Within all the fine print of Tim Allen‘s contract for “Toy Story 3,” is a clause that has him appearing in “Toy Story 4” if/when that should ever happen. This story picked up a bit of steam, but frankly, we wouldn’t be surprised if the same line of legal appeared in the contracts for the rest of the major players in the franchise as well. And really, it’s pretty standard for studios to contractually tie-in key talent for sequels to potential franchise films.
Anyway, while there’s been no word if Disney/Pixar will go ahead with another installment (we kind of hope they don’t; “Toy Story 3” is a great bookend and we’d like to see the studio move forward with some fresh concepts) the franchise is a financial behemoth, so the incentive is there. So it’s no surprise that plans are already underway for a new “Toy Story” short to appear in front of “Cars 2.” No word yet if Buzz and Woody will be back or if the short will take the opportunity to bump up some of the other characters to leading man status, but it’s a savvy way to transition fans of one franchise to see the sequel to another.
But really, as you were. All this means is that should “Toy Story 4” happen, it’s in Allen’s contract that he’ll be there. But as director Lee Unkrich said earlier this year, “I don’t know that there would ever be a ‘[Toy Story] 4.’ We don’t have any plans for one…” We hope it stays that way.