Toy Story 4directorJosh Cooleyand producerMark Nielsendiscussed a number of fan theories about the entireToy Storyfranchise in a new video for Vanity Fair. If you’ve been wondering where the hell Andy’s dad went, you won’t exactly get an answer, but Cooley and Nielsen share their thoughts on what could’ve happened to Andy’s perpetually absent father.
“Witness protection, maybe?” Cooley says.
Nielsen offers, “I’d like to think that maybe they split up? Maybe he’s still alive and living somewhere in another town? Maybe he was part of the CIA and is deep undercover. Any of those are possible, we don’t need to know because it’s really all about serving the story of Woody playing the father figure role in Andy’s life.”
Cooley and Nielsen read through a number of theories submitted by Reddit users covering everything from whether or not Boo fromMonsters, Inc.and Bonnie fromToy Story 3and 4 are the same person, whether the girl who used to own Jesse before abandoning her inToy Story 2grew up to be Andy’s mom, and ifHome Improvementtakes place in theToy Storyuniverse.
“Maybe that’s who Andy’s dad is,” Cooley suggests. “Tim ‘The Tool Man’ Taylor.”
Things get a little dark when one Reddit user posits the theory that the toys are immortal, and will outlive every human on earth before ultimately inheriting the planet.
“That seems plausible,” Nielsen says. “I kind of buy that.”
“One of the things I’ve heard is that maybe the toys are some sort of vampire that instead of sucking blood they suck the joy out of children and live forever,” Cooley laughs. “We never really thought about that when making the movie, it’s more about just family and being friends.”
The filmmakers also explain the ending of Toy Story 4, and why they chose it over two other possible endings that had been written. So if you haven’t seenToy Story 4yet, you might want to skip that part of the video, or loudly sing aRandy Newmansong to yourself to block out the spoilers. Watch the video below, and check outour review ofToy Story 4.
