TOY STORY 4 Exclusive Interview With Director Josh Cooley About Woody's Emotional Sendoff, Keanu Reeves & More

Following a billion-dollar box office run, Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 4 has finally arrived on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD, and to mark the special occasion, CBM was recently granted an exclusive opportunity to sit down with ace director Josh Cooley to talk about the critically acclaimed blockbuster. 

In our informative chat, Cooley takes us through the development process of bringing Woody's (Tom Hanks) journey to an emotional and satisfying close, giving Bo (Annie Potts) a larger role for this possible final adventure, introducing Forky (Tony Hale) to this universe, casting the incomparable Keanu Reeves as Duke Caboom, whether they ever considered a different ending and more. 

ROHAN: When did you guys kind of realize that Bo Peep would serve as the jumping off point for Toy Story 4? Was that a thread left open from Toy Story 3 on purpose, or is that something you saw later and decided to explore further?

JOSH COOLEY: Well, I didn't work on Toy Story 3, so I'm not sure about her not being in the third one. I would assume that it was just to show that the life of a toy is hard because people move on and there's nothing you can do about that, especially since we saw that she and Woody had a relationship.

As for the idea, she was the catalyst for Toy Story 4 to exist, having her come back was the initial idea and that never went away. In fact, our codeword internally for the movie was Peep, so from Day 1, she was always apart of it.

ROHAN: She’s really awesome in the movie. So her return kind of led into the idea of trying to redefine what a toy really means to a kid with Forky and everything?

JOSH: Yeah, the idea with Forky actually just came out of a joke. We were sitting in the story room just talking about the rules of Toy Story, the rules of the world, and we say, “Okay, anything with a toy comes to life.” and then we talked about our own kids and how - my son will pick up a rock and play with it, you know, well does that mean in the Toy Story world, the rock comes to life?

We were just joking and kind of pulling on the thread of the universe in a way and then we were like, “well, wait, what would happen?” and we realized that something, that’s not a toy, came to life, it wouldn’t know what’s going on. It never saw Toy Story 1, 2 or 3, so it doesn’t understand any of the rules of the world and that just became so funny and then we realized that more importantly, it becomes an innocent character that Woody can then put his philosophy on or speak to about, so it becomes more emotional that way.

ROHAN: I really enjoyed Forky. I think the initial online reception was a bit skeptical, but in the film, he’s just so funny and so great and really wins you over fast.

For a film like this, character always comes first, but then, you’re also make a sequel in a storied franchise that has generations of fans. I mean, when we were kids, my younger brother would watch Toy Story all the time. So, how aware are you of the fanbase when you’re making a film like this, where you kind of have to satisfy the multiple generations of fans while also introducing these iconic characters to younger audiences?

JOSH: Yeah, that's a great question. I think part of me was trying not to think about it because that is a lot of pressure - *laughs* - and you don't want to be the person that ruined Toy Story, so there's that but also, I would go back and watch 1, 2 and 3 constantly and even before working on this film, I had watched them all almost religiously, so, I felt that the thing that would make everybody happy is if it was a great story and a great movie and it felt like these characters were the characters that we knew and that the new characters that were introduced were part of this world and interacted in a great way with our previous characters and so, just making it feel like this is a continuation of what you know already and that was important from Day 1.

ROHAN: To make this story work, you kind of have to sideline some of the characters we grew up with from the first three films. You give them their moment to shine, but you also have to introduce all these great new characters as well. Was that a difficult decision to make or did you know from the get-go this was the only way to take us on this specific journey with Woody?

JOSH: Yeah, what I love about Toy Story and all the Toy Story movies is that you have these characters that are there from the very first film and then there's always more that are introduced, that you fall in love with.

By the time you get to number four, that's a lot of characters and so we had to find that balance between everybody because obviously we wanted to introduce new characters, but also give everybody on screen a purpose for being there and so it all came down to Woody’s story and what's gonna be the best way to support Woody's story. So, obviously Bo gets a lot more screen time and these new characters get screen time to support Woody and the classic characters are getting screen time as well to support his story, so it was finding that balance that was the most important thing to support him.

ROHAN: You cast Keanu Reeves at a really ideal time where he’s coming in hot after John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum and his hilarious cameo in Always Be My Maybe.

JOSH: Oh yeah, it was great.

ROHAN: Then, he’s in Toy Story 4 and his casting had more or less been kept a secret. I mean there were some rumors and rumblings on the internet, but it wasn’t until you unveiled Duke Caboom that I think anyone realized he was actually in the film.

Was Duke always written for Keanu and you let him do his thing, or was that something that developed organically through production?

JOSH: Yeah, the great thing was we wanted to have a Canadian actor and we knew we kind of had some of the scenes written out, but we reached out to Keanu first and foremost because why not, it’s Keanu.

I actually was blind casting, when I first heard his voice I did not know who it was. I was like “wait, who is that? That’s great.” And, so he asked to meet with us before he even said yes and he came up and had lunch with us. I pitched him the movie, pitched him the character and he totally just embraced it and to the point, where he, during lunch stood up on the table and was like acting out and doing poses - *makes Duke Caboom noises* - and all that and going “I’m Duke Caboom!”

It was just so funny and I was not prepared for how funny he is. He's just a really naturally funny person and I was just like thinking “please say yes, please say yes,” because I could not see the character any other way after that and a lot of what he brought to the role is actually in the movie. I credit a lot of it to him because he came up with the posing, he was doing all these great little touches, the way he screams and cries.

It’s just pure Keanu, I’m very lucky.

ROHAN: This is Woody’s story through and through and I think he ultimately gets the closure all of us wanted for him, but it’s still hard to see him leave his friends. Were you ever close to letting Buzz go with him and Bo or was that never really considered?

JOSH: No, yeah, that’d be an awkward third wheel. I mean he’s got a relationship with Jesse and so, that was never in the cards.

The progression was - in the very first version, everybody came back to Bonnie's house, including Bo, but that didn't feel quite emotionally correct. So, then we try the version that’s in the deleted scene, which is like the Casablanca thing where Bo kind of rediscovers her purpose and then they split up, but that didn't feel quite satisfying either. And so, we started thinking, “What is Woody went off with her?,” and whenever I pitched that, I got really emotional and I could feel it and so, that's what we went with. Him saying goodbye to Buzz was always apart of that. That had to happen, that was part of his growth.

ROHAN: Yeah, I mean it’s scary for him, but it’s also very exciting to see where he goes next. I really loved this movie.

JOSH: Thank you so much.

ROHAN: Now, with Woody and Bo going on a new adventure, have you considered the possibility of a Toy Story 5? Even, if it has to come another decade down the line?

JOSH: *laughs* - Well, I wish I could tell the future. - *laughs* - But, unfortunately, I cannot.

That was always the goal with this ending was to make it feel like there's more out there, in fact, every Toy Story movie ends that way, where there's a promise of something new on the horizon. So, I'm very happy with the way this one ends.

I think that if this was the last one, which I have no idea if it will be or not, but I'm very happy with it the way it is.

 

Woody has always been confident about his place in the world and that his priority is taking care of his kid, whether that’s Andy or Bonnie. But when Bonnie adds a reluctant new toy called “Forky” to her room, a road trip adventure alongside old and new friends will show Woody how big the world can be for a toy.