As the forking-good reviews of Disney/Pixar summer sequel have already intimated, Toy Story 4 ends with something of an important stroke, a touch of inevitability that — no spoilers — will make it fairly difficult to continue the stories of Woody and Buzz together.
Granted, fans felt similarly to the masterful ending of 2010 Toy Story 3, but between both finales is a fundamental difference in the future potential of the Toy Story, at least in the way we know it. Is Toy Story 4 really the end?
That's the question and for the predictable future, the very contempt ion of it is also the loosest we'll get to an answer.
A purpose is determined and a course is most probably set: Woody, accepting that he’d rather explore the world with Bo Peep than be relegated to a closet by Bonnie, makes the decision to go kid-less — leaving behind the now-fulfilled purpose he’d spent his life heretofore pursuing and, in doing so, parting ways with Jessie, Buzz, and the rest of his synthetic friends from Andy and Bonnie rooms.
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Now, we’ve been here before. Toy Story 3 ending was shocking if perfect goodbye that closed the door on Andy, but at least kept this temporary toy family intact as they transitioned together toward a promising future with Bonnie.
It reiterated a foundational principle of the franchise: As long as these toys are together, there is an adventure to be had (and Pixar sundry post-2010 shorts, like Hawaiian Vacation and Toy Story of Terror! have only further cemented this).
Toy Story 4 tries to make good on that core promise that the fun will go on: The affirmation of Sheriff Jessie is an exciting one, and even the silly mid-credits scene, in which Forky meets a female-encoded plastic knife who is just as confused about her existence as he once was, shows us that there is comedic territory to cross.
Earlier this year, EW asked director Josh Cooley whether Toy Story 4 marked the beginning of a new trilogy or direction for the series. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I think, from my point of view, my gut is that we’ve found a way to complete these characters. But that being said, I never in a million years would have thought that I would be directing Toy Story 4, so who knows. If there another idea for the future that works, who knows? But the way that we’ve been thinking about Toy Story 4 is that we’ve completed these characters’ arcs.” So, should Toy Story be considered a completed quartet? “Absolutely.”
Therefore the key to the future of Toy Story lies with a few decisions that both audience members and Pixar must make: whether you feel Toy Story is Toy Story without Woody, whether you accept that Woody arc has in fact concluded, and whether you recognize that it was Woody journey — and Woody journey alone — that this story has been about all along.