When Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton called Tim Allen about returning, the comedian had one condition: the story had to be worth telling. Stanton’s pitch — Jessie is in trouble, Woody and Buzz are back together — was enough.
What Stanton didn’t mention was that returning to the booth would come with its own complications. Early in the recording process, the room behind the glass went quiet. “He says, ‘Let’s just get a read,'” Allen tells Gold Derby. “And it was real quiet behind the glass. And he goes, ‘Boy, Buzz sounds a little older now.’ Real long pause.”
Allen asked what that meant.
“‘Well, Tim, do you want some water or something?’ I go, ‘I could take some estrogen or something — I don’t know what makes me go back.’ I got very uncomfortable. I said, ‘I’m not going to be able to do this. They don’t like my voice.'”
Pixar, by his account, handled it with care. They found him a Broadway and opera-trained voice coach in New York City. “She was wonderful,” Allen says. “She said, at any age, you can’t go to a gym without stretching. She told me how to move the voice up and down. She goes, ‘You don’t know this because you’re a comedian, not a singer.'” The coaching worked, and Allen’s voice — and Buzz’s — came back. Tom Hanks, for his part, offered a drier account of his own return: he simply “stubbed out my filterless Chesterfield in the ashtray” and got back to it.
Hanks and Allen sat down with Gold Derby to talk about their return to the franchise, the voice scare that almost derailed it, and more. Read on for the full Q&A or watch the video above.
Gold Derby: It’s been 30 years. When the call comes for a fifth film, is it an easy yes or are you skeptical?
Tim Allen: It comes from Andrew Stanton. He said, “They’re going to do another Toy Story. They’re going to give you a call.” I said, “That’s fine.” If he was going to do it, he wouldn’t do it for purely monetary reasons. He had a story in his mind. He’s a grand old man of Pixar — he can do whatever he wants. He said, “Just think of it as compressed time. Jessie’s in trouble. That’s what brought you two together.” I went, “So you answered the question — why would Woody and I get back together?” And then he said there’s going to be a lot more Buzz. I thought he meant I had more screen time. He didn’t mean that. A hundred of them, out of nowhere. I said, “Are they waterproof now?” He goes, “I never thought about that.”
Tom Hanks: That’s the first thing that entered my mind — because I think like a toy, you see.
Tech is taking over in this film. Are toys an endangered species?
Allen: Say it, Tom — what don’t toys do?
Hanks: No one’s feelings have ever been hurt by playing with a toy, but everybody’s feelings can be hurt by being on screen and being engaged in the wider web. It’s the difference between engagement and fulfillment. You like that? I just came up with it now. That thing will engage you and take up your time and fill your day — you can disappear for three and a half, seven hours if you want. But playing with a toy will fulfill your imagination.
Toys are not an endangered species, but playing with them requires an investment — and it might be easier to just sit there and watch yet another three-minute video.
There’s so much emotion in these films. Joan Cusack as Jessie is incredible in this one. What is it about Pixar that captures human emotion through animation the way they do?
Allen: I don’t know where it comes from, especially with this story. The underlayment is: toys are here to make children happy. On top of that foundation, they build everything. But I’m still questioning — where do Woody and Bo Peep go?
Hanks: Easy now. But throughout all the sagas, the most powerful moments in the Toy Story universe are without dialogue. They come from moments like when we were all about to be incinerated — what did the toys do? They grabbed each other. They reached out. And then imagine what went into making that a reality with the lighting.
Allen: My favorite — when Buzz found out in Sid’s attic that he wasn’t a real space ranger, and he just dropped. I went, “Oh God, that’s brilliant, but I’m not even talking — that has nothing to do with me.” I thought, “That’s brilliant.” And I was kind of pissed.
What happens in the recording booth when you lose your voice? Does it cost Pixar a lot of money?
Allen: Did somebody tell you to ask that question?
They told me early on, when I was voicing some of the other Buzzes — and it was real quiet behind the glass. And he goes, “Boy, Buzz sounds a little older now.” Real long pause. And I said, “Yeah, what do you mean?” “Well, Tim, do you want some water or something?” I go, “No, I could take some estrogen or something — I don’t know what makes me go back.” I got very uncomfortable. I said, “I’m not going to be able to do this. They don’t like my voice.” They were very kind. They found a voice coach — a Broadway, opera-trained voice coach in New York City. She was wonderful. She said, at any age, you can’t go to a gym without stretching. She told me how to move the voice up and down. She goes, “You don’t know this because you’re a comedian, not a singer.” She gave me the whole thing, got my voice back, and everything was all right. So thanks for bringing that up.
Hanks: I just stubbed out my filterless Chesterfield in the ashtray and said, “Come on guys, we’ve got to get back to Andy’s room.”
Tom, you have a couple of Oscars.
Allen: Why do you have to bring that up?
Tim, you actually have an Annie Award for best voiceover. Should the Academy add a voiceover performance category?
Hanks: I think they have enough categories already. But the truth is — a voice actor can win Best Actor. The judgment should be: any performance that moved you. We’ve talked about Andy Serkis, for example — even though he doesn’t appear on screen as himself, he gives all the raw material. There have been people close to being nominated who never appear on camera. That could happen to a pure voice performance.
So voters need to be more open-minded when voting, rather than a new category being created?
Hanks: If they are moved, that means they are moved by a human being’s performance. That’s all the requirement.
What has it been like to see the evolution of these characters? Buzz has a new dynamic — there’s a drone version of him now, an army of him.
Allen: That’s a huge part of this movie because as we both said, we read it — how are they going to get out of this? And it’s a software upgrade. I went, brilliant, except I don’t have a USB port. The Buzz that we know can’t be upgraded like that. But that drone thing — I went, brilliant. Now I want one of those. Now every kid’s going to want that.
Hanks: He truly can only fall with style.
And Taylor Swift put out a song — she’s changed her whole marketing. But here you guys still are. Did you think that would be enough, and you wouldn’t have to do promotion?
Allen: We were in a room — it looked like the CIA. Doors locked. Big guard there. We have some news for you. And I thought something terrible had happened. Then it was: “TS will show up on billboards throughout the world”
Hanks: TS has provided a song for TS5. We had no idea. They don’t include us. We didn’t even find out that Bad Bunny is in this thing until they mentioned it during one of the recordings. “By the way, the pizza with the sunglasses — that’s Bad Bunny.” It is? Holy cow. Don’t keep that a secret.
Who was your Taylor Swift growing up — the musical artist you would have been waiting for news on?
Hanks: Petula Clark. “Downtown.”
Allen: Or Babs — Barbara Streisand.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
