Why Tony Hale Thought He’d Be Cut From Toy Story 4

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Tony Hale wasn’t sure if he would go to infinity and beyond. 

Six years following his portrayal of Forky in Toy Story 4, the actor has confessed that he hadn’t anticipated being chosen for the animated film role.

Tony, aged 54, revealed to People magazine on August 27th, “I kept thinking they were going to let me go and bring in a big-name star instead. But hearing my voice in the Toy Story 4 trailer finally made me realize I was still part of it.

Back in November 2018, it was indeed the voice of the actor from Veep that could be heard in the initial trailer for the film. Interestingly, the only character who spoke in this sneak peek was Forky – a charming but strangely designed spork. This brief encounter saw him interacting with established toys like Woody (played by Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen). The anxious dialogue of Tony, voiced by the actor from Veep, provided an intriguing first look into his character, as Forky took center stage in the movie.

In the movie, the spork struggled with accepting its role as a toy throughout the storyline. Despite having intricate feelings, Tony valued the spork’s unique character and aesthetic qualities primarily due to their shared owner Bonnie.

He said, “What really captivated me was that Forky was the initial toy crafted by a child. So, let’s discuss simplicity. It was essentially a combination of a spork and some pipe cleaner arms, with popsicle sticks for feet.

In the end, he feels that it was “uncomplicated innocence” which contributed to Forky being so endearing within the well-known series.

In his words, “Playing in a world like Forky from Toy Story symbolizes the strength of simplicity.” The Arrested Development actor added, “This is why children’s books are beloved. Sometimes, even as adults, we find ourselves drawn to children’s books due to their uncomplicated nature.

As an overjoyed fan, I can hardly contain my excitement as I eagerly await the release of Toy Story 5 on June 19, 2026! Tony Hale, our beloved Forky’s voice actor, has shared a tantalizing tidbit: all the toys will be exploring new relationships with technology. While he didn’t spill the beans on specifics, I can sense that Forky’s impending adventure promises to be nothing short of captivating!

He mentioned that they only provided fragments of the script, but those snippets were intriguing. He wants to preserve the element of surprise for ‘Toy Story 5’, so he doesn’t want to know too much about it in advance.

Keep reading to learn more secrets about popular animated characters…

Many fans were left purrrrrfectly confused after this revelation.

In an interview with Today in July 2024, Jill Cook, an executive at Sanrio, clarified that Hello Kitty is not a cat. Instead, she’s depicted as a young girl from London suburbia who was born and raised there. She has parents, a twin sister named Mimmy, and they share a close friendship. Her hobbies include baking cookies and making new friends.

It might not be a shock to some, but Cook wasn’t the only one with this realization. In fact, Christine R. Yano, an anthropology professor who wrote the book “Pink Globalization: Hello Kitty’s Trek Across the Pacific,” had already made it clear that Hello Kitty is not actually a cat.

The individual clarified to the Los Angeles Times in 2014 that Hello Kitty is not a real cat. Instead, she’s a cartoon character often portrayed as a little girl, a friend, but not an actual feline. Although she has a pet cat named Charmmy Kitty, Hello Kitty herself does not walk or sit like a typical cat, moving more like a bipedal creature.

Here are some interesting trivia about Hello Kitty: As per Sanrio, she stands at the height of five apples, weighs three apples, and celebrates her birthday on November 1st, which makes her a Scorpio. In her dreams, she aspires to become either a pianist or a poet.

Gawrsh! Did you know this fact?

Bill Farmer, the actor who has lent his voice to Goofy for numerous years, shared insights on why Goofy is able to speak while Mickey Mouse’s dog companion, Pluto, remains non-verbal.

In simpler terms, during an episode of the Popcorn Podcast with Leigh Livingstone and Tim Iffland in August 2024, the voice actor stated that Goofy is not exactly a dog, but rather a canine. This means he’s like a wolf, which isn’t a dog, yet both belong to the same family-the Canidae family. So, you could say Goofy is a “goofy canid” or a “man-dog” (MOG) for short.

However, Pluto, he added, is a “regular dog”—a blood hound as it turns out.

You’ll want to get to the (bikini) bottom of this discovery.

Stephen Hillenburg, the inventor of the popular cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, once shared that Squidward Tentacles is not really a squid as one might assume, but rather an octopus.

In a 2005 video from the “SpongeBob” series that was recently brought back by BuzzFeed, it was mentioned that Squidward the Octopus is SpongeBob’s neighbor who is often grumpy. The creators of the show chose an octopus for this character because they have big, round heads, and Squidward considers himself to be intelligent, so his large head represents his inflated sense of self-importance.

Or, in a more conversational style:

In a video from “SpongeBob” that was recently resurfaced by BuzzFeed, they mentioned that Squidward the Octopus is SpongeBob’s grumpy next-door neighbor. The reason they chose an octopus for this character is because they have big, round heads, and since Squidward thinks he’s super smart, it makes sense that his head would be big too to symbolize his self-importance.

The goal here is to make the information more accessible and easy to understand, while still preserving the original meaning of the text.

However, if you’re curious as to why Squidward appears as an octopus despite having only six legs instead of the usual eight, Hillenburg also provided an explanation. He mentioned that it was simply more convenient for the animators to draw him with fewer tentacles.

Break out your handy dandy notebook and jot this one down.

In a 2006 special, “Behind the Clues: 10 Years With Blue,” revived by Mental Floss, co-creator Angela Santomero revealed an interesting fact that many people might not know – the character Blue from the show was initially intended to be a cat, with his name originally being Mr. Orange and later changed to Mr. Blue.

However, it was reported that prior to Nickelodeon’s collaboration, they had already been developing an animated series centered around a cat. As a result, the initial concept of Blue being a cat had to be abandoned, and instead, Blue was reimagined as a dog in the final production.

Now this really isn’t funnie, er, funny.

Interestingly enough, the character Doug Funnie from the animated show “Doug” originally had a different name – Brian. One may wonder about the reasons behind this alteration.

In an interview with HuffPost TV in 2014, the creator of Doug, Jim Jinkins, explained that he initially found the name Brian too extravagant. So, he decided to make it more ordinary and renamed the character Doug. The new name, Doug, sounds very common, which was Jinkins’ intention – to express an average perspective from that point of view.

This fact is so good it’s scary.

In the interactive book “Monsters, Inc.: An Augmented Reality Book”, we discover that the character known as Boo, the adorable girl who ventures into Monstropolis and develops friendships with Mike and Sulley, is actually named Mary Gibbs in the story. Interestingly, this name bears a resemblance to the real-life name of the actress who lent her voice to Boo.

For additional confirmation, take a look at the movie – in one particular scene, you’ll find Boo sifting through her sketches. Eagle-eyed viewers might catch the name “Mary” written on one of the papers at the top.

As for character names, although Minnie Mouse is usually thought of as Mickey Mouse’s partner, BBC reports disclosed in 1942 that her complete name is in fact Minerva.

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2025-08-27 23:48