The Toy Story franchise includes cast turnover by design: each of the 4 movies to date has introduced new villains (who never stick around), and the repeated story of toys being thrown away, donated, or lost means supporting cast members generally tend to disappear between movies. Along the way, we’ve lost Wheezy, Barbie and Ken (who stayed at Sunnyside in Toy Story 3), and Lenny the binoculars, as well as RC the car, Chuckles the clown, and Evil Emperor Zurg. Once more, Toy Story 5 will see some of the previous movie’s major characters left out.
Toy Story 5 has already recast 4 characters, and while Buttercup the unicorn is shown in the trailer, Jeff Garlin is conspicuously absent from the returning cast list, so there’s a chance he too may be recast. It’s unlikely he’d have much of a role anyway, with the cast swelling with new characters (including multiple Buzz Lightyears). But as yet, that’s unconfirmed. And so far, the following actors are also not listed in the returning cast from Toy Story 4, and while some late additions are certainly possible, the returns of some of the characters in the previous movie either would not make sense narratively or would be impossible for real-world reasons. Here’s every character we currently won’t be seeing returning in Toy Story 5…
These Toy Story 4 Returns Are Still Possible…
7. Keegan-Michael Key as Ducky & Jordan Peele as Bunny
Two of the starriest new additions to Toy Story 4 were comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and his now-directing-royalty-partner Jordan Peele as carnival prize toys Ducky and Bunny. They’re great comic relief, and end up joining Bo Peep’s group of “lost toys” who help reunite toys with their owners, along with Woody when he chooses to stay with Bo. Strangely, despite Bo Peep and Keanu Reeves’ Duke Kaboom being confirmed for Toy Story 5, so far, there’s no sign of the two heavies alongside them. It’s possible they’ll appear, but it’s also equally possible they finally realized their own dreams to find a home and an owner.
6. Ally Maki as Giggle McDimples
We know Bo Peep is returning – possibly briefly – in Toy Story 5, with Annie Potts listed in the returning cast, but so far her sidekick toy cop, Giggle McDimples is notably absent from Bo’s group of outsiders. Voice star Ally Maki has expressed her desire to return, but so far, she’s sitting it out along with Ducky and Bunny. There’s a chance we’ll see all three in the opening sequence before Woody reunites with Bonnie’s toys, but nothing is concrete yet.
These Toy Story 4 Character Returns Are Unlikely…
5. John Morris as Andy (& Laurie Metcalf as His Mom)
The time of Andy has passed, and by now John Mason’s former owner of Woody and Buzz is on his way to actual adulthood. He might well find his way to collecting his childhood toys as an older man (as so many do), but he would be very unlikely to return in the upcoming sequel, given there’s no story call for him.
And like Andy, Laurie Metcalf’s Mrs. Davis appears in Toy Story 4 very briefly in the same flashback. Neither really has much to do, and bringing them back for Toy Story 5 would undermine the idea of Bonnie inheriting the main character role from Andy.
4. Christina Hendricks as Gabby Gabby
Like Lotso Huggin’ Bear in Toy Story 3, Gabby Gabby – played by Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks – is something of a tragic figure, whose “evil” is driven by desperation. Lotso is more twisted, and Gabby simply wants to be loved – by removing and recycling Woody’s voice box to fix her own faulty insides. At the end of Toy Story 4, she finds a new loving owner, so the chance of seeing her return to the fairground and Woody’s toy-saving crew is basically zero.
3. Steve Purcell as Benson and The Dummies
Gabby Gabby’s creepy henchmen at the antiques store, the Dummies – led by Benson – were an almost unstoppable force, relentless and horrifyingly cheerful thanks to the rictus grins on their ventriloquist dummy faces. Somewhat tragically, while Gabby Gabby was freed from her eternal isolation in the dusty shop, the Bensons (named in honor of additional story supervisor, Erik Benson) didn’t exactly get a happy ending. The last time we saw one of them, he was unwittingly terrifying a passerby at the fairground, where he may still be roaming. Horrifying thought, but it’s unlikely there’s any real need to clarify in Toy Story 5.
2. Mel Brooks as Melephant Brooks, Carol Burnett as Chairol Burnett & Alan Oppenheimer as Old Timer
The three screen legends – Spaceballs director and satire icon Mel Brooks, comedian (and Annie star) Carol Burnett, and voice acting veteran Alan Oppenheimer (who voiced the animated Skeletor among many others) each play toys belonging to Bonnie. They’re all toys she’s outgrown but not thrown out (and Old Timer initially appears in Pixar short Toy Story of Terror as one of the motel manager Ron’s stolen toys. The cameos are short and mostly a chance to celebrate icons, but with Bonnie having further grown up, the old rejected toys are even less likely to return again in Toy Story 5.
Toy Story 4 Character Returns That Are Impossible:
1. Betty White as Bitey White & Carl Reiner as Carl Reineroceros
Alongside Bonnie’s old toys Melephant Brooks and Chairol Burnett, fellow comedy legends Betty White and Carl Reiner appeared as tiger teething ring Bitey White, and Carl Reineroceros, a pink rhino. Sadly, neither can return in Toy Story 5 as White died in 2020, and Reiner passed away a year later in 2021. Recasting would be impossible – and disrespectful – given the names of the characters.
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