And therein lies the tragic, existential rub of this story: Woody wants what Forky has but has never been able to attain himself. The love from Bonnie that comes effortlessly to, and is rejected by, Forky is what Woody lives for.

He just wants to be with the other pieces of trash, with which he knows he belongs. He has no desire to do all the expected toy things, like comfort his kid or bring joy to their lives.

But to Forky himself, born of throwaway materials, he’s nothing more trash. To Woody and the other toys, Forky checks off the all-important “loved by the kid” box he’s definitely a toy. Forky is a hilarious visual gag: Since he was put together with clumsy kindergarten hands, his limbs are always slipping down, his eyes pop off, his smile slopes off his face, and he waddles with a click-clack sound in each step. During arts and crafts time, Bonnie breathes life into a spork, a pair of leftover googly eyes, popsicle sticks, and a red pipe cleaner to create a new best friend named Forky ( Tony Hale). It’s at school that we get to the meat of this story. But instead of taking out his frustrations on longtime friends like Jessie, who has replaced him as the playroom sheriff, he turns that envy into effort, trying even harder to make Bonnie like him by sneaking into her backpack and going to kindergarten with her. It kills him to watch the toys play games like “hat shop” with Bonnie through the closet slats. Woody waits in the closet while other toys have become Bonnie’s new favorites. Each kid has their own preferences, and when it comes to Bonnie, Woody - the mainstay of Andy’s toys and this four-film franchise - is the odd toy out. There’s no guarantee that when you hand over your favorite toys, as Andy does to Bonnie, their new owner is going to love them all as equally as you did.

But for some of Bonnie’s toys back home, life isn’t quite as good as they’d hoped.

Instaling Toy Story 4