Good news, Toy Story fans – Disney has officially given the long-awaited fourth film in the franchise a release date. And, all things considered, it’s not that far away. Via a post on the official Facebook page, the House of Mouse announced that Toy Story 4 will reach cinemas on June 21st, 2019.
It was previously revealed that the pic would mostly be a standalone sequel and not particularly follow through on the ending of Toy Story 3, which saw Woody, Buzz and the gang given to a new child, Bonnie. The film will focus on the romance between Tom Hanks’ sheriff and Annie Potts’ Bo Peep as well, after the latter character was missing from the threequel.
Though fans are hoping that Toy Story 4 will be just as high quality as the previous three movies, the production hasn’t been very smooth behind the scenes thus far. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack were originally on hand to provide the script, though the duo departed the project not too long ago, citing “creative and philosophical differences” with the higher-ups at Pixar. The studio’s CCO John Lasseter also went on a sabbatical from the company after a bevy of sexual misconduct allegations were leveled against him.
All that being said, the House of Mouse managed to right the wavering ship when Thor: Ragnarok‘s Stephany Folsom was brought in pen the screenplay. With Lasseter out the picture, Josh Cooley (Inside Out) – who was previously going to be co-director – is now stepping up to helm the film by himself.
Toy Story 4 is expected to feature the return of all the regular cast of voice actors, excluding Don Rickles – Mr. Potato Head – who sadly passed away in 2017. And now that a release date’s in effect, hopefully some further details will come to light in the near future. As always, watch this space for more.