Toy Story 4 Almost Had Woody and Buzz Swapping Heads and a Bo Peep Love Story at Its Heart

Toy Story 4 could have looked very different: an early draft had Woody and Buzz swapping heads, Woody's failing voice box leaving him hallucinating that he was a space ranger, and a love story between Woody and Bo Peep at its centre. At one stage, Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro were even considered to voice Ducky and Bunny.

To understand how all of that turned into the movie we actually got, it helps to start with why so many people thought there should never have been a fourth film at all.

Toy Story 3 was meant to be the full stop, and Quentin Tarantino still sees it that way

Quentin Tarantino once confessed that he refused to watch Toy Story 4. It was not because he disliked Pixar, but because to him Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending to the saga, an emotional full stop to one of the greatest trilogies ever made. He did not see any way for the story to continue, and he did not understand why anyone would want to try and force it.

Most people felt the same way. Toy Story 3 had wrapped everything up beautifully: Woody moving on from his unwavering loyalty to Andy, Andy growing into adulthood, and the toys finding a new home with Bonnie. It was not just an ending for the characters, it was an ending for an entire generation that had grown up alongside them.

Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich, screenwriter Michael Arndt and almost everyone at Pixar agreed the story had come full circle. Pixar had achieved what very few franchises ever had, a complete and emotionally satisfying finale. The studio kept telling smaller stories within the franchise through short films and spin-offs, but there was no intention of a proper theatrical follow-up.

John Lasseter could not stop thinking about a fourth Toy Story

That changed when Pixar's chief creative officer John Lasseter, who had directed the first two Toy Story films, began quietly developing an idea for a fourth entry alongside Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Lee Unkrich. He could not stop thinking about it and immediately knew they had to make the movie, even wanting to direct it himself.

When Toy Story 4 was officially announced, the public reaction was one of disbelief. Fans wondered if Pixar could "capture lightning in a bottle a fourth time."

Ben Karlin's draft put Woody on a retirement shelf called the Hall

Pixar started by commissioning a script from writer Ben Karlin, known for The Daily Show and Modern Family. His version was a strange, heartfelt and sometimes dark adventure that would have taken the toys into completely new territory.

In Karlin's draft, the story picks up after Toy Story 3, with Bonnie now owning Woody and the gang. The years have taken their toll. Woody's voice box is fading, and Bonnie's mom puts him on a shelf alongside other forgotten toys, a kind of retirement home called the Hall.

One night, Woody overhears a TV auction and realises that Bo Peep, his former romantic interest who was inconspicuously absent from the events of the third film, is up for auction. She ends up being sold to someone in the same town as Bonnie. The other toys try to convince Woody to go after her, but he believes it is better for her to find a new purpose and be there for another child.

Woody and Buzz swapped heads, and Woody thought he was a space ranger

Bonnie then takes her toys to visit her rambunctious cousin Lance, who immediately rips the heads off Woody and Buzz and swaps them around, placing Woody's head on Buzz's body and vice versa. From there, the movie becomes a surreal buddy adventure. Buzz tries to adapt to Woody's slower, looser body, while Woody, with Buzz's head, starts suffering from hallucinations in which he believes he is actually a space ranger.

Separated from the group, Woody in Buzz's body meets the discarded toys Ducky and Bunny. In this early draft they are not carnival prizes but worn-out dolls trapped behind a dresser. The toys go through a series of mix-ups and failed attempts to repair Woody and Buzz, and eventually bump into Bo Peep in a pawn shop.

Karlin's Bo Peep was bitter and resentful of Woody

This Bo Peep had been through her own rough journey, constantly discarded and passed from owner to owner, growing bitter and disillusioned along the way. She was particularly resentful of Woody, who had encouraged her to leave the safety and comfort of Andy in the first place.

Once Woody and Buzz get back in control of their original bodies, they convince Bo that she should come and live with Bonnie, and Ducky and Bunny mail themselves to the house as well. The movie ends with Bo Peep on Bonnie's nightstand and Woody in her arms as Bonnie falls asleep, "a cozy circular resolution that restores the status quo."

Lasseter pictured Toy Story 4 as a romantic comedy about Woody and Bo Peep

The plan was for John Lasseter to return to the director's chair, which would have been his first directorial effort in over a decade. He envisioned Toy Story 4 as a romantic comedy inspired by his marriage to his wife Nancy. He described it as primarily a love story between Woody and Bo Peep, calling it a different kind of Pixar movie: lighter and more heartfelt, less about existential purpose and more about rediscovering lost love. It also aimed to explain Bo's absence from the third film by showing what happened to her after she was given away.

Lasseter's return to the franchise he started did not last long. In 2017, he announced a leave of absence from Pixar, admitting to missteps in his leadership. Pixar quietly removed him from directing duties, and he ended up having no involvement in the film at all.

Rashida Jones and Will McCormack left Toy Story 4 over creative and philosophical differences

Before Lasseter left, Pixar hired the writing duo Rashida Jones and Will McCormack to rewrite the script. They were fresh off writing the romantic comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever, so their appointment seemed to fit Lasseter's original vision of a heartfelt rom-com about Woody and Bo Peep's relationship.

Their involvement was cut short. In 2017, news broke that Jones and McCormack had left the project. The pair released a statement clarifying that their exit was due to creative and philosophical differences. The statement expressed concern about Pixar's lack of diversity and representation for women and people of color, pointing out that only one woman and one person of color had directed films in the company's entire 25 year history.

Forky turned Toy Story 4 from a rom-com into something more meditative

Pixar began rebuilding the movie once again, hiring Inside Out writer Josh Cooley to direct and Stephanie Folsom to write the script from an outline by Andrew Stanton, one of the writers of the third film. A new character emerged in this version who would come to define the film: Forky.

The idea for Forky came from a simple question. What if a child makes a toy from a random object? Does that object come to life in the same way the other toys do? And if it does, does it know it is a toy? Forky became the emotional and philosophical core of the film, embodying the themes of identity and purpose that have always defined Toy Story. The absurdity of a spork coming to life and screaming that he does not belong fit perfectly with Pixar's tradition of finding existential depth in the everyday.

This new direction reframed the film from a romantic comedy into something more meditative: a story about letting go of identity and embracing change.

Josh Cooley rejected two endings before Woody and Bo ran away together

Even with a more solid foundation in place, this version still went through multiple alternate endings. Some early drafts kept the ending of Karlin's script, with Woody convincing Bo Peep to come and live with Bonnie as one of her toys. The idea was sweet, but Cooley thought it was too safe. It simply reset the status quo rather than moving Woody and Bo Peep forward in a new direction.

Another storyboarded ending took a slightly different approach. Woody still goes back to Bonnie's, but Bo is adopted by a young girl she meets in the antique store, echoing her role as a lost toy finding a new purpose. Woody watches and makes peace with the two of them going their separate ways. Cooley liked the emotional symmetry but ultimately rejected it, believing Woody needed to make a bigger, more active leap of faith by choosing a life beyond being owned by a child.

That led the team to the ending in the finished film, in which Woody and Bo run away together to live as lost toys. Elements of the previous idea survived in Gabby Gabby, who, like Bo, yearns for a second chance with a kid and ends up adopted by a child at the carnival.

Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro were considered for Ducky and Bunny

Through all the rewrites and creative shake-ups, two characters survived nearly every version: Ducky and Bunny. Originally conceived in Karlin's first draft, the duo finally made it to the screen voiced by the comedy duo Key and Peele.

At one stage, though, Pixar had a wildly different casting idea. Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro were initially considered for the roles, a tongue in cheek pairing that would have played off their tough guy personas from Martin Scorsese's crime films. The characters were reimagined as a pair of over-caffeinated carnival prizes with too big for their boots personalities, trapped in bundles of fluff and cuddliness.

Annie Potts said about 75% of the script was thrown out

By the time Toy Story 4 was released, it had essentially been rebooted from scratch multiple times. Bo Peep's voice actress Annie Potts revealed that basically 75% of the script had been thrown out and rewritten. The development had seen the removal of the franchise's creator, as well as multiple writers departing the project.

Despite these roadblocks, the film earned critical acclaim and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. It also divided fans. Some felt it beautifully expanded Woody's story, while others, like Tarantino, still refused to see it or even understand why it exists, believing Toy Story 3 to be the perfect goodbye.

Which side are you on: did Toy Story 4 earn its place, or should Toy Story 3 have been the final goodbye?