Almost a decade ago, fans said goodbye to Andy and his beloved childhood toys in a beautiful full circle ending that had him passing on his toys to a young girl named Bonnie before going away to college. Or so we thought. Toy Story 4 will pick up with Woody, Buzz and the gang as they go on a summer road trip with Bonnie and her family. We thought the recently released full trailer for the upcoming film featured the presence of Andy as both a kid and adult to get us in the feels, but some fans speculate otherwise. Take a look:
This an interesting theory from Twitter user @CrisMovieCorner! Is it possible that there will be a time jump in Toy Story 4 that will focus the story back on to Andy as he then passes his toys down to his son? This could happen if Bonnie grows out of his toys and decides to pay him a visit to give them back and, now, as a man in his thirties (since he was celebrating his eighth birthday in the first film, set in ‘95), he might find some joy in seeing his little ones play with some familiar faces.
The theory would certainly make for a touching conclusion for the franchise that ties back into the main characters’ roots. However, this might mean Woody and Buzz would have to watch Andy grow old, along with his son and end up in the same place of helplessness they were in Toy Story 3 that led to them being passed on to Bonnie.
The reason for this speculation started because some have found it difficult to believe that the boy playing with Buzz and Jessie in the trailer is a flashback of young Andy, even though he is wearing the same hat and looks to be in the bedroom from the original trilogy. Just look at the difference in looks between the two animated “Andys”:
However, digital animation has seen some significant changes in the over 20 years the Toy Story films have been produced and Andy has already seen a few alterations in every installment so far. Is it so hard to believe the new trailer brought back young Andy, and made him look a little different yet again, after showing the kid throughout the years? Check it out:
Think of it this way, if Toy Story was live action would the same actor be able to play Andy in every one of the movies if the filmmakers wanted to keep him the same age? Oh, did you say “It’s animation, the whole point is to be able to keep it consistent”? In theory yes, but I would guess the animators like to have fun with these redesigns and as more advanced technology comes about they don’t mind changing things up every so often.
Just look at what was done with Violet’s crush Tony Rydinger between 2004’s Incredibles and the 2018 sequel that the internet couldn’t quit theorizing about last year:
I’d say that’s a lot more of a redesign than Andy gets in Toy Story 4 and we know that these animations were definitely meant to portray the same person. The scene of the Andy-looking kid in Toy Story 4 could still be his son, though! Guess we’ll find out for sure when the movie debuts in theaters on June 21, 2019.
