Toy Story 4: Bo Peep's Character Went Through Many Changes

After going missing somewhere in the Toy Story universe, Bo Beep was always going to return to the franchise in Toy Story 4. The filmmakers behind Disney's latest critical darling never had a version of the fourth installment of the character voiced by Annie Potts. However, they did land on several different versions of the Bo Beep character for her return along the way.

"Her name was Peep for this film," Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley told ComicBook.com. "So that was like, what if Woody saw Bo again? That was kind of I'd say a log line for the very first outline, so she was always a part of this."

However, Bo Beep turns out to be a certified bad-ass in Toy Story 4. "No," that was not always the plan according to Cooley. "No, I think that that definitely developed over time for sure," Cooley explains. "I don't even remember the early versions, I think she's kind of similar to what we'd seen before. But yeah, it definitely evolved over time. Once you realized how she could support Woody and help him change. And also just the fact we get to re-introduce her back into the world in a different way was a lot of fun."

Beside Cooley was Mark Nielsen, producer of Toy Story 4 and several other Pixar hits, who somewhat remembered the transformations Bo Beep endured during the creative process. "The idea of being a lost toy in early versions of the movie, we had her in the antique store, so she's still trying to be bought by someone in the store," Nielsen explained. "When she was a lost toy living out there without a kid, that really kind of changed the way that we thought about her. And what she would do to survive for seven years, kind of out there on her own."

Being kid-less for so long can really take a toll on a toy!

"When Forky goes missing on a family road trip, Woody's leave-no-toy-behind detour leads to a fateful encounter with long lost sweetheart Bo Peep (Annie Potts), a porcelain shepherdess figurine unexpectedly given away by Andy's younger sister Molly nearly a decade earlier," ComicBook.com's Cameron Bonomolo said in an official review. "Years on the road has transformed the kid-less Bo into Kwai Chang Caine of Kung Fu, a free spirit wanderer and proud Lost Toy who has taken her agency into her brittle hands: now a staff-wielding action hero, Bo finds purpose in connecting lost toys with children."

Toy Story 4 opens in theaters on June 21.