Headscratchers / Toy Story 4

Be sure to see Toy Story (whole franchise), Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3.

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You're Under Arrest...Not

• So the toys take over Bonnie's parents' RV by making it accelerate, then brake, then accelerate, then brake, repeat. The cops go after them, of course, because this is a BIG danger to traffic! When the RV stops, the police get Bonnie's dad out of the car and start questioning him. Not even five minutes later, the cops are gone. Did it seriously take Bonnie's dad that quickly to clear things up with the cops? And even if it did, then what on earth did he tell them?
  • He probably said something like "the brakes were acting up and I couldn't control the vehicle."
  • He could have been given a ticket or fine and sent on his way.
  • Aside from some minor property damage, nobody was injured or worse. He did seriously inconvenience some carnival goers, but the police wouldn't have arrested him for that serious a malfunction (especially in regards to a rental vehicle, as it's the liability of the rental company to take care of their equipment prior to selling them for usage). At worst, as mentioned above, he would have been fined and ticketed. At best, they would have let him off with a warning and made an effort to investigate the RV-rental company about what happened.

Woody's Decision

• Woody and the gang went through all that to get back to Bonnie's RV, and then Woody said good-bye to Bo Peep once again. And then...all of a sudden he decides he wants to stay with her. Whut? What made him decide he wanted to leave Bonnie behind? There was, like, no buildup to this ending. Now, it was sad to see Woody say goodbye to Buzz and the rest of his friends. It seems like there should've been some kind of foreshadowing, or something that happened that made Woody realize maybe he didn't like being with Bonnie after all.
  • He wants to be with Bo. He had already lost her once and it's clear that it's breaking him to leave her again. The look on his face shows it and Buzz realizes this when he said that it's okay for Woody to go. Plus, it's been built up subtly through the movie that Bonnie doesn't care for Woody anymore, and that Woody clinging on to the belief that by making Bonnie happy, his life is fulfilled, is self-destructive not only for him but for his friends as well. As much as he loves to be with his friends at Bonnie's house, it's clear that he doesn't belong with Bonnie's toys anymore. One of the main aesops of the movie is moving on. Forky moves on from thinking that he belongs in the garbage and comes to accept that he's Bonnie's new favorite toy. Bo moves on from Molly and later leaves the antique shop on her own accord to find her own happiness instead of being stuck on a shelf forever. Gabby Gabby moves on from Harmony and finds a new kid that loves her. Finally, Woody moves on from Bonnie when he finally realizes that he doesn't belong with her anymore, and that his 'inner voice' tells him that he wants to be with Bo, so he proceeds to do that with blessings from his friends.
  • Plus, Woody almost left with Bo the first time. He had one foot in the box and only stopped because Andy still needed him and obviously would've missed him. He doesn't have the same role with Bonnie and he even forgoes immediately going back to Bonnie to try and find Bo when he sees her lamp. Woody cares about Bonnie but he doesn't have the same level of attachment to her, so there's nothing holding him back from going with her the second time.
  • A lot about the film is about how Woody is still clinging to the group and Andy's memories and how he is not happy where he is right now, and he saw a possibility of a better life for him, but leaving behind everything he built before. It was good for while it lasted, but it was time for him to go somewhere else, to be with the one he loves.
  • From a Doyalist perspective, I've gotten the sense for a while that Pixar has been forced to several films against their will. Cars got sequels because Disney wanted to sell Cars merchandise, not because Pixar had a story to tell. I remember someone at Pixar saying that Toy Story 3 was the perfect end to the story, but then it got a sequel which I have to assume was mandated from higher up. Woody staying with Bo seemed to me Pixar saying "There! We're done! Woody and Buzz are separated. No more Toy Story". No proof for any of this but that's the vibe I've gotten from the films.
    • They've declared every installment in the Toy Story series as the last one whenever they make a new one. They seem to write each one off as an end only to later come up with another idea and do a new one. Given it's popularity and the potential the series possesses it's not surprising they keep coming back to it.

Did Bonnie Ever Notice...

• It's been noted on other pages how Bonnie didn't even notice that Woody was missing along with Forky. Wouldn't she have noticed that he's not there in the year between the road trip and the beginning of first grade (in The Stinger)?
  • Considering how she rarely played with him anymore, probably not.
  • She likely did notice eventually but by then it was too late and showing how upset she'd be at the realisation would make it look like less of a happy ending.

Why did Bonnie take Woody on the roadtrip?

• A huge part of this movie is about how Bonnie no longer likes to play with Woody, and even forgets about him when he goes missing with Forky. So why did she end up bringing him on the roadtrip? Especially over other toys that she was shown to still be playing with in the opening, like Pricklepants.
  • According to the toys in the closet, Woody was still being played with, just less so. It's also possible that Woody just got grabbed in the group or he hopped in with her like when he with kindergarden.
  • It was never stated that Bonnie doesn't like Woody, only that he's not currently being included in her latest game (it's even pointed out this has only been going on for a week) and that he's not as special to her as he was to Andy and he's having trouble dealing with that.
  • Exactly. Woody is used to being the #1 favorite toy of the kid (Andy) and even when he's learned to share the place with Buzz, he's still used to being the most played toy of the room. The fact that Bonnie doesn't value Woody in that way is a life-shifter for him. He is to Bonnie what, say, Rex, was for Andy. A toy to be played with, but not played with every waking moment of the day, every day. This is why numerous toys had to tell him over and over again that Bonnie wasn't Andy v2.0, and it would be unfair for him to expect her to be such.

Motivation: "I help toys find owners" vs "Let's abandon Forky"

• Anyone else find Bo Peep's motivation a little inconsistent? So: lost toy/figurine that is determined to help toys find new owners or help them return home. Understandable. Leads a band of lost toys that come to aid other lost toys in need of finding a child or that need a purpose. Got it. Initially refuses to help save a child's toy held at ransom from a location she herself knows is extremely dangerous for toys and after a failed rescue attempt, which could have been prevented with better planning has an attitude of "Kids lose toys all the time, we should let Forky die there". Huh?? Even when Woody says he's willing to risk everything to save his friend her reply is akin to "Forkys Gone. Don't save him. We're better off leaving him there to die than us". Sorry, What?? Even if Woody's motivation is "selfish" in serving Bonnie, the underlying outcome is still "That toys in danger, I need to rescue him" with no regards to himself vs hers which ultimately comes across as selfish. If you're not actually willing to save toys from danger/ try and help lost toys find homes only when its convenient, why even do this?
  • At that point after the first failed rescue attempt, Bo was pissed at Woody. Yes, maybe better planning would have allowed them to easily rescue Forky, and even the first attempt might have succeeded had Woody didn't deviate from the plan, but right at that moment, Bo was angry that Woody's willing to risk all their lives just to rescue one toy just to satisfy some girl she doesn't even know. Remember that she almost lost her sheep and her second-in-command over the whole fiasco, and that by the time she gets over her initial anger, she goes back for Woody anyway, so it seems like deep down, Bo knows that rescuing Forky is the right thing to do, she just doesn't agree with how Woody callously goes about it.
    • Not only that, but Forky doesn't exactly fit the traditional mold of a "toy" per se. He's literally just trash some little girl cobbled together, which is why she was so surprised when she met him. She wasn't just mad that Woody was endangering the group for any old toy; she was incensed that he was risking their lives over a piece of trash. Well, that and she thought he was selfishly putting everyone in harm's way just to prove he still had worth as Bonnie's toy when it was clear she didn't even want him. In her mind, she could have easily assumed that Woody was falling back on old habits like he did with Buzz, only in the opposite direction.
    • Does that really matter though? That's a pretty nihilistic argument- so what if he's made from a utensil and a cobbled together piece arts and crafts? It's demonstrated and shown to Bo that he somehow gained consciousness, has a loyalty to Bonnie and a desire to get back to her. Abandoning him just because he isn't extrinsically worth more in materials or manufacturing is pretty callous.

Why does Bo hate Gabby Gabby?

• During the film we are presented with the tragic character, Gabby Gabby, that only wants to be loved by a specific child. Unlike Lotso or Stinky Pete who harbor a deep resentment for toys with kids, it's revealed Gabby has no ill will for any of them, only wanting love for herself. So why does Bo Peep hate/fear/dislike her? Bo herself was never a target (no pullstring voice box) and given how empathetic she is and how long she was in the antiques store, you'd think she'd have at least talked to Gabby Gabby at some point to at least understand why she's the way she is. She only looked at the superficial Gabby and didn't take the time to truly understand her like Forky did, which goes against the nurturing character the film tries to present.
  • If it helps, to some Gabby gets WAY too much sympathy. Having an understandable motive doesn't give you the right to hurt others. She's no different than, say, someone dying due to organ failure killing an innocent person to take their organ for transplant — understandable motive (everyone wants to live), but that doesn't give you the right to do that! Maybe Bo sees it that way, too...? In any event, given Gabby's obsession with getting the voicebox she sees as the only key to a better life, it's highly unlikely she didn't try this before (namely, taking a voicebox from a toy by force). Maybe some didn't survive the struggle (antiques aren't in the sturdiest condition, after all). And what if another doll ever happened to catch Harmony's eye? Last time you'd ever see that doll in one piece! Gabby's clearly willing to do ANYTHING to get what she wants, and Bo's had plenty more time to see her in action than we did. Bo regarding Gabby the way Bonnie's original toys regard Lotso makes perfect sense (don't let her cute, dimpled smile fool you).
    • Maybe the plush zebra that got bisected by Dragon the cat was a toy that caught Harmony's eye...
  • Given the ruthless approach to getting Woody's voice box, chances are Bo and Gabby have had bad encounters before, likely over trying to get a voice box or other complications.
  • It's shown that Bo has a knack for repairing broken toys, perhaps Gabby resented Bo for being unable to fix Gabby's own voice box?
  • Gabby only fixates on getting attention from Harmony with the help of a working voicebox. Being the aid of toys without owners, Bo may have tried to convince Gabby that other girls would play with her even without a functional voicebox (or any voicebox at all for that matter), but Gabby wouldn't listen to reason, leading to extreme bitterness. Bo DID start to help Gabby after the failed attempt to win the love of Harmony, mainly because this proved Bo was right. (and because of Woody's selfless act of giving her HIS voicebox, which Bo didn't want to be vain)
  • The short film Lamp Life kind of answer the question; Bo had to bind Gabby's head with the lampshade and run away from the dummies to escape, so whaterver relationship they had and for whatever reason, Gabby Gabby didn't wanted Bo to run away even when it wasn't her decision to make, probably just for the control freak she was at the time.

How long is the gap between the end of 3 and the start of 4?

• Toy Story 3 ended with Andy about to start college — meaning, at the start of the school year. Toy Story 4 begins with Bonnie starting kindergarten — so, also the start of the school year. No, they would not overlap perfectly, but they would have to be close. So did Bonnie make Forky a few days to a week or two after receiving her new toys from Andy, or a year later? It can only be one of those two, nothing else. A year long gap would make Bonnie losing interest in Woody much easier to accept and lessen the Happy Ending Override if Woody had an entire happy year with her, but that would make the closet scene in the beginning a stretch (since it seems to be Andy's old toys' first experience with being locked in the closet during cleaning).
  • Bonnie is also, like, five. All she knew was that a strange young man gave her new toys to play with. The fact she even remembers that she has Andy's toys (i.e., putting Woody's star on Jessie) is a miracle.
  • According to synopsis, the film takes place two years after Toy Story 3.
  • If the film is two years after Toy Story 3, then wouldn't that make Bonnie seven (assuming she was four when we first see her.) It's realistic for a seven year old to be starting kindergarten unless there was something the movie didn't tell us to explain why she's starting it at such a late age.
  • Bonnie was in preschool during Toy Story 3, so she could be around three or four years old at the time. Two years later would have her five or so, which is about right to start Kindergarden depending on the requirements for her school district.

Why couldn’t she just go with them?

At the end, Woody is left with a decision of either staying with his friends and leaving Bo Peep, or staying with Bo Peep and leaving his friends (and his owner) behind. But why couldn’t he just Take a Third Option and go back to his friends bringing Bo Peep with him (and maybe even Bunny, Ducky, Giggles and Duke). She didn’t even have an owner, so it’s not like he’d be convincing her to give up life with a kid, which he himself was basically doing when he decided to stay with her.

• That would be the absolute worst possible conclusion to this. Bo might get a little wistful at the memory of Molly, but she absolutely adores everything about her new life; she did her job, took care of her kid, and now she's having a fabulous time being her own person. Woody, on the other hand, has reached a point in his life where the cycle of giving his all for a child and then losing them is starting to seriously hurt him. It wouldn't make sense for Bo to give up her amazing life to join Woody in one neither of them would benefit from.
• Plus it would be recycling the resolution of Toy Story 2 but under the wrong circumstances. Worked in that context (going from a life locked up in the dark to a life of love, friendship, and action) but would not work now (going from a life of freedom to a life of restriction).
• Because Bo already made up her mind to stay with the carnival and live a free life without an owner. Had Bo and her toys go with Woody, it would've repeat the same cycle with Andy and Molly all over again. Eventually, Bonnie would grow up and the toys would have to find a new owner, and then what? Repeat everything all over again and again. Hell, maybe the next owner might favor some toys over others and they would end up in the same situations Woody does in this film. If anything, Woody and Bo got their happiest endings, and it's Buzz, Jessie, and the other toys at Bonnie's house that we have to be worried with.
• Perhaps another option could be for Buzz and the other toys to join Woody and Bo, but that probably wouldn’t have been a very good idea for the time being, since Bonnie presumably still wanted them (she definitely wanted Forky, and evidently she still wanted at least some of Andy's old toys, especially Jessie). But who knows? Maybe that will happen by the time Bonnie grows up. It would be a happy ending for all of them, after all. They could live long, happy lives together without having to worry about being outgrown anymore.
• To be fair, considering how independent toys are and how the fair is not that long from Bonnie's house is not like they have no possibility to visit each other, specially because without owners Woody and Bo have complete freedom of movement, and Woody knows where they live. Also is very likely that the fair is a common visitation place for Bonnie.
• Also, they could likely still stay in touch. Given that Woody has been at Bonnie's house for a while, he would probably know how to contact them should he get access to a phone or computer.

He just abandoned her!

• Woody left his friends (and Bonnie) to be with Bo Peep. Sure Bonnie may not have been very interested in Woody at the time, but she’s only like, what, five years old? Give the girl time, Woody! It seems very much out of character for Woody to abandon his owner, considering that as he states in the previous films, his job as a toy is to be there for his kid. Plus, remember that at the end of Toy Story 3, Andy made Bonnie promise to take really good care of Woody for him. How’s he going to feel if he finds out she no longer has him?
  • His job as a toy is to be there for his kid and he's done that twice over. Bonnie's going to be fine, and if Andy was so concerned with Woody's fate, he shouldn't have given him to a four year old.
  • For why it's sometimes necessary to leave your kid(s) in the care of someone/others you know will also take good care of them because you've realized you need to leave and pursue a better purpose in life, read Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. You prefer the ending where the protagonist doesn't "abandon" her kids to find a more fulfilling life...? Didn't think so.
  • People seem to forget that initially, Woody was ready to go back to Bonnie after he succeeded in rescuing Forky. He's ready to go back to the depressed life of living with a child who doesn't want to play with him anymore, because it's his duty as a toy. But Buzz Lightyear, seeing that his best friend is not very happy with the decision at all, gives his blessing for Woody to go with Bo and tells him that Bonnie would do fine without him. Woody even asks him one more time if he's okay with it before Buzz reassures him to follow his inner voice. Then, and only then, did Woody finally let go of his past for real and reunites happily with Bo. Plus, it's not like he's just abandoning Bonnie because he doesn't like her, it's just that he realizes that he can help make other children happy too by rescuing other lost toys and find owners for them. That way, he gets to live the life he desired for: being loved by children and making them happy in return, as well as guiding lost toys to a new home where they could be loved and cared for as well. Getting to stay with Bo, the toy he loved, is just icing on the cake.
  • The issue is that the previous two films set Woody up as someone who wouldn't give up on his owner. He stayed with Andy without being played with until the kid was eighteen years old, then abandoned the child Andy left him with to run away with another toy. Not only does it seem like him not liking Bonnie enough to go back to her, but it even sort of implies the same about Andy since he didn't think of returning to him either. The fact that Buzz "allows" him to go or that he wants to be with Bo again just aren't that relevant since they aren't his owners.
  • Even if he goes back to Bonnie, what difference would it make? We'll just be right back where we started, with Bonnie favoring every other toy besides Woody and him being abandoned in the closet again and again? Even if on the off chance that Bonnie finally returns her affection to Woody, eventually she has to grow up and leave her toys behind just like Andy, and then the cycle begins again. The toys find a new owner, be there for them as they play with them, then watch as their grown-up owners leave their toys behind and move on again. Even if it's in character for Woody to never give up on his owner, going back to Bonnie doesn't change anything at all, and it makes the entire movie one big "Shaggy Dog" Story for Woody. And people won't be happy with that ending, either. And about the topic you raised up about the implication that Woody isn't as loyal to Andy after all, watch the opening again: he's considering going with Bo when she's donated, but when the young Andy runs out into the storm looking for him, Woody decides to go back. He's still loyal to Andy no matter what, and he only leaves him when it's finally the time they're both ready to say goodbye. To Bonnie, he doesn't have that same loyalty. Woody didn't grow up with her, didn't be there with her from the very beginning, it feels normal that they won't have the same dynamic that Andy and Woody had. Just like how Bonnie doesn't treat Woody the same as Andy, Woody has a right to choose for himself just how loyal he would be to her, and at which point is where it ended.
    • "To Bonnie, he doesn't have that same loyalty." If anything, Woody has too much loyalty to Bonnie, to the point of stifling his own happiness, even though she doesn't need him. The reason Woody can leave in the end is because he finally recognizes that Bonnie is in the capable hands of Buzz, Jessie, and Forky.

Bonnie is fickle.

At the end of Toy Story 3, Woody was the toy she was most interested in. (In fact if not for that, Andy probably would have kept Woody with him.) Yet in this film, it’s the exact opposite. Within presumably one year, Bonnie has gone from loving Woody to neglecting him.

• She's just five years old. Kids lost interests in their toys easily, plus like many characters in the movie mentioned, Bonnie is not Andy. Woody is not the toy that she grew up with or has a significant meaning to her. To Bonnie, Woody is just another toy just like everyone else. Forky, however, is something she created that helped her through the overwhelming first day at Kindergarten. Forky is the one toy that has a special meaning to her in the same way the Woody was to Andy. Put simply, Bonnie and Andy just aren't the same. You can't expect Bonnie to treat Woody the same as Andy did.
• Seems like they were taking a page from Ralph Breaks the Internet by having the characters contradict their behavior in the previous film in order to teach a different lesson while expecting the audience could suspend their disbelief enough to go along with it. Not saying that's necessarily bad thing — it's just up to each individual audience member whether they can and choose to accept it.
• It's been previously established that however loyal Woody is to Bonnie, deep down he still can't get over Andy. He's Andy's oldest and most cherished toy, after all, and he longed for the same affection that Andy has for him, something that he would never get with Bonnie. Plus, he's also established to have cared very much for Bo, so when he finds her again after having lost her once, it makes sense that he would really prefer not to lose her again. Plus, in the ending, Woody was more than ready to leave Bo behind to get back to Bonnie and do his duty as her toy once again, but Buzz sees that his friend is totally unhappy with the decision, so he gives his blessing for Woody to follow his own heart. Contrast Woody with Vanellope, who just decides to abandon the arcade on her own free will without initially asking for Ralph's consent, and the result is one of the biggest cases of Base-Breaking Character in Disney movies. Woody's arc is kinda similar to that, but it seems Pixar learns from the mistake Disney made with Vanellope and did their best to provide the most natural justification for Woody to leave. But yeah, how much it succeeded still depends on the viewer. It's the logical course of action for Woody to take.

• Raise your hand if you ever saw what looked like the funnest, coolest toy in the world, you wanted it so badly, were so excited when you finally got it, played with it once... and never again. *everyone raises hand* The movie probably should have drawn attention to this, maybe have the toys have a conversation about how common this is for kids and how every toy knows it's a possibility... Something that didn't just make it look like they went "we're writing her feelings about Woody the complete opposite of how they were in the last movie because it's necessary for the plot."
  • The movie did indirectly draw attention to that, with Duke Caboom's backstory where his kid immediately lost interest in him as soon as it became clear he wasn't as cool as the ad made him out to be.
  • Plus, as mentioned earlier, if Andy was worried about Woody ending up being tossed into a closet and forgotten about then perhaps he shouldn't have entrusted his most cherished toy to a toddler who had no such attachments to him.
    • Go back and watch the scene again. Andy hesitated noticeably before giving Woody to Bonnie. He only did so because he saw much she really wanted him and how happy he thought Woody would make her.
    • And the main argument this film makes is that you can't expect every child to be alike. Some children just don't care for toys as much as Andy (just look at Sid from the first movie), like Harmony who's implied to abandon her toys often and doesn't even care about Gabby, or the boy who abandoned Duke Caboom just because he's not capable of doing the stunt shown in his ads. Bonnie is just like those children. She cared for her toys, yes, but she may not treat them with the same affection as Andy did. It's just like how the movie tells you: "Bonnie isn't Andy", and Woody (or any toy for that matter) can't expect her to treat him the same way as Andy did with him.
    • Also, Woody DID make her happy, for a time. One of the recurring messages of Toy Story is that relationships can change and there is nothing wrong with that (especially for toys and their owners). Even if it didn't last nearly as long as with Andy, Woody was able to be a beloved toy again, and that still has value. However, Woody's real calling, (beyond being Andy's toy), was to help other toys, and he can do that with Bo more than he can with Bonnie.
• People on here keep talking about how "She's five, and it's realistic for kids to outgrow their favorite toys," but let's talk about that, shall we? Considering how often Bonnie played with Woody in the TV-specials and shorts, it's not like she viewed him as just some random flavor of the week.
  • Some kids have toys that are very special to them, some that they kept well into their adulthood and might even give them to their own kids if they have one, but there are also other kids that don't care for toys very much, especially kids nowadays who mostly have computer games and social networks that they can spend their time on instead of playing with toys. Plus, we see her playing with Woody in those extra TV episodes, yes, but that doesn't mean she sees him as her special toy on the same level as Andy's. Also, we don't know how long is the Time Skip between the chronologically last TV-special/short and the fourth movie, so it could be long enough for Bonnie to grow tired of Woody.
    • Bonnie is clearly not the type of kid that would gravitate more towards electronic devices than actual toys (Toy Story that Time Forgot, anyone?). The Time Skip would be that long, considering that she seemed to be 3 or 4 in TS 3 and the fact that she's entering kindergarten would mean that she's now 5 at most. A year or two isn't really long enough to decide whether you've outgrown a toy or not. Hell, they say that Woody hadn't been played with for a mere 3 weeks! Sure, from the perspective of a toy, 3 weeks is a long time to be on paid administrative leave, so to speak, but in the grand scheme of things, 3 weeks is just a blip on the radar! Give Bonnie a few more days, and she probably would've gone back to playing with Woody!
    • Clearly, Bonnie isn’t one of them as she still plays with her toys just like Andy. However, that doesn’t disprove my point: Bonnie. IS. NOT. Andy. So what if she plays with Woody again? She has already established that she is capable of getting bored of him once, and it’s more likely that it will happen again. And remember that in Toy Story 2, Woody’s biggest fear (that gives him a very creepy nightmare) is not being wanted by Andy anymore. Well, that could’ve actually happen for real if he continued to stay with Bonnie. Plus, don’t forget that he cares for Bo, and Bo coming back into his life once again is what prompts him to make the decision to leave with her right then. The two running into each other at all is very much a pretty lucky coincidence, which most likely will never happen again for the rest of their lifetimes for all we know. Woody must make the decision right then and there in the ending; he doesn’t have time to wait and see if Bonnie will go back to playing with him again because he’s about to lose the toy he loved all over again. And he didn’t make that decision lightly. He KNOWS he’s willingly abandoning his owner, he KNOWS he’s leaving his old friends behind, but that’s what he needs to do, with blessings from Buzz and his friends. In the end, whichever decision he choose makes him lose something anyway, but staying with Bo is the option that makes him loses the least. It all comes down to pretty unlucky (or lucky, depending on how one views it) timing that Bo just has to show up back in Woody’s life again when she does. If she hadn’t, Woody would’ve never get distracted by her lamp in the antique shop and brought Forky back to Bonnie just like his original plan, and the movie would’ve been over even before halfway into the story. It’s just that. Sometimes life throws something to mess with your plans, and it can escalate out of control quickly.
• What doesn't make sense is why would Bonnie be interested in all of Andy's toys except for Woody?
  • She's also a toddler. She probably saw Woody and Jessie as two 'Wild West toys' and thought Jessie was more interesting.
  • Even if it’s realistic behavior for a child, that doesn’t feel like the reason they wrote it that way. It feels like they just wanted an easy, cheap excuse for Woody to leave Bonnie in the end so they could feature a different moral and have him stay with Bo. It might make sense logically, but emotionally, it feels lacking given what the previous films set up, especially to someone who was never that invested in Bo as a character.
  • We know as an audience that they are Andy's toys, harldy a five year old would do that rationale for long.

How do voiceboxes work?

Letting slide the unexplained fact that Woody and Buzz's voiceboxes have both magically gained a whole new range of speeches out of nowhere, that raises the question: in the first film, Woody was able to spook Sid by making an extremely long custom speech that sounds like a voicebox, but clearly doesn't come from his voicebox, without moving his lips. If toys can do this, why should Gabby need a voicebox?

• They've always had those speeches, we've just never heard them until now. And Woody was probably speaking through his voice box's filter when he was spooking Sid. Gabby doesn't have the same luxury because hers is broken. Well, that, and she's never had much use for it since it was broken from the start. Woody most likely picked up a few tricks over the years of being a kid's toy.
• Toys can probably control their own voiceboxes the way we can control our vocal cords. like Woody did in 1. That being said, Gabby demonstrates what her voicebox sounds like for Woody (and us), so it's logical that, if she tried to use it under her own control like Woody once did, it would still sound... like that. So there would be no point. Yes, toys can control their voicebox, but Gabby's would sound terrible if she did because it was "defective."

Really? NOBODY buys the Toy?

• Minor one, but the plot of the second movie contradicts this. Margrett, the owner of the antique store lets her granddaughter Harmony keep any toy in her store claiming "Nobody buys the toys". I know this seems to be a rather small town in the middle of nowhere, but there's no toy collector like Al from the second movie who would profit off from selling old fashioned toys who look in the antique store? That would be the main place vintage toy collectors WOULD look. I can get that kids wouldn't want old fashioned toys since they'd prefer "cool, modern, stuff", but unless guys like Al from the second movie are a diamond in the rough, surely SOMEONE would express interest in Margret's inventory of toys.
  • It's possible that Margrett just said that because she wanted to make Harmony happy without her mother worrying about it too much.
  • Saying "Nobody buys the toys" doesn't literally mean that nobody buys them, ever. It just means not enough people buy them regularly for it to matter that she gives some away to her granddaughter every so often.
  • Antique toys can be pretty darn expensive, depending on who's reselling it and what condition it's in. This troper in particular managed to get two vintage G1 Construticon toys for $5, and that's because they were missing stickers and accessories. But if a store had a sealed-in-box Lionel Train that was in pretty good shape? It would easily run about $200 or more, and that's if it's a more recent set. Toys don't come cheap, especially older ones. Thus, Margrett wouldn't sell them as often as she'd like, since people would be more likely to buy house decorations or furniture. Plus, it seems like such a small area, and vintage toy collectors wouldn't come around that often.

Meal toys

• After making a pit stop at a Poultry Palace, why didn't Bonnie gain a Fun Meal toy? Even if the toy just had one or two lines in the RV and no effect on the plot, it would have made sense.
  • Fridge Brilliance: The toy didn't have a face on it. Alternatively, maybe she just didn't order a Fun Meal.

So where's Gabby's key?

• According to Bo and Giggle, the key is the ONLY way in and out of the cabinet. So how is Gabby able to get in and out as she pleases with no obstacle whatsoever?
  • There was probably more than one key-and Gabby got her hands on a copy.
  • Given it's an old cabinet, chances are the lock can easily be manipulated from the inside of the cabinet, just by pulling on the lever directly. In which case as long as Gabby or at least one of her allies is inside the cabinet they can get in and out at any time.
  • Indeed, there is, as during one of the scenes with Gabby, Forky and a Benson after Bo Peeps sheep latch onto one of them to tell Gabby that Woody is back inside the store, has the Benson open up the cabinet and you can barely make out the interior side of the lock, and it looks reasonably manipulable for the Bensons and Gabby Gabby.

Voice phrases

• Where did all of Buzz's new action phrases come from? Did that deleted plot of Toy Story 3 where Buzz was send to Taiwan to get fixed actually happen, or did the Demo and Spanish setting in the actual Toy Story 3 activate some "unlockable" phrases?
  • Simple. They were all there this whole time — we just never had a chance to hear them.
  • If the scrapped plot happens: the (messed up) timeline: Tin Toy - 1 - 2 - KH 3 - 4 prologue - 3 - 3 scrapped plot - specials - 4

Well that was pointless...

• Was there ever any reason why Gabby needed a voice box to get Harmony's attention, instead of just nonchalantly being where Harmony would see her? Besides the fact that she has serious psychological issues and that the plot says so? Furthermore, she said that Woody could have his voice box back, so why didn't he take her up on that offer? And why was Woody suddenly so willing to give it to her in the first place? She preys on Woody's insecurities and then "Sure, you can have my liver, Crazy Psycho Lady!" He didn't try to talk sense into her, or try to find a replacement voice box online (probably not a good idea for Disney to make that a major plot point in Wreck-It Ralph 2, because now the audience realizes the obvious solution), or chastise her afterwards? Would the little girl at the end have thrown Gabby away if she couldn't talk? What is the point of this thing?!
  • Gabby saw Harmony as "perfect" and herself as "defective." She also believed that her broken voice box was the reason she had never been played with, and that if she was a complete toy then she could get Harmony's attention. As for Woody agreeing to give his voice box, it was more than just sympathizing with her. He knew he couldn't outfight her as he was outnumbered, so realizing that she sincerely didn't want to hurt him either (rather than just having her dummies take him down as they easily could, she talks to him pleads with him), he agrees to give it up provided she first promises to let Forky go. As for not accepting the voice box back, they weren't exactly in a position where there was time or opportunity to sew it back in, and carrying it around would have been difficult (plus at that point Woody had decided he wanted to help Gabby get a kid).
  • About buying a new voice box online, Gabby probably already tried that prior Woody arriving. It's just that both she and Woody are toys made well back into the 50s—way before Internet is a thing. It's safe to say that nobody would be producing replacement voice boxes anymore (and to compare this with Wreck-it Ralph 2: even Sugar Rush - a relatively modern arcade compared to toys like Woody, only has one spare wheel part on sale online because its company stopped producing more of them, so what chance does old toys have?), and even if there is one, it'd probably still be inside a Woody/a Gabby toy and not as a spare part. If a voicebox is torn off from toys like Woody or Gabby for any reason, their owners would have found a way to repair them and put them back inside their toys. There's no reason for them to put a spare voicebox only to be sold online without its toy, right?
    • Not any different from when Wheezy got a "spare squeaker" at the end of Toy Story 2. Also, even if one doesn't buy an entirely new voice box, those things are still capable of being repaired.
    • So you want a Gabby Gabby doll from the 50s to go on the internet, search for "doll voice box repairs", find someone to repair her, then make all the necessary arrangements all while being stuck in an antiques shop and having no money or identification or anything like that? Good luck.
    • Not to mention that whoever human Woody and/or Gabby coerced into repairing them has to abide by an Omerta of some kind, being that toys aren't supposed to talk to people the way they were forced to do with Sid in order to scare him into refraining from mutilating them.
  • You're right — there was no point. Gabby didn't need the voicebox to be loved by a little girl... she just didn't understand that. She believed "If I get a voicebox, I'll be perfect and worthy of a girl's love." She was wrong, and this is how she learned that.
  • Considering Gabby’s name, and the overall superfluousness of a voice box for what’s otherwise an ordinary doll, it seems likely that having a voice box and being able to speak was meant to be her big selling point as a toy when she was first made. It’s understandable why she’d see herself as extremely lacking when her main feature just doesn’t work properly, just like how Buzz was so despondent over his inability to fly in the first movie. It’s not something she absolutely needs, but you can see why she would think she does.
  • Even if being able to speak audibly was a feature that a Gabby doll absolutely requires, it doesn't answer the question of why she couldn't simply disable the voicebox entirely, then recite the phrases herself if its string were pulled. After all, toys' ability to pass off their own words as those of a mechanism became an essential plot device for the film, when Trixie started delivering fake satnav instructions to Bonnie's dad.
  • This page has already addressed the question of why Gabby couldn't "recite the phrases herself" without her voice box, see "How do voiceboxes work?" above. In regards to why Gabby was so fixated on getting a voice box to ger Harmony's attention, look at modern-day incels who believe so firmly that they only reason they can't attract a partner is because they have weak chests or legs (there's literally a not-small percentage who fixate on their wrists as a reason why they're seen as unattractive). Serious psychological issues, maybe, but nothing unrealistic.

What was so bad about Woody leaving?

• The point established in all three films is that a toy's purpose is to be there for children, to make them happy. This movie even solidifies it by saying that being there for a child is the greatest honor a toy could have, so what did Woody do in the ending contradicts that? He still continues to take care of children as he stays with Bo, both directly as they are played with by children wherever the carnival goes, and indirectly as they help other lost toys to find new owners. Staying with Bonnie, while completely in-character for him, would mean he could only take care of one child - a child that apparently doesn't want to play with him anymore and doesn't even recognize that he still exists, to add. Plus, with everything he's trying to do to make Bonnie happy, he ends up risking his own life and his friends multiple times. It's self-destructive both to him and his friends (hell, it's a miracle he doesn't turn out like Lotso by now), and it eventually means nothing in the long run. Even if staying with Bonnie turns out to be a happy ending, it won't last. Eventually, like Andy, Bonnie would grow up and leave her toys behind again, and they'll have to find a new owner, rinse and repeat until the end of their existences. Is that a life Woody should dedicate himself to? Was there no other way for him to make a child happy and make himself happy in the meantime as well? If anything, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of Bonnie's toys are the ones we should worry about, not Woody. He already has his happy ending with Bo.
  • First of all, it completely contradicts what happened in Toy Stories 2 and 3. We go from "It's better to be played with by a single child than be stuck in a museum" to "It's better to be played with by a single child than stay in a daycare center" to "Screw this kid!" Using the parenthood analogy that's been present in previous films, this is like abandoning your biological child to run an orphanage in a foreign country without ever telling them (so basically it's like Itsudatte My Santa! ). Woody made a drastic decision based on a mere 3 weeks of not getting played with. It's likely that Bonnie would've gotten around to playing with Woody again after a while, but now he's just caused this kid a ton of heartache when she finds out her irreplaceable Woody doll is suddenly gone. Furthermore, Woody basically decided that getting in Bo's pants (not sexually) was more important than his friendship with the other toys. Remember him and Buzz promising to be together "to infinity and beyond", or all of them holding hands together when they were about to be incinerated? Apparently, none of that mattered! We hope you've enjoyed No Moral Theater, ladies and gentlemen!
    • Just because things change doesn't mean they never mattered. Woody wasn't happy with the way things were, Bonnie wasn't Andy, Bonnie didn't play the same way Andy did. Woody was not as important to Bonnie as he was to Andy and never would be. All the other toys knew Woody wasn't happy with the way things were, but could only hope things would get better as there was nothing they could do to change their current circumstances. Woody didn't just up and decide to take off, he had to be told to do it by his best friend and only left to be with someone he loves, a toy he was shown missing terribly in the third movie. Bonnie didn't need Woody; yes, she likely would have played with him again in the future, but it never would have been the relationship he wanted, so he left for the next best thing.
    • What Woody did in the end of the film didn't really contradict with the aesops of the previous films. It's stated again and again in this film that being their for a child is the greatest honor a toy could have. What was Woody doing for most of the movie? Trying to rescue Forky and get him back to Bonnie to make her happy. After he finally succeeded in doing so, he knows that Forky (and his friends) would take care of Bonnie in his place. As for the possibility of Bonnie playing with Woody again, how could we know? How do we know how Bonnie is really like? We're not her writers. We can't say for sure that she's 'likely' to go back to playing with Woody again, not with half the movie showing that she preferred pretty much every other toys over him. Or maybe she would and Woody just doesn't give her a chance, but the point is we don't know Bonnie, and it's kind of unfair to want her to be what we wish her to be. To make comparisons with Parenthood just like you did, it's like how parents expecting their children to be like whatever they wish them to be, and that's not very good both the child and their parents, right? And Woody didn't just decide to leave. He was willing to go back to her even after everything but Buzz and his friends knowingly and willingly lets Woody to go with Bo. And Woody didn't have forever to think things through, it's a now-or-never decision. Either he leaves Bo again and goes back to a potentially miserable life of taking care of a child who, for all he knows, doesn't want to play with him anymore, or he stays with the toy he loves and continue taking care of other children in his own way that he could also be happy as well. Finally, your last point about Woody deciding that his personal feelings for Bo is more important than his friendship with Buzz and the others is pretty unfair. As stated, Woody has a hard time to decide whether to go with Bo or stay with his friends, until Buzz, Jessie, and the others willingly lets Woody go. He didn't just abandon them out of nowhere, it was a mutual agreement between them so that Woody can live a better life. It doesn't take away all the good memories and the journeys they had together in the past. It's just that they all realize that it's time for Woody to go live the life he wanted. Is it wrong for Woody to go away when his friends allowed him to? Or, for better comparison, is it wrong for you to go to a faraway place to, say, study abroad or living with your loved one overseas, even when your family and friends are okay with your decision and supports it?
  • The message learned in the first three movies was, "What's important to a toy is to be there for his or her kid, even if that kid may not always love and/or favor them as much as that toy would like." The message of the fourth movie is something like, "If you have the blessings of the other toys and your kid doesn't seem like they want you anymore, it's okay for you to leave them and move on." It's not really a bad message, since it's important to know when to let go of something and realize when it's a lost cause, but the way it's presented does feel like a contradiction of what the previous three films built up, especially since Woody and the other toys spent all that time in Andy's room after he'd stopped playing with them. That he just up and leaves Bonnie after such a comparatively short time seems out-of-character for him; regardless of any "Bonnie is not Andy" arguments, she's still Woody's kid.

How did Woody hear Buzz?

• So at the end of the film, we see Buzz say “To infinity” and Woody responds with “and beyond”. While this does make for a nice conclusion, it does raise the question of how they managed to hear each other, as Woody was on the carousel and Buzz was at the back of the RV.
  • Most likely answer: He didn't. Woody just knew that Buzz would say the line, and responded accordingly.
    • Or more likely, they both just said "To Infinity and Beyond" at the exact same time. Of course Woody didn't hear Buzz from all the way up there.

The lack of Gabby Gabby-related toys.

• For whatever reason, there seems to be a lack of movie-accurate toy renditions of Gabby Gabby, unlike in the previous film where Lotso was more heavily marketed. Was it because she is a girl's toy, or is her sort-of horror story premise a turn-off to some? Granted, a life-size, film-accurate reproduction of Benson would be ludicrously expensive if Disney would go for the extra mile, at best commissioning a puppet maker to produce a one-off piece in commemoration of the film, but a Gabby Gabby doll along the lines of Chatty Cathy wouldn't be that hard to make a mass-market release, right?
  • Maybe they don't think her design is appealing or marketable enough. I haven't seen the movie myself, but she looks like a toy from the 50s when I look at her. There is a reason why our designs for toys evolve over time. Lotso is different in that he's a teddy bear, which is typically appealing and recognizable no matter what time period you're from.
  • There's also a tendency for Disney villains to rarely get toys, and that includes Anti Villains. For instance, one telltale sign of Hans being the antagonist of Frozen before you even watch the movie is that he's the major character, seen on ensemble images, to have by far the fewest merchandise. Same goes for King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph. The only villains to get a lot of merchandise are iconic bad guys from classic films, like Captain Hook and Cruella de Vil. Really, Lotso is more of an exception than a rule. Toys of Stinky Pete are so hard to come by that HE would be the Woody's Roundup character to be put in display cases in the real world.

Vacation came early this year

• So I've only seen this movie once and missed the beginning because I arrived late to the theater, but why are Bonnie's parents taking her on a road trip so close to her Kindergarten orientation day? If it is just for the weekend, isn't it a little unusual for a kid's first ever day of school to be a Friday?
  • The orientation takes place at least a week before the actual school year starts, hence giving the Andersons enough time to take the trip.

Why did Bo Peep resist Woody’s offer to sneak out?

• When the man buying Bo goes back into the house, Woody comes to sneak her back in, but she refuses, thinking it’s time to move on to another kid and because her owner, Molly, doesn’t want her anymore—even though she is Woody’s girlfriend and, although she was technically not Andy’s toy, Andy has been shown playing with her, probably more than Molly has. In fact, it almost seems as if Andy is aware of Woody and Bo’s relationship, as the earlier films showed him casting Bo as the damsel in distress and Woody as the hero. Also, would the man (or whoever he was giving the lamp to—his daughter, maybe?) have cared if he had just the lamp and not the figurines attached to it? In the prologue when he is buying the lamp, he and Andy’s mom are talking about the old lamp going to a new home, but they don’t say anything about the doll. Also, it probably would have surely been better for Bo to accept Woody's offer to sneak out than to have Woody go with her to her new owner.
  • Mom would have just taken her back to the guy she gave the lamp to. She likely didn't realise how important Bo was to Andy's fantasy set up so never considered offering Bo to him, and Andy likely wasn't told Bo was being given away until after it was done so he didn't get the chance to ask.
  • The flashback says "nine years ago" at the beginning of the movie, that's means Andy was already a teen back then, as Molly is the younger sister. Nor Andy nor Molly played with Bo anymore at that point, in fact that was suggested in the third movie.

Bonnie’s name on Woody’s boot

• In the beginning of the film, we get a shot of Woody’s boot with Bonnie’s name in place of Andy’s. Yet we don’t even see an outline of Andy’s name there. Did Andy’s name get painted over (like it was briefly in Toy Story 2), then Bonnie’s name put there in its place?
  • Most likely. No point in keeping Andy's name on Woody's boot since he's no longer Andy's toy.

Ducky and Bunny

• How did Ducky and Bunny go from wanting to have a kid to sticking with Woody and Bo by the end of the movie? I feel like they could have said something around the point where Woody was about to reunite with the gang explaining why they decided not to join Bonnie’s toys, but they never do, nor do they consider having Bo and Woody help them to find a kid of their own. What was it that made them change their minds, especially given how desperate they were for a kid in the beginning?
  • Well apart from the fact that the writing in this movie is a mess (it juggles way too many characters and their character arcs all at once, with not enough attention given to each one individually) it could be that Ducky and Bunny learned the same lesson that Woody "learned": That not having an owner is OK, and helping other toys find owners instead is a more satisfying life to live. But it's also likely that, because of the messy, crowded storytelling, the filmmakers simply forgot to complete Ducky and Bunny's character arc, or simply decided that there wasn't enough time to give them what they want and quietly dropped it.
  • Maybe the Gabby Gabby being rejected deal made them change their minds? Or perhaps they secretly still want to be owned deep down?

Gabby not being given to lost property

• Why wasn't Gabby given to lost property? Although Gabby never had an owner, it would be immediately assumed that she did have one and was lost at the carnival, but her parents allow their girl to keep this clearly valuable old doll she just happens to find. Remember that she also clearly tells her parents she found Gabby, not won her.
  • The carnival is over a city park, so they probably assumed they didn't look EVERWHERE when setting up the carnival. And the girls parents couldn't bare the idea of taking away the doll that cheered her up in such a sad moment. And given that this is a world where toys come to life behind our backs, I'm sure people are use to toys "mysteriously" coming and going out of nowhere and think "Don't know where this came from, but huh.."
    • Toy Story world is supposed to be our world, otherwise the explanation is as good as A Wizard Did It.
  • Citation needed for the "clearly valuable" part. Just because the doll is old doesn't definitively mean that she's valuable. Besides, we could just assume that the girl's parents left a phone number they could be reached at in the event that someone came forward to claim the doll. We as the audience already know that's not going to happen, so it's not that big of a deal what actions they did or didn't take.

Bo status as Molly's toy

• Something that is never mentioned in any movie before, as Bo is clearly played with by Andy and spent time in his room, but suddenly she's established as Molly's toy, fine, but the movie says that Bo was bought because Molly was afraid of the dark, however in the first movie Molly is an infant and Andy already has Bo around and seem to be playing with her for quite a while. So what happened? How do they know Molly -an infant back then- was afraid of the dark?
  • Maybe she would start bawling and screaming whenever they switched the lights off. That would've given them a pretty good idea.

Returning to Andy

• Looking into the future, would Woody ever decide to try returning to Andy's house, if only just to check in on him or something? Him leaving Bonnie is understandable since she didn't need or want him anymore, but in the third movie, Andy visibly wanted to keep Woody but gave him up because he thought Bonnie would enjoy him. Plus, Woody was a "family toy" that was passed down to Andy from his father. Maybe he wouldn't want to return to him just yet, since he'd probably end up in the attic or something, and he'd rather spend that time with Bo, but what if a day comes when Andy has kids that he might've wanted to pass Woody onto? Would the possibility of that ever occur to Woody someday?
  • It's doubtful. The lesson Woody was meant to learn in this film was that he had already given Andy all of his time, and that no matter which owner he was passed onto, he was never going to be happy with anybody but Andy. Sure he still misses him, but it became pretty evident that his inability to let go was hurting his friends more than it was helping his owner. If anything, he's just happy to be with Bo and live life on his own terms now that he's already helped Andy and Bonnie through their formative years (well, mostly in Andy's case). Going back wouldn't be good for him or his relationship with Bo.

Bo Peep as a lamp

• So, everyone’s okay with a young boy breaking the decorations off of a lamp (and his sister’s lamp, to boot) and playing with them like they’re toys until some random day when they get rummaged?
  • It seems that Bo and her sheep was already a removable accessory, plus Andy wasn't the type to play rough with his toys. His mom wouldn't have been too upset as long as he was careful.
    • If Lamp Life is anything to go by, it does seem Bo and her sheep were removable.

Gabby’s past

• Has Gabby really never been owned by a kid before? If so, how did she end up in the antique store if she’s a toy that’s been around since the 50’s? Logic dictates that she must have been owned by someone before then.
  • Could have been the same situation as Stinky Pete, in that when she was finally purchased, it was by someone who just collected old dolls or similar instead of a child who would actually play with her. Yeah she would have had an owner, but not the kind of owner she yearned for.

How long has Bo Peep really been on her own?

• Bo tells Woody that she has been on her own for seven years, but it's confirmed that Andy's mom gave her away nine years ago. So she was donated to the antique store just two years after she was given away? After watching Lamp Life the time span appears to be longer.

Woody's badge

• Since when has Woody's badge been detachable? I don't recall it ever being removed in any of the previous films.
  • It’s hard to say for certain, since you can’t ever physically interact with the doll in the movie, but no, it hasn’t been shown to be detachable before, and given the time period in which Woody was made, it’s doubtful he would have been designed for that. And even the Woody dolls you can buy in real life usually have the button sewn onto the doll. Overall, it’s just something the filmmakers ignored so that they could include that plot element of Woody feeling obsolete.

Bonnie's parents... worst parents ever?

• Has it ever occurred to anyone that Mr. and Mrs. Anderton allowed their young daughter to sleep with a pointed utensil (Forky, duh) in her hand? One who is literal trash (the base of Forky's legs appears to be attached with it's body using bubblegum or Play-Doh. Can't tell but leaning on the former since Woody got it from under a trashcan. Also, his legs are made from a snapped popsicle stick, so hello wooden splinters)?
  I remember seeing Forky in the teaser years ago, my first assumption being that he's a desk ornament or something. Then I saw the actual movie... what kind of parents allows their only child to snooze with a spork in one hand? I know they're giving in to what their kid wants, but sometimes a line needs to be drawn.
  • Albeit a last minute add-on, I remember having a Red Ranger toy as a kid, the type with a poseable weapon in hand. My mom did allow me to sleep with it, but tells me to "put the (toy) weapon aside before you sleep with it". Just saying.
    • But Forky is a spork.

Voiceless toy inconsistencies

• So the Bensons apparently can't speak because they are ventriloquist dummies and can apparently not speak without a ventriloquist. But even many toys without built-in voice boxes can speak when they're active. And even toys that do have voice boxes don't need them to speak in their active mode. So why can't the Bensons speak on their own even though there are many other toys that can, even toys that can't speak by themselves in their toy modes?

Moving buddy

• When Bo sees Buzz again, she calls him her old moving buddy. Except, this doesn't make sense. In the first movie, Buzz and Woody were at Sid's house by the time Andy's toys were being packed up for the move, and the two of them didn't join up with the other toys when they caught up, instead going straight to the car to be with Andy. What is Bo referring to?
  • After Buzz completed his act of "falling with style" in the first movie, Bo said "I found my moving buddy".