Toy Story 4 Has Undergone Major Rewrites, Says Cast Member

Annie Potts, the voice of Little Bo Peep in the intensely nostalgic Toy Story franchise, recently detailed some tidbits about the film’s creative process in an interview with the Radio Times. The biggest reveal from the interview is the report that the majority of the film had to be completely rewritten after the original screenwriters—Rashida Jones and Will McCormack—left the project. ”[Toy Story 4] was supposed to come out this year and then they threw out three-quarters of it and rewrote,” Potts said.

Potts went on to say, “Usually, it takes—from start to finish—two years. But because they threw most of it in the bin and started over [my time on the project has] been extended a little bit. I’ve done a lot of work on it.”

Toy Story 4 has been in various stages of development since 2013, so this news is not super surprising. Development woes plague many a film, but Pixar’s work process seems to be very perfectionistic, so delays in development are implied to be for the better, given that Pixar’s track-record is full of more hits than misses. Potts ruminates on the creative process at Pixar being full of creative liberty in that, “If they don’t like whole sections then they just chuck it and start over again.”

Toy Story 4 will make its way from toybox to theaters on June 21, 2019, via Disney. Hopefully, the creative process and liberty that Pixar has makes for a worthy entry in the series; especially since Toy Story 3 succinctly wrapped up the story started in the first film. Do we really need another one? Let Andy’s toys get some rest.

Find out more about Toy Story 4’s troubled production process here.