Nearly 25 years after the release of the original “Toy Story,” every ’90s kid has grown up with Woody and Buzz and is back for the fourth time as Disney and Pixar releases the latest and presumably final installment in the franchise, “Toy Story 4.”
And true fans will want to stick around until the lights come up in the theater.
Of course it’s always worth sticking around if you can as a symbolic tribute to all the people who worked on the movie, but “Toy Story 4” has several mid-credits scenes and one quick post-credits moment. There’s a parting callbackjoke at the very, very end after a pair of In Memoriam tributes that, if you enjoyed the movie you just saw, you’ll want to see.
It even comes up after the Disney logo appears again on screen.
If you have to get out of there and missed the fun stuff to come, here’s what you’re missing.
(In case it isn’t clear, this is where the spoilers begin. If you don’t want to know about the mid- or post-credits scenes on “Toy Story 4,” you should get out of here now.)
(You have been warned.)
The first scene starts up fairly quickly after the credits begin to roll. Ducky and Bunny (Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key) along with Woody (Tom Hanks) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts) have rigged one of the carnival games so that every child who approaches can win one of the toys strapped to the wall of the game. Their rescue mission continues until all the toys have been claimed by the end of the night, leading the clueless teenage carnie who spent the whole film obliviously buried under his headphones to look up in surprise and horror to see the entire wall of prize toys gone.
Ducky and Bunny then get another last laugh as they play out another version of their “plush rush,” as seen earlier in the film. This time, they leap out and attack the carnival employees before transforming into giant, kaiju-like monsters shooting lasers out of their eyes and destroying everything in their wake. It’s all part of their imagination of course. But in a great Easter egg moment, Keanu Reeves’s character Duke Kaboom asks if they can really shoot lasers out of their eyes, and Reeves gets to utter his signature catch phrase, “Whoa.”
The next scene takes us back to Bonnie’s room, with her now entering into the 1st Grade. And on her first day of school, she’s “made” yet another friend, this time a girl utensil named Knifey that has also been brought to life as a toy. Forky is immediately in love, and he’s prepared to answer all of her questions.
“Why am I alive,” she asks, as one does when you’ve just become sentient. “I don’t know,” Forky shouts in a panic.
Then the credits roll quietly for a while, and they conclude with quick tributes to both Don Rickles, who previously voiced Mr. Potato Head and died at age 90 in April 2017, and Adam Burke, who died Oct. 8 last year and was an animator on “Toy Story 3,” “Cars 2” and “Incredibles 2” most recently.
But at the very end, as the Pixar logo comes on screen, motorcycle daredevil Duke Kaboom (Keanu Reeves) has replaced Luxo Jr., the Pixar bouncing lamp, to crush the Pixar “I” beneath him. And as he does, who’s there but Combat Carl (Carl Weathers) waiting yet again for a high five. Combat Carl’s multiple snubs earlier in the film are some of “Toy Story 4’s” biggest laugh moments. And we’re happy to report that at the end of the day, Canada’s greatest daredevil didn’t leave this Combat Carl hanging.
There you have it. Now all you have to do is wipe those happy sad tears you still have on your cheek and wonder if we’ll get a fifth “Toy Story” film in another decade.