Toy Story 4: Ending Explained Breakdown + Full Movie Spoiler Review

When Toy Story 4 was first announced, many labeled it as an unnecessary sequel to a film franchise that wrapped up perfectly with its third outing. However, the film definitely deserves your attention and whilst seeing things like ‘Forky’ in the trailers may have put some viewers off, I’m pleased to say that the movie is highly enjoyable from beginning to end.

Throughout this, I’ll be breaking down everything that you need to know about the film as well as what I took from it’s ending.

This is full spoilers ahead, so if you don’t want to know anything about the movie then I highly suggest that you turn off now.

With that out the way let’s get into my breakdown of Toy Story 4.

Toy Story 4 Recap

The film opens in 2010 with Andy playing with the Toys and we rewatch as he grows up in an amazing introduction that acts as the perfect recap of the franchise. It also beautifully sets up the aesthetic of the piece which is about losing your purpose due to things around you that you are unable to control change.

Woody has been the head of the franchise since it first began back in 1995, however, Toy Story 4 picks up with him pretty much relegated to the back seat with little attention being paid to him and this removes his purpose in life. Woody was created to be loved and to love back, however, with no one to play with him he really feels like he has lost his meaning in life.

To me, this is a metaphor for retirement and how often we look upon seniors and such as having lost their purposefulness. Old people have often lived vibrant lives, however, in their winter years they may feel neglected and forgotten about. This is the position that Woody finds himself in but rather than being a nostalgic look at the past and the ‘Good Old Days,’ Toy Story 4 is more about regaining ones love for life and finding a reason to go on.

Finding Happiness

Woody, though not in the limelight still wishes to make sure Bonnie is happy and he facilitates this until a spanner or rather fork is thrown in the works with the creation of Forky, a handmade toy that comes to life. After becoming lost on a road Trip, Woody makes it his goal to track down Forky and return him to Bonnie, purely because he knows it will make her happy.

Woody rediscovers Bo Peep and she along with several other Toys have decided to move on and live their own lives. Woody realises that they are worlds apart now in terms of what they want from life and it makes Woody question whether he is really doing the right thing or not.

Toy Story 4: Ending Explained

In the end, Woody saves the day and the majority of the plot wraps up much as you’d expect, however, the movie then diverts away from the norm with the Toys being reunited to show that Woody has moved on to the next stage in his life. He has discovered a new meaning for life and says goodbye to the group, going off with Bo Peep to try and find a new purpose for toys that may have lost their way, similar to how he did.

Woody just wants what’s best for the world and this new quest to find happiness for others, at the expense of his own, gives him a reason to go on.

It’s a heartbreaking moment, especially if you’ve followed this franchise since 1995 but it also shows that life is full of ups and downs and that nothing lasts forever and we all must go our own way, find our own meaning and reason to go on. We all are carving out our own paths and will lose and gain people along the way but overall our life is ultimately about what we do and what we make of it. Toy Story 4 is about discovering for ourselves all the good we can do, even when it seems like we have no reason to be here.

To me, this is cemented by the newly created character coming in and asking why they exist and the answer given to that is ‘I don’t know.’

We have all been put on this planet for one reason or another but at the core of it, we really don’t know why and life is about setting out and finding a purpose that not only means a lot to us but also others.

Overall it’s a really powerful message that definitely sticks with you and whilst I probably still don’t know whether we needed to go back to this universe, this sequel still pulls it off in outstanding fashion.

Toy Story 4 Review

But what did I think about it overall, well whilst I did really enjoy the film I think it falls slightly behind the other three in the franchise. That’s not to say it’s bad though and Toy Story 4 still does an incredible job at character building, animation and drama. They set an extremely high bar with the first three and though the last one closed the chapter on these characters perfectly this is still the perfect add on if you’d like to see more adventures. It doesn’t feel like required watching if you’re already happy with how the original trilogy ended but this delivers on the promise of telling an intriguing story.

In the end, Toy Story 4 is enjoyable from beginning to end and it gets an…