Less than a year ago, during Disney’s quarterly earnings call Bob Iger stunned audiences with the news that John Lasseter would return to the director’s chair to create, Toy Story 4. The film releasing on June 16, 2017, was pulled together by none other than Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich, and John Lasseter – who were the driving force between the first three Toy Story features.
“We love these characters so much; they are like family to us. We don’t want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what’s gone before. Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz’s story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew, Pete, Lee and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie—and I wanted to direct it myself.”
John Lasseter
For fans of the franchise wondering about the return of their favorite characters, a recent interview with Don Rickles by Closer Weekly (UPDATED: The link has since been removed) revealed his return as the witty Mr. Potato Head. What caught our eye the most was the mention of starting work in September — sounds like things are moving along nicely.
“They just signed me to do the fourth Toy Story…We start [work on it] in September, and I’m very delighted with that,” the 89-year-old funnyman says. “When John [Lasseter] approached me for the first one, I said, ‘I don’t do comedy with cartoons, dummies and toys. Leave me alone.’ And [John] said, ‘No, you’re gonna love this!’ Then he told me the money and how nice it was going to be and, I said, ‘Yeah, I can give it a try.’ All of a sudden it’s going on 17 years.”
Don Rickles
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