Photo Credit: Walt Disney Pictures
Pixar almost made Toy Story 5 without Tom Hanks‘ Woody. The franchise’s lead character was absent from the first draft, according to writer-director Andrew Stanton.
The decision stemmed from the creative challenge posed by Toy Story 4, which ended with the cowboy toy parting ways with Bonnie’s room to embark on a new life. Reversing that farewell risked coming across as a narrative shortcut. Stanton detailed the unusual writing experiment that briefly sidelined one of animation’s most recognizable voices.
Andrew Stanton reveals Toy Story 5’s first draft didn’t bring back Woody
Stanton approached the sequel’s earliest pages with a pragmatic strategy. Facing the difficulty of organically reintroducing Woody, he elected to write the entire first draft of Toy Story 5 as though the character did not exist. “I just wrote the first one without him just to see if I missed him. And, I did,” Stanton told CinemaBlend.
By removing Woody entirely, the filmmakers could assess whether the story functioned independently. The result was unambiguous. The story felt incomplete without Tom Hanks’ pull-string sheriff, compelling the team to find a solution. Stanton acknowledged that avoiding a superficial return required much effort. “We’re gonna have to work a little harder and figure out how to make this not just a knee jerk reaction,” he said.
The director applied a specific storytelling principle when evaluating any character’s role. “My rule is if you take something out, especially a character, would the story be able to happen with or without them? And if it can’t, that means good, that they had to be essential,” Stanton explained. Woody’s omission showed his irreplaceable function within the plot, which justified the subsequent rewrites that brought him back.
Set for release on June 19, Toy Story 5 introduces a distinctly modern dilemma. Bonnie receives a tablet device named Lilypad, and the screen’s glow soon monopolises the child’s attention. The neglected toys grow increasingly anxious. Jessie, now leading the room, contacts Woody to discuss the crisis. As Stanton put it, “Now I can’t imagine it any other way.”
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on ComingSoon.
