (making his feature film debut here). "And indeed, that film did conclude Woody's story with Andy. But, as happens in everyday life, every ending is really a new beginning."
With Woody and friends moving into Bonnie's bedroom, the filmmakers asked themselves what their new life would be like and what would happen if Woody himself — the toy accustomed to being "the favourite" — were suddenly pushed aside. A premise as simple as it is formidable, which set the whole plot of the film in motion.
Known and loved for his great qualities of loyalty, courage and team spirit, the old cowboy had already had to contend with jealousy when the hugely coveted space ranger Buzz Lightyear entered Andy's life. Despite their initial rivalry, a great friendship had developed between them, and Woody had kept a special place in his boy's heart. So much so that he had given up a romantic escape with his beloved porcelain shepherdess Bo Peep, who was sold overnight to another family. Woody would not have abandoned Andy for anything in the world.
In Toy Story 4, however, the situation changes: Woody has for some time been forgotten by Bonnie in the wardrobe, and his sheriff's star is pinned more and more often to the chest of cowgirl Jessie. But he refuses to accept it, and when Bonnie faces the difficult moment of starting nursery school, he wants to make sure everything goes smoothly. His care will have an unexpected twist, giving rise to a new character: Forky, made by Bonnie from a plastic fork and other scraps. And so a poor piece of discarded rubbish will be transformed into the little girl's favourite toy.
From this moment on, Woody's role will be to protect and guide Forky into his new identity, since Forky keeps thinking of himself as nothing but "trash" and cannot understand the value he has now taken on in Bonnie's eyes.
The story really gets going when Bonnie sets off with her family on a road trip in a camper van, taking the whole company of toys along, Forky included. What follows is a gripping on-the-road adventure, during which Woody and friends find themselves catapulted into two new settings full of atmosphere and visually very striking: a large funfair and an antique shop. It is here that another key episode unfolds: Woody finds his beloved Bo Peep again — chipped and faded over the years, but also brave and independent. "For me, Bo is the most important element of the film," explains producer Jonas Rivera (at Pixar since 1994, when he began working as an intern on the first Toy Story!). "If, at the end of this film, you were to ask Woody what the most important thing that ever happened to him was, he would say that meeting Bo Peep for the second time was without doubt the most important chapter of his life."
Beyond the wonders of computer graphics, what has always made the Toy Story saga special is the depth of its characters and (paradoxically) their humanity. In particular that of Woody, as Pete Docter, Pixar's chief creative officer, recalls: "The Toy Story films are centred on a group of toys but they're really about us. I think Woody has continued to give us a great wealth of emotion because he reflects our own lives." Look closely and it is above all parents who can most readily identify with the rag-doll sheriff. His role towards Andy first, and then towards Bonnie, is to keep them company, protecting them while leaving them free at the same time. A kind of discreet but constant guide in their growing up. Andrew Stanton, who contributed to writing all the stories in the saga, also recognises this: "I think one reason people are drawn to these characters is that we've made them very adult. They're not naive wide-eyed puppies. They're more like parents."
A theme very much present — indeed crucial — in this fourth instalment of Toy Story is the sense of disorientation that overtakes us after every great change. And more than that: the film goes further, speaking clearly about the need to acknowledge and face the changes that life inevitably brings at every stage. Little Bonnie is getting ready to start nursery school, and this fills her with great fear, while Woody sees his role in the little girl's life shifting and feels lost. Into this scenario another subject slips in, treated in a very romantic way: that of second chances. Closing a perfect circle, the story will give Woody a new opportunity for happiness — but only once he has understood what has changed in his life and is ready to accept it.
The metaphorical setting for this theme is the antique shop, which is significantly called Second Chance and which, in effect, offers every "discarded" object the possibility of a new life. Making this reading even clearer is the vintage doll Gabby Gabby, relegated since time immemorial to a display case in the shop, waiting for a little girl to choose her, despite her flaws. Also hoping for a new beginning is another new character introduced in the film, and a very entertaining one: Duke Caboom, a stuntman motorcyclist made in the 1970s.
But the true "ambassador" of the importance of second chances is Forky himself: literally retrieved from the rubbish bin, he will rise to new life, taking on a hugely important role in the story. A choice that can offer many readings: first and foremost the ecological one, which touches on the theme of recycling and reuse, giving new value to things; and secondly the more concealed one, concerning self-definition and personal identity. When Forky is "born" in Bonnie's hands he is like a new creature, who knows nothing of himself or of the world. He is like a newborn, whose identity and value can only be given and recognised from the outside. That role will fall to Woody, once again entrusted with a vitally important parental task.
Every year approximately 8 million tonnes of plastic waste like Forky ends up in the oceans. A staggering figure that also closely concerns the Mediterranean Sea, increasingly polluted by plastic. To highlight the issue and to speak about the importance of recycling and reuse, Disney Pixar chose to give the likeable "forky" (as the other toys call him) a leading role. The new character from the Pixar saga was in fact chosen as the special ambassador for the 2019 edition of Spiagge e fondali puliti, organised by the association Legambiente and Toy Story 4. A two-day event that offered more than 250 appointments across Italy to clean up coastlines of waste, and which saw the participation of artist Lady Be, who for ten years has been engaged in a campaign to raise awareness of the issue of plastic through her art. For the occasion, Lady Be presented works inspired by Toy Story 4, made entirely from recycled plastic.
The problem of plastic in our seas is one that affects everyone closely, and it is one in which LifeGate is also at the forefront, through the LifeGate PlasticLess® project, which aims to reduce the presence of plastic waste by promoting and installing in ports and sailing clubs special devices — the Seabin — capable of treating 25,000 litres of seawater per hour and retaining microplastics (as well as cigarette butts), and of collecting up to 500 kilograms of waste per year. A concrete action to help safeguard the marine environment and give all the Forkys of the world a second, more dignified chance.