When the first Toy Story film premiered in 1995, audiences all around the world were introduced to a group of instantly beloved and iconic toy characters, including Tom Hanks' Woody Pride, Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear, Annie Potts' Bo Peep, Don Rickles' Mr. Potato Head, Wallace Shawn's Rex, and many more. Over the course of three feature films, many shorts, and even a few televised specials and television shows, eager Toy Story fans have met more of these beloved children's toys, both good and bad ones, including Jessie, Barbie, Ken, Lotso, Wheezy, and many more.
This June, the fourth entry in the Toy Story franchise will finally be released in theatres, nine years after Toy Story 3 was released in 2010. As with all the preceding sequels, Toy Story 4 will be introducing a whole new group of toys, including Forky, Bunny, Ducky, Officer Giggle McDimples, Gabby Gabby, and Duke Caboom. And those are just the ones we know about so far.
Before Toy Story 4 hits theatres, here's everything we know so far about these new, instantly iconic toys - both friends and foes.
Forky is voiced by a familiar sitcom star
As the first few teasers and trailers have revealed, perhaps the most prominent new toy in the Toy Story universe is the neurotic little Forky. Made of a spork, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and various other little things, Forky is a craft project Bonnie produced at school that has since come to life as a toy. He's been depicted as totally neurotic and enduring a real existential crisis as to what it means to be a toy.
It's only fitting, then, that Forky be voiced by someone who's more or less made their career by starring as characters known for their considerable neuroses in various sitcoms. Tony Hale, known for his work as the quirky Buster Bluth in Arrested Development and Gary Walsh in Veep, will be bringing the likewise quirky and paranoid spork turned toy to life.
Officer Giggle McDimples is the smallest toy in the Toy Story universe
One of the most exciting parts of Toy Story 4 is unarguably the return of the beloved shepherdess Bo Peep, after her absence from Toy Story 3. However, the Bo Peep of Toy Story 4 is decidedly very different from when we last saw her. More independent and adventurous, and with a whole new wardrobe to boot, Bo Peep is going to be a much fiercer character than she once was, and will show Woody a whole new side of life for toys that he never knew existed.
An added benefit of getting Bo Peep back is the inclusion of her new, pint-sized partner in crime: Officer Giggle McDimples. According to the film's director, Josh Cooley, "Giggle is definitely the smallest toy in the Toy Story universe. She’s been stepped on, vacuumed up, and probably put up a kid’s nose in her time." Giggle is also inspired by the tiny Polly Pocket toys that were popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
Bunny and Ducky are voiced by an iconic comedy duo
Tony Hale isn't the only comedy icon who's joining the Toy Story franchise as a new character in Toy Story 4. Other teasers for the film, including its very first look teasers in November 2018, have featured interactions between everyone's favorite space hero Buzz Lightyear and two vibrantly colored and brutally honest stuffed animals, Bunny and Ducky. So far, the two have been depicted at each other's side at every moment, and almost unflinchingly snarky.
Their unique brand of sardonic humor is one that should be familiar to any fans of comedy in recent years. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the brilliant comedic minds behind works such as Key & Peele and Keanu, will be appearing in the film as the carnival toys Ducky and Bunny.
Gabby Gabby is the franchise's new villain
As heartwarming as the movies have been, filled with adorable and honorable characters aplenty, Toy Story has still managed to have some legendary villains, including the menacing Sid, the greedy Al, the duplicitous Stinky Pete, and the charismatic Lotso Huggin Bear. Toy Story 4 will be continuing the new pattern of toys being the true villains of the story with the inclusion of Christina Hendricks' Gabby Gabby.
Gabby Gabby, a pull string doll from the 1950s with a truly menacing defect in her voice box, is the master manipulator at the antique store Woody happens upon during the film. She is also flanked by a group of truly menacing ventriloquist dolls as her henchmen - who, as dolls only given voices by ventriloquists, are unable to speak. As if they weren't creepy enough to begin with.
Duke Caboom is a tribute to the 1970s
When rumors first began to circulate on the internet regarding the potential of Keanu Reeves being a new character in Toy Story 4, the internet understandably went wild over the very idea of it. Early in 2019, Reeves' involvement in the film was confirmed, when it was revealed he would be voicing the new character Duke Caboom, who looks like a stuntman of some sort.
Recently, new details have come to light about Duke's character that show there's more to him than meets the eye: "Duke Caboom is a 1970s toy, based on Canada’s greatest stuntman, who Woody meets in an antique store. Riding his powerful Caboom stunt-cycle, Duke is always prepared to show off his stunt poses with confidence and swagger. However, Woody learns quickly that Duke has an Achilles heel: He has never been able to do the awesome stunts advertised in his own toy commercial."
Another pint-sized hero is joining the gang
Giggle McDimples may be the smallest toy ever in all of Toy Story canon, but she isn't the only pint-sized ally who will be joining the beloved gang of toys when Toy Story 4 is released. The short film Toy Story of Terror! introduced viewers to the ostensible father-son duo of Combat Carl and Combat Carl Junior.
Voiced by film legend Carl Weathers, the action hero and his miniature counterpart assist the toys in their attempts to return to safety in this Halloween themed adventure. And now, according to toys that have been released ahead of the film's theatrical debut, at least Combat Carl Junior will be crossing over to become a feature film friend, too. While his involvement is unknown at this point, it will be fun to see the film's universe become more expansive and inclusive all at once.
New mysterious toys may have iconic voices
We've already touched on some of the impressive names that are joining the world of Toy Story this time around, including Tony Hale, Keegan Michael-Key, Jordan Peele, Keanu Reeves, and Christina Hendricks. These actors, however, are just the ones for whom we know full details about the characters they will be playing.
According to some early reports about the film's cast, there might be even more impressive, legendary actors joining the world of Toy Story's toys. Names like Betty White, Carl Reiner, Carol Burnett, Mel Brooks, and Alan Oppenheimer have been discussed in these reports as potential new cast members for the film. Further details about the toys they'll be playing have been kept under wraps, however.
Many of the toys live in a carnival and an antique shop
Over the years, the Toy Story films have featured some very different and likewise colorful locations - including Andy's bedroom, Pizza Planet, Sid's backyard, Al's Toy Barn, an airport, Sunnyside Daycare center, a landfill, and Bonnie's home. Toy Story 4 is already guaranteed to include the location of Bonnie's home, as well as her elementary school, given Forky's origins.
But apparently, much of the action will also take place in two brand new locations: a local carnival, which is the origins for characters like Bunny and Ducky, and an antique shop, where Bo Peep, Giggle McDimples, Duke Caboom, Gabby Gabby, and many other toys reside when Woody happens upon them in his adventures.
Giggle McDimples is Bo Peep's Jiminy Cricket
We've already talked about just how tiny and adorable the new addition of Ally Maki's Office Giggle McDimples looks like she will be. But it's also important to note the meaningful significance of her character's diminutive stature - especially from the standpoint of Disney history. Josh Cooley has described Giggle as Bo Peep's Jiminy Cricket - a comparison that becomes all the more apt when you hear the following.
Giggle, Cooley notes, is “somebody [Bo Peep]'s come across in her travels who has become her best friend. [She is] so small that she can just bounce into the frame wherever we want, up onto Bo’s shoulder, and they can have a little bit of an angel-devil-on-the-shoulder kind of conversation where Giggle can say whatever she wants and you get the sense that Bo either agrees with her or doesn’t, but they can nevertheless have this private conversation at all times.”
Woody is responsible for Forky's creation
Since Forky was introduced, it's been clear that he is a craft project masquerading as a toy - a new friend put together by Bonnie during one of her arts and crafts projects. But, as revealed in the first longer look at the film during the 2019 CinemaCon, there's a surprising twist to the story of Forky's creation that none of us could have seen coming, based on the little we do know.
According to this new footage, Woody is directly responsible for Forky's creation. During Bonnie's first day of kindergarten, Woody accompanies her, and provides her with a pile of leftover crafts supplies he had found in the trash. From this pile of garbage, Bonnie produces Forky - her new friend and toy, who still considers himself to be trash, and not a toy at all. Whether his perception of himself changes over the course of the film or not remains to be seen.