Toy Story 4 Review: We Left Smiling, Scared, and Ready to Buy It on Blu-ray

We are keeping this review spoiler-free because we do not even like giving away the broad strokes of the story. What we can tell you is that Toy Story 4 had us smiling from start to finish, and it currently sits at a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a number that tracks with how we felt walking out of the theater.

For longtime fans, this matters because so many of us grew up with this series, and like Andy, we have grown up right alongside these characters. The film manages to keep that connection relevant while still surprising us, which is why we wanted to break down exactly what worked and what did not.

Watching Toy Story 4 in RealD 3D brought the animation to life in ways we did not expect

We watched the film twice, once in 2D through Disney and again in RealD 3D. The 3D viewing really brought out the animation. We often forget what a RealD screening can do until we are sitting in it, and then it hits: "Whoa." It feels like the toys are right there with you, and it makes you forget you are watching an animation at all. If you have the option, we would say RealD 3D is the strongest way to experience this film.

Woody, Forky, and Duke Caboom deliver plenty of laughs, and Keanu Reeves is having a moment

We found Woody's behavior hilarious throughout, and the returning gang is joined by new characters who genuinely land. We loved Forky, and on a second viewing, Duke Caboom stood out even more. "Duke Caboom stole the show for me," was the verdict, and Keanu Reeves voicing him is a moment we are not mad about at all. Key and Peele's comedic contributions also had the theater cracking up both times we watched. Our one small note is that some of their funniest bits appeared in the promotional commercial rather than the film itself, which felt like a missed opportunity since what made the final cut was still hilarious.

The film gets surprisingly mature and frightening at times, echoing a scary Toy Story 2 moment

Toy Story 4 leans into some genuinely mature themes, boiling down big adult concepts in a way that works for kids and adults alike, which feels typical of Pixar. But there are mildly frightening moments here too, some of which played almost like a horror thriller, complete with jump scares. We were reminded of Toy Story 2, when Woody gets shelved and has a nightmarish sequence involving a deck of cards and a garbage pail after Andy stops caring about him. Toy Story 4 takes that further, though not in a way likely to keep kids up at night. Still, it might be enough to make a child grab onto you in the theater, especially if you scare easily, as is admittedly the case here.

Bo Peep's stronger character arc feels earned rather than forced

Bo Peep is a much stronger female character this time around, and we went in wondering whether that shift would feel like genuine storytelling or something closer to virtue signaling. After thinking it through during both viewings, we landed on the same conclusion: the change makes sense. A lot of time has passed for Bo, she has had experiences on her own outside the world established in earlier films, and her new personality stays consistent with who she has always been, someone trying to bring sense to Woody, just approached from a different angle now. We came away feeling she is a genuinely likable, admirable character rather than a tacked-on statement.

The animation reaches a new level of detail, from wall textures to a standout rain scene

It almost feels silly to praise animation quality at this point because Pixar films are consistently strong, but Toy Story 4 pushes further with small details. In an early ambiguous scene of Woody running, the texture on a wall made the space feel like a genuinely lived-in home. A rain scene stood out even more: "Holy crap! That looks like rain, like real rain." The imperfections on the toys themselves are stunning. We also pointed to Pixar's history with wet surfaces, recalling a scene from Finding Nemo where characters briefly out of water looked remarkably real even years ago. Here, the rain, mud, leaves, and twigs looked like they were shot on an actual film camera outdoors, to the point that we forgot we were watching animation at all, the kind of realism we have heard studios sometimes have to dial back so it does not distract audiences. Since Wall-E, Pixar has reportedly been employing real directors of photography, and it shows in choices like a scene atop a carousel where the light on Woody's head is deliberately clipped, a detail that felt like a conscious lighting decision rather than an accident.

Buzz Lightyear gets less screen time than we wanted, and the villain impressed us

Our main critique is that we wanted more Buzz Lightyear, and more scenes of Woody and Buzz together, since that dynamic is where the franchise started. In this film Buzz is more of a supporting character, which was the one disappointing angle for us, even though his moments were still genuinely funny. On the flip side, we thought the villain was well rounded and well written, though we are keeping details to ourselves to avoid spoilers.

The commercials mislead you about where the story actually takes place

Our other small critique is that the marketing set us up to expect the story would range across more locations than it does. Toy Story 4 spends most of its runtime in one place, unlike the wider movement we remember from Toy Story 2 (we noted it has been a while since watching Toy Story 3, so we cannot compare that one directly). That said, the story, characters, and execution within that single setting are still strong. We also appreciated quieter moments, like Woody and Forky simply walking down a road with the camera drifting alongside them almost like an independent film, small adventures that gave the movie room to breathe.

Ultimately, Toy Story 4 offers some strong philosophical ideas to sit with after you leave the theater, though we are avoiding specifics so as not to ruin them. We are no longer assigning number scores, but for us this is a strong win, and we cannot wait to own it on Blu-ray.

Did Bo Peep's new arc feel like a natural evolution of her character to you, or did the change feel like too much of a departure?