'Toy Story 4' Trailer Makes Forky The Source of Controversy (And Tears)

The biggest and most affecting trailer for Toy Story 4 reveals a conflict the charming Pixar franchise has never really tackled before: How would sentient pre-fabricated toys feel about unique DIY toys? As Forky is thrust into the ensemble of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Bo Peep and all the rest, an interesting philosophical question is being asked about the nature of toys and childhood imagination. It will also make you bawl your eyes out.

Though the majority of the Toy Story 4 focuses on the escape of Forky, and the subsequent discovery of a sanctuary of lost toys, the real star of the trailer is YOUR FEELINGS. When Bonnie is looking for Woody and Forky (who have both gone missing) the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” is playing as Bonnie holds back tears. Come on, Pixar. It’s really early in the morning. What are you doing to me? I had to pause this trailer twice to stop from crying.

We all can remember losing a beloved toy, but if you’re a parent, these scenes are doubly triggering and affecting. Plus, the idea that Bonnie creates a Frankenstein-monster toy in Forky is beyond brilliant. Forky didn’t want to be a toy, Forky wanted to be a utensil. These are the kinds of things that go through the minds of children that sometimes we forget about as adults. Making your own toys as a child is an important rite of passage, one that is all-too-often curbed by aggressive marketing of shiny plastic objects. Toy Story 4 is, of course, having its cake and eating it too, since officially licensed Forkys toys are certainly on their way.

But, hopefully, after this movie comes out, we’ll all sit down and make a Forky with our kids and then try to hide our tears as the Toy Story franchise cruelly awakens everyone’s tender inner-child. Again.

Toy Story 4 is out everywhere on June 21, 2019