Everything about the first (and likely final) full length Toy Story 4 trailer points to the fact that this epic production is made first and foremost for the big kids who grew up with the franchise.
While a lot of Disney/Pixar productions tend to appeal to both children and adults, the primary target audience for most is the kiddies. But Toy Story has retained the same target audience over the years, and though we were kiddies when the first Toy Story was originally released in 1995, we’re young adults now and Toy Story 4 is decidedly for us.
The trailer gives us a close look at the existential identity crisis of ‘forky’, caught between being a toy and a piece of cutlery just as we are caught between childhood and adulthood. Little Bo Peep makes her return after 20 years as Bo, who appears to be the feminist hero of this entire film.
There’s a villainous group of creepy-as-hell ventriloquist dolls that are too scary to have had a child audience in mind. There’s action, emotion, an epic music moment with ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys likely bringing on your tears in the trailer.
And of course, there’s Woody, Buzz, and the crew on a journey to decide where they belong, and what they should or could do with their lives.
This shot in the new #ToyStory4 trailer is gorgeous. Woody has always done what it takes to find his way home. But now he may be more interested in finding his way to someplace else. You know this movie is going to destroy us all, right?
? ? ? pic.twitter.com/U64PYf0fL2— Erik Davis (@ErikDavis) March 19, 2019
This movie is clearly targeting us by having characters old and new mirror the anxieties of young adulthood. So prepare for a therapeutic cry to Toy Story 4 when the film hits cinemas in Australia on June 20.
