With a fifth movie in the Toy Story franchise confirmed, we took to the internet to find out
what people are expecting. It’s generally agreed among fans that Toy Story 3 was the
perfect ending and that the fourth was a decent epilogue…so where do they go from here? Today
we’re breaking down the theories we liked and ones we think needed a little bit more thought.
I’m Kyle with WickedBinge and this is Toy Story 5 Theories We Love and Hate.
Starting off this list are the two ideas presented by Reddit user Brookings18.
Their first suggestion revolved around A New Cast of Toys. Brookings18 was under the
impression that since the main cast of toys got their finish, it would make sense that the new
feature would focus instead on a new group of toys. This theory implied that this cast would
even have a completely different child rather than going back to Bonnie or possibly Molly.
Seeing as Tim Allen and Tom Hanks have both been confirmed as coming back for the fifth movie,
this is unlikely. We have to say that we don’t like this theory.
Their second idea focused on Woody and Bo continuing to Save Lost Toys. This
idea called back to the ending of the fourth film,
recalling how Woody and Bo set off to travel and find more toys to help.
This makes a bit more sense. It would follow the scene set by the previous
movie and allow us to see how Woody could grow from his choice to stay with Bo. After all,
for the majority of the franchise, Woody had been adamant about his role in Andy’s-
and later Bonnie’s-life. When the fourth movie released, some viewers questioned
why the writers would present Woody as being so uncertain of his place,
but there’s potential here. After all, we already saw Woody beginning to doubt himself
in the second movie when he nearly joined Pete, Jesse and Bullseye for the toy museum.
We actually like the idea of seeing Woody regain his confidence with this new identity. While
both of the ideas Brookings18 brought up would read more as spin-offs than a
real continuation of the story, the latter does seem more likely to be used by Pixar.
The next theory comes from Reddit user Blood-PawWerewolf, who believes that
Woody may regret his choice. They stated that he may just Return to Andy or Bonnie.
Blood-PawWerewolf didn’t go far into detail, but thought that Disney and
Pixar may just go back on the choice Woody made so they can return to the successful
formula from before. This ties into the idea that the franchise is becoming nothing more
than a cash cow and that the storyline is secondary to the profit that can be made.
It’s a fair observation considering how much money Toy Story has made in the past between
tickets, toy sales and merchandising. We have mixed feelings… above dialing
back the established storyline, but it’s a reasonable guess. After all,
Woody had doubted himself in Toy Story 2…What’s to say he wouldn’t regret leaving Bonnie?
Several users agreed that Pixar and Disney would be far too tempted to return to what worked
before. Many believe that the toys will be banded together again to be Gifted to Andy’s Children.
Fans of these movies have found a lot of ways to link all of the small tidbits together to imply
dozens of coincidences, such as implying that Andy’s mom was Jesse’s former owner.
In keeping up with the idea of “it’s a small world after all” quite a few people on Reddit
agree it’s very likely that the toys will be reunited by Andy or Molly to be given
as gifts for any children Andy would have. Or even possibly children Molly could have.
On the one hand, it would be crazy to see the toys with Andy again, and may be something some
of the fanbase would enjoy. However, we can’t say this is a great idea. After all, the ending on the
fourth movie showed us that everyone was slowly trying to move on and get past their lives with
Andy. It would be a bit upsetting if after all of that doubt and growth they simply ended up
with their former owner again. In fact it would ruin the ending of the third movie completely.
Reddit user beekee404 took this idea further. They started off their premise similarly to
the previous entry, stating that if Andy or Molly found out that Bonnie lost the toys Andy gave her,
they would go hunting them down. This idea focused more on the idea of Andy
leading the charge, and having him finally find Woody…but with a twist.
User beekee404 went on to describe a scene where Andy Would End Up Finding Out that
Woody is Sentient. Woody, either by accident or on purpose, would be in a compromising position
where Andy would be faced with the fact that not only was Woody alive, but so were the other toys.
Woody would then explain everything, and would go into detail on what he and the other toys went
through in the previous movies. He would mention Sid and how he and Buzz did in fact go missing in
the first movie. He would talk about his fear and confusion in the second, mentioning Al and
the museum. He would then talk about the daycare and how Bonnie made him feel unappreciated. How
questioning his place in Bonnie’s life led him to seek out other toys to help.
This idea would lead to Andy gathering all of the toys together and traveling
with them to find other Lost Toys. Now this implies that Andy dedicates
his life entirely to his toys, which he now embraces are in fact sentient.
Now the idea of the toys being discovered is interesting…but we have to say that Andy
devoting his life to helping Woody would be lacklu ster for the same reason as the
previous theory. As we stated before, Andy said his goodbyes to the gang.
Seeing him rejoined with them would make the end of the third movie meaningless,
and fans wouldn’t be able to enjoy what many consider to be a perfect ending.
The idea of sentience does lead us to another possible option, however. We never got to see
How Sid Turned Out after all. Fans noticed that a man assumed to be Sid was shown in the third movie
working as a garbage man. Many speculated that Sid was influenced by his encounter with Woody and
the other toys, leading him to have a career in trying to save any salvagable toys he could find.
This could lead to an interesting interaction for a number of reasons.
First off, the existance of Forky implies that there are other possible sentient pieces made
by children in the garbage. Seeing as Sid was a child that was fascinated by
the process of making toys of his own, it would be plausible for him to gather any
other sentient “garbage” he would find in order to give them another chance at life.
His job as a garbage man would also mean Sid would be given a
few different opportunities to encounter Woody or Buzz again.
If Buzz chose to go after Woody to drag him back, Sid could possibly be placed
into a situation where he would be able to help Buzz reunite with Woody. Buzz had been
the one to convince Woody at the end of Toy Story 2 to abandon the idea of the museum,
so it would stand to reason that he would be the one to convince Woody to go back to
Bonnie. And seeing as Tim Allen is confirmed to be in the fifth movie, it wouldn’t be out
of the realm of possibility that he would make it his mission to drag Woody back to the others.
Another option with Sid is that he could come across Bo and Woody
helping toys and show the pair any toys he himself has saved. He could
possibly join their cause and make it easier for them to find Lost Toys.
The idea of the toys running into Sid again could give a reward to long time fans of the
series. Disney and Pixar has been on a kick of doing antagonists that aren’t
straight up evil like Clayton from Tarzan or Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
so seeing Sid redeemed would fit into their recent trends. We wouldn’t mind seeing more
villains like Lotso, but we have to say we really love the idea of seeing Sid again.
Our final theory for this list is that All of
the Toys Would Join Woody and Bo. At least…most of the toys.
In the beginning of the third movie,
the toys referenced that their friend Wheezy was no longer with them. While sad,
this was a choice made since the voice actor for Wheezy- Joe Ranft- passed away in 2005.
By the time the fifth movie will be released,
we already have two more confirmed deaths among the beloved cast. The voice talent
for both Mr and Mrs Potato Head, Estelle Harris and Don Rickles, have both passed on.
Now there is a chance that they could have enough audio to use for these two characters
as Pixar did for Doc Hudson in Cars 3, but it’s far more likely that the writers will decide on
simply writing the two off. And with Bonnie being shown as disinterested in Andy’s old
toys compared to him, it would be easy to simply say that the couple was tossed away or sold off.
This would be an excellent starting point for the fifth movie, as it would push Buzz into leading
the rest of the gang to find Woody and join him in his mission to help Lost Toys. The darker tone
would also match up well with the tone of films Pixar is slowly becoming known for. We don’t like
to use the word depressing when discussing Pixar, but they have had quite a few movies revolving
around life, death and generational trauma. We have to admit that seeing Buzz come to the
realization that Woody made the right choice would be hard to see and has the potential of
a lot of character growth. We really like the idea of seeing more development with our favorite toys.
But let us know in the comment section if you agree. And do you agree with any of these. Make
sure to hit that notification bell and binge our other videos. But most importantly; Stay Wicked!