Toy Story Star Was Convinced He’d Been Cut Right up to the Trailer’s Release

In 2019’s Toy Story 4, Bonnie’s toys — Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and friends — go on a family road trip, which reunites the gang with the long-lost Bo Peep (Annie Potts). The movie also introduces a toy box of entirely new characters like tough-talking carnival plush duo Ducky and Bunny (Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele), the short-statured officer Giggle McDimples (Ally Maki), Canadian stuntman toy Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), and vintage villain doll Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks). Then there’s Forky (Tony Hale), a plastic spork hand-crafted by Bonnie whose existential crisis leads him to believe he’s trash instead of a toy.

Similarly, Hale believed his performance as Forky had been trashed until the film’s first trailer confirmed the Arrested Development and Veep star still had a role to play: “It wasn’t until I heard my voice on the Toy Story 4 trailer that I actually thought I was still in it. It wasn’t until then,” Hale told PEOPLE. “The whole time I was like, ‘They’re going to cut me. They’re going to replace me with some huge star.’”

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The Hale-voiced Forky became a fan-favorite, and the actor went on to reprise his role in the Disney+ shorts series Forky Asks a Question and Pixar Popcorn.

“When you were playing in a world of Forky from Toy Story, it means just the power of simplicity. That’s why children’s books are so popular. I mean, sometimes adults gravitate to children’s books because of the simplicity,” Hale said. “What I loved is [Forky] was the first toy that was made by a kid. So talk about simplicity. I mean, it was like a spork and some pipe cleaner arms, some popsicle feet.”

Hale added of the inquisitive Forky, “He just had this kind of wide-eyed simplicity and newness to him that was just so beautiful.”

Tony Hale Teases Toy Story 5

While the Iron Man and His Awesome Friends voice actor has recorded his lines for next summer’s Toy Story 5, he could only confirm what has already been revealed: that the plot pits toys against technology.

“They give you pieces of the script, and so I saw glimpses, but the glimpses I saw are pretty cool,” Hale teased. “I don’t want to lose the surprise. I want to be completely surprised with Toy Story 5.”

Like Toy Story 4, the new movie will introduce talking tablet Lilypad (Anna Faris) and smart toy Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), and features “50 rogue commemorative Buzz Lightyear action figures stuck in toy mode that will make considerable problems for everyone.”

“These characters have given us a unique perspective about growing up, navigating life. And in all the Toy Story films, above anything else, the job of the toys has been to be there for their kids,” writer-director Andrew Stanton said at last year’s D23 convention. “In Toy Story 5, the toys’ jobs get exponentially harder when our toy crew goes head-to-head with what kids are obsessed with today: electronics.”

“Toys have some serious competition these days with phones, tablets, and technology everywhere, and so this time around, it’s toy meets tech,” Stanton teased. Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 5 is slated to open in theaters on June 19, 2026.