Jun 4, 2018

Pixar threw out 75% of the "Toy Story 4" script and rewritten the movie

There's plenty of ups and downs in the making of any major studio animated film, but Toy Story 4 sounds like it's been a particularly tumultuous production.

Initially planned as a 2017 release to be directed by John Lasseter, the movie was later pushed back to 2018, then again to 2019. Lasseter stepped down from the director's seat, clearing the way for Inside Out head of story Josh Cooley to take over. Then, producer Galyn Susman was swapped out for Inside Out producer Jonas Rivera. And finally, screenwriters Rashida Jones (pictured above) and Will McCormack were replaced by Stephany Folsom.

When the news of Jones and McCormack's departure became public last November, they released a statement saying that they had left over “creative and, more importantly, philosophical differences,” specifically citing how Pixar has a “culture where women and people of color do not have an equal creative voice.”

Their cryptic condemnation of Pixar is still not entirely clear, but a new interview with actress Annie Potts, voice of Bo Peep in the Toy Story franchise, sheds some new light as to what may have happened.

Potts told RadioTimes.com that Pixar “threw out three-quarters of [the script] and rewrote.” She said that she typically works on an animated film for two years, “but because they threw most of it in the bin and started over [my time on the project has] been extended a little bit. I've done a lot of work on it.”

Potts, whose Bo Peep character is expected to have an expanded role in the fourth film, also told the media outlet that she thought at one point that her role had been cut or the film had been cancelled because “I didn't hear from them in a year and a half.” Now, Potts is playing a significant role in the production: “I have a big part! I'm thrilled!”

The people who aren't thrilled though are Jones and McCormack, who it would appear had most of their script thrown out.