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Toy Story 4’s new trailer reveals a spork-induced existential crisis

A talking spork makes Woody question everything he knows about being a toy.

Alex Abad-Santos
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.

Your next existential and emotional crisis has arrived: Disney released the first full length-trailer for Toy Story 4 on Tuesday.

The franchise, known for plunging our hearts into various emotional states and examining human frailty through the lens of plastic and cowboy-themed objects, is back again — this time exploring the idea of life’s purpose, duty, and fidelity because of a spork named “Forky.”

Last we saw Woody and Buzz and their fellow toys in 2010’s Toy Story 3, Andy (their owner) was headed to college — which led to an existential crisis of sorts for Andy’s toys. In the end, Andy gave his beloved toys to a new child, Bonnie, to take care of them.

In this round, Bonnie has “created” a toy named Forky (by pasting googly eyes on a spork) who, apparently because of his past life helping humans consume soups and hearty lunches, doesn’t fully accept his newfound life as a toy. Of course, Woody, Buzz, and the rest of the toys don’t know anything other than being toys and making their kid happy. Forky’s existential crisis leads to running away, a reunion between Woody and Bo Peep, and Woody questioning everything he knows about his life.

While the movie doesn’t come out until June, the buzz surrounding it seems to indicate that it could be the final chapter in the Toy Story franchise. At the end of January, Tom Hanks, who plays Woody, tweeted what seemed like a thank-you and goodbye — seemingly as he wrapped up his voice work on the film — about how the cast and crew “rode like the wind, to infinity and beyond”:

A few hours later, Tim Allen (who voices Buzz Lightyear) tweeted about how finishing his work on the film made him emotional.

Given the quality that Toy Story movies and Pixar are known for, the emotional journey about life’s vulnerabilities that’s in store for Woody, Forky, Buzz, and the gang in this installment, and this maybe being the final goodbye, it might be a good idea for fans to start bracing themselves now (or at least plan to bring tissues this summer).

Toy Story 4 will open in theaters on June 21, 2019.

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