You can read my full recap of the marketing campaign for Toy Story 4 at The Hollywood Reporter.
Online and Social
Disney’s official website for the movie is pretty disappointing, as it usually is. Visitors will find the trailers and other videos along with a small gallery of stills and some character descriptions, but the most material there is the long list of promotional partners. There were social profiles as well, including one from Ducky and Bunny that was only sporadically used and never seems to have lived up to its potential.
Media and Publicity
EW debuted exclusive looks at four new characters in the movie, offering some background on who they were and what they might contribute to the story. That included interviews with Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks and Ally Maki as well as details on how Don Rickles’ voice would still be used for Mr. Potato Head.
A feature on the return of Bo Peep explained why she wasn’t in the third movie and what other new characters audiences could expect. That topic also came up in an interview with director Josh Cooley where he talked about creating an emotional journey for Woody to go on that would be consistent with the previous movies. Potts also spoke about returning to the series after unexpectedly taking the third movie off.
As is common with Pixar releases, features like this focused on how the design and tech teams expanded their toolset to create even more detail in the movie.
Director Josh Cooley was interviewed about taking on the challenge of helming such a high-profile and high-stakes release, with the filmmaker talking about his personal connections to the franchise as well.
Both Hanks and Allen did a good amount of media for the movie, including stops on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “CBS Sunday Morning” and elsewhere. Key also got in on the action, as did Hale.
A feature interview with Hanks allowed him to reflect on the decades he’s spent returning to the character of Woody from time to time.
Picking Up the Spare
IMAX released an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette.
A number of new promotional videos have come out from Pixar, including a “thank you” from the creators and talent, everyone’s best moments, Hale introducing us to Forky, an overview of the entire series,
Cooley discussed how Key and Peele got into their roles as Ducky and Bunny. There was another interview with Potts about her return as Bo Peep and how she approached coming back to the role.
How the producers got four comedy legends to voice a batch of supporting characters was covered here.
Cinematic Slant 