Calling the “Toy Story” series the “most rewarding thing I can imagine being a part of,” Tom Hanks opened up about the franchise’s final film in a Wednesday appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”
The two-time Oscar winner, who voices Sheriff Woody Pride, promised DeGeneres that “Toy Story 4,” due out in June, would be an “emotional” experience for longtime fans.
“The problem with doing the movies is that you do not get to record with the other people there,” Hanks said. But Tim Allen, who voices Buzz Lightyear, warned his co-star via text that the final pages of the script were “tough” ― and he wasn’t kidding.
“We’re saying goodbye to Woody and Buzz and Bonnie’s room and Andy and everybody,” he said. “It will live forever, that’s one thing about it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Hanks offered a more lighthearted anecdote about attending this year’s Stagecoach Festival with his wife, Rita Wilson, who performed there.
At one point during the show, Hanks decided he wanted to grab a beer, but got turned away because his ID hadn’t been verified by festival staff.
“I said ‘I’m 62 years old, and you know my name, so I think I should be able to get a beer,’” he said. “They said, ‘No, you have to go — somewhere over there is a stand where you give them your ID and you verify that you’re old enough to have a beer.’”
He went on to “credit” the bartenders, noting, “They did not cave!”
“I was offering them tickets to stuff,” he said. “I said, ‘You will come to the ‘Toy Story’ premiere with me! Just go like that with a red Solo cup underneath and let me walk away with a beer!’ And they would not allow it.”
“Toy Story 4” hits theaters June 21.
