Few sequels arrive with as much scepticism as Toy Story 4 did in June 2019. The third film had concluded the saga with such finality that returning to it felt, to many, unnecessary. Directed by Josh Cooley in his feature debut, the film does not attempt to replicate the register of its predecessor. Instead, it asks a different question: what does Woody do when the story he thought was his turns out to be someone else's?
At a Glance
Director: Josh Cooley
Runtime: 100 minutes
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts, Tony Hale, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Christina Hendricks
Release: 2019
Critics Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, a brave and divisive coda)
Audience Rating: ★★★★ (4/5 stars, divisive but worthwhile)
Review Breakdown
Plot
Andy's toys now belong to Bonnie, a young girl who creates a new toy, Forky, from a plastic spork and craft supplies. When Forky goes missing during a road trip, Woody sets out to retrieve him and encounters Bo Peep, a lamp-stand figurine from his past who has embraced life as a lost toy. The plot is leaner than its predecessors and more focused on Woody's internal journey than on ensemble adventure, which is both its strength and its limitation. The antique shop sequences give the film its most atmospherically distinctive passages, and the spatial logic of the setting is used with a creativity and a precision that the more open-world earlier films did not attempt. The screenplay's most honest quality is its willingness to follow Woody's displacement to its logical conclusion rather than finding a way to restore the status quo.
Characters
Woody's arc is the film's most interesting element: for the first time, he is not the indispensable toy, and Cooley takes that displacement seriously. Bo Peep (Annie Potts) is substantially reimagined as an independent and capable figure, and her dynamic with Woody carries the dramatic weight. Forky (Tony Hale) is an effective comic creation whose existential confusion is played with more wit than the premise might suggest. Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) is a villain whose motivation is treated with more sympathy than the script initially suggests, and her resolution is one of the film's most quietly affecting moments, a scene that reframes the picture's central concern about purpose and belonging in a way that gives the ending its emotional grounding. The returning ensemble, by contrast, is largely sidelined, which remains the film's most significant dramatic limitation.
Tone
Cooley pitches the film at a lighter, more comedic register than Toy Story 3, with greater emphasis on visual invention. The antique shop sequences have a pleasing gothic quality, and the carnival setting is used with spatial creativity. This is a less demanding film than its predecessor, which will disappoint some viewers and suit others. That tonal lightness is a deliberate choice rather than a failure of ambition, and the film is most convincing when it commits to it fully rather than reaching for the emotional register of the earlier entries.
Meaning / Themes
Where the third film was about letting go, the fourth is about self-determination. Woody's decision to leave his friends and pursue a life outside of ownership is a significant departure for the saga, and the script deserves credit for committing to it. The idea that a toy's purpose need not be defined by a child's love is a more ambitious proposition than anything the earlier films attempted. It asks whether identity requires an audience, and arrives at an answer that is more open-ended than the franchise's previous conclusions. The execution does not always match the ambition of the premise, but the ambition itself is genuine, and the film is more interesting for having attempted it than it would have been for playing it safe.
Direction
Cooley's direction is technically accomplished, with the antique shop and carnival sequences demonstrating a strong command of atmosphere and space. The animation has advanced considerably since the earlier films, and the detail in the environments is striking, particularly in the antique shop's cluttered interiors, which are rendered with a richness and a specificity that give the setting a character of its own. Thomas Newman's score is warm and unobtrusive, complementing the film's quieter tone without pushing for responses the story has not earned. The craft is not in question; whether the film needed to exist is another matter, and the picture is honest enough not to pretend otherwise.
Cultural Reception
Toy Story 4 was received warmly by critics and performed strongly at the box office, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Audience response was more divided, with many viewers feeling the third film had provided a more satisfying conclusion. The debate around the film's necessity has persisted, and it remains the most contested entry in the franchise critically and among fans. Its reputation has settled into a position of qualified respect: a well-made film with a genuinely brave central decision that not everyone was willing to accept.
Final Verdict: Toy Story 4 is a well-made film with a genuinely brave central decision, let down slightly by an underused ensemble and a plot that feels thinner than the franchise at its best. Gabby Gabby's resolution is the film's most quietly affecting moment, Bo Peep's reimagining gives the picture its most dramatically credible new dynamic, and Cooley's direction gives the antique shop sequences an atmospheric distinctiveness the franchise had not previously attempted. It earns its ending, even if the journey there is less essential than what came before.