Disney Facts! Volume 2

Facts 961-990: Toy Story 4 Themed Page

Pack your bags, toys, we're going on a road trip! Let's ride like the wind with bullseye and learn some facts about Toy Story 4! 

Fact #961
When Bo Peep gets taken away, the car driven by the new owner has the license plate RMRF97. it's a sort of meta reference. It's an often repeated story that the second Toy Story film was nearly entirely lost when the main file was accidentally deleted from the main Pixar servers. This license plate references the computer command which nearly erased the movie. the Unix command "rm", with "rm -rf" standing for removing all files recursively in a given directory and without confirmation. Thankfully, a pregnant employee had a backup copy of the film on her home computer, which had to be gently driven to Pixar HQ in order to save the movie.

Fact #962
Duke Caboom is obviously inspired by real-life stunt man (turned kid's toy) , right down to his Canadian garb spoofing Knievel's red-white-and-blue costume. But it goes further; Knievel's motorcycle toy was advertised on commercials like the one seen in Toy Story 4, most with the toy performing impossible feats that set expectations that the real thing could never match.

Fact #963
Second Chance Antiques was one of the hardest locations for the Toy Story 4 (2019) team to create, because of the breadth of items that had to fill out the cramped second-hand store. "Fortunately, at Pixar, we have a big 'backlot' of objects from all of our feature films," production designer Bob Pauley told The Hollywood Reporter. "It was a big treasure hunt because we have a lot of interesting history, and we also took the opportunity to plant some fun Easter eggs," added supervising technical director Bob Pauley.

Fact #964
In the first film, after Buzz shows off what he can do, Bo declares, "I found my moving buddy." Here, when the two reunite, Bo affectionately refers to Buzz as her moving buddy.

Fact #965
John Lasseter has said that Pixar would only make a fourth film if it was just as good as or better than the previous three films in the franchise, saying, "We don't want to do anything with [these characters] unless it lives up to or surpasses what's gone before."

Fact #966
The only animated film of 2019 to be rated G by the MPAA.

Fact #967
The carnival worker has a tattoo of the pizza planet truck on the back of his leg.

Fact #968
Among the myriad items on shelves at the antique shop, Bing Bong's rocket from Inside Out in 2015 and Ellie and Carl's house from Up in 2009 can be seen.

Fact #969
Tim Allen signed on for a fourth film even before it was announced and Tom Hanks was all for it as well.

Fact #970
Woody pretends to be a phone in the antiques store. Woody's pose holding the receiver of an old touchtone phone, is meant to look like the classic Mickey Mouse phone that was ubiquitous in many homes in the 1970s and '80s.

Fact #971
Gabby Gabby is a nod to the popular Chatty Cathy dolls of the early to mid '60s.

Fact #972
The movies do not explicitly state the years in which they take place, which makes the Toy Story film timeline inexact. However, references within the films can date the first movie as taking place in 1995. This means that Andy, who is turning six in the first film, was born in 1989. Woody and Andy were friends from an early age, so Woody and Andy could have first met when Andy was a baby. Even then, however, Woody is a lot older than Andy. In Toy Story 2, Woody learns that he is a collectible toy based on the 1950s television show Woody's Roundup. Along with Jessie the Cowgirl, Bullseye the Horse, and Stinky Pete the Prospector, Woody is part of a limited edition set of toys that are rare enough to be sold to a Japanese museum. The black-and-white aesthetic always suggested the 50s, and this is confirmed in Toy Story 4 by Gabby Gabby. As a result, Woody would have lived thirty to forty years of his life before meeting Andy. When Al tries to buy Woody at the yard sale in Toy Story 2, Andy's mother apologizes and takes Woody back, saying that he is "an old family toy." Andy is only around eight years old in Toy Story 2, and as his mother identifies Woody as a family toy, rather than her son's toy, that seems to signal that Woody has been in the family's possession longer than Andy has been alive. In Toy Story 2, Woody remarks, "A record player! I haven't seen one of these in ages." It's unlikely that Andy would have had a record player in the 1990s, so this would indicate that Woody does have memories of his life before. It's likely that Woody was owned by one of Andy's parents when they were children. Some fan theories go deep into Andy's missing father, and hinge on the idea that Woody once belonged to him; because Andy associates Woody with his father, he is all the more attached to the toy.

Fact #973
Tinny from Tin Toy, released in 1988, makes an appearance in the pinball machine, and Bo refers to him by name. Just like in the short, he has no dialogue, and only lets his instruments speak for him.

Fact #974
Keanu Reeves' first Disney movie, as well as his first G-rated movie.

Fact #975
The music played on the phonograph when the dummies are introduced in the antique store is "Midnight, the Stars and You," the same song played over the final scene of the Stanley Kubrick version of The Shining. 

Fact #976
When Woody first reunites with Bo Peep, her sheep bring her various items they scavenge and think they can use. One of those items is the Grape Soda cap from Up (2009) that Ellie pinned on Carl's shirt. 

Fact #977
Tom Hanks revealed on The Graham Norton Show that Disney executives forbade him to talk about this film before the film was officially announced by Walt Disney Pictures, because it could influence the stock market value of the company. 

Fact #978
An Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ponda Baba action figure, can briefly be seen inside the pinball machine, another Easter egg if viewed carefully Obi-Wan is repeatedly striking Ponda on the arm with his lightsaber a reference to Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. 

Fact #979
Some of the prizes available at the carnival attraction where Bunny and Ducky live are tiny plastic versions of Miguel's guitar.

Fact #980
What appears to be a motorcycle resembling the elasticycle belonging to Helen Parr's Elastigirl in Incredibles 2, can be seen at the carnival, and as a toy at the antique store.

Fact #981
One of the recorded phases in Buzz Lightyear that is heard when he presses the buttons on his chest is "Open the pod bay doors!" a reference to a famous line from Stanley Kubrick's sci-fi film. 

Fact #982
This film marked John Lasseter's final involvement with Pixar Animation Studios before he exited the Disney company as chief creative officer.

Fact #983
When asked to voice Forky, Tony Hale said, "A utensil's existential crisis? I'm in!"

Fact #984
When the toys are in Bonnie's closet due to Bonnie's mother having cleaned her room, Jessie is seen very clearly in distress from the dark, confined space. This is due to her previous trauma from untold years in storage as detailed in Toy Story 2 and Toy Story of Terror. 

Fact #985
When the toys peer down into Second Chance Antiques from the ceiling, the ball from Pixar's short Luxo Jr.  which appears in the Pixar logo and in almost every one of their films can be seen on the ground below.

Fact #986
The divers mask (P. Sherman) from Finding Nemo can be seen on one of the many shelves at the Antiquity shop. 

Fact #987
The record on the record player in the antique shop, has the name of Coco musician and villain Ernesto De La Cruz from Coco. 

Fact #988
According to Annie Potts, about 75% of the original screenplay was thrown out and had to be rewritten when the original screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack left production, one of the reasons why the film's release was pushed back a couple of times.

Fact #989
Inside a glass cabinet at the antique store, EVE from WALL·E  can be seen.

Fact #990
Comedy legends Carol Burnett, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Betty White were added to the cast to voice a set of four toys that Bonnie played with as a toddler but had since outgrew, acting as "veteran" toys to help Woody prepare for when the same happens to him.

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I hope you all enjoyed these facts as much as I did! Have a magical day!