Love is in the air in the next “Toy Story” movie.
The fourquel will focus on “a love story with Woody and – and this is news – Bo Peep,” Disney Chief Creative Office John Lasseter told CNBC on Friday, ahead of Disney”s D23 Expo.
This brings Bo Peep, voiced by Annie Potts, back to the franchise, after she had only a brief appearance in “Toy Story 3.”
The script for the new animated film is being penned by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who co-wrote the indie romance “Celeste and Jesse Forever” and executive produced canceled-too-soon NBC series “A to Z.”
The Bo-Peep news confirms what fans have speculated for several months. Pixar president Jim Morris said earlier this year that “Toy Story 4” will be a romantic comedy and “will not put much focus on the interaction between the characters and children.”
That might placate fans who bemoaned the development of a fourth movie after the “Toy Story” series got such a moving and satisfying (apparent) conclusion with college-bound Andy passing his toys on to little Bonnie. The story of Andy and his toys is over – and no sequel machine can mess with that – but Woody, Buzz, Ham, et al. are ripe for more delightful storytelling, as they have appeared in a handful of cute short films that have been released after “Toy Story 3.” (BTW, if you haven”t watched “Partysaurus Rex,” you need to fix that now.)
Are you on board with “Toy Story 4”? Or do you wish Pixar had said goodbye to the franchise with movie no. 3 and focused more on original feature films? Tell us in the comments below.