Toy Story 4 Rides Out Its #MeToo Drama
The not-so family-friendly backstory to an otherwise beloved animated classic
The Toy Story gang is back, and they’re out to save the immortal soul of a googly-eyed spork. For years, it seemed as if a fourth installment of the animated classic was never going to happen. Yet, as a testament to the staying power of Pixar’s well-oiled machine, an entire generation that grew up watching Woody and Buzz Lightyear is now old enough to bring their own kids to the theaters. But what’s striking — yet not altogether surprising — is that on the backdrop of this family-friendly franchise, virtually every marker of Hollywood bad behavior is lurking behind the scenes, from gender and racial inequity to #MeToo.
The first of many issues came in November 2017, when Rashida Jones, of Parks and Recreation fame, abandoned the film alongside her writing partner, Will McCormack. When pressed to detail her reasons for the split, Jones called out Pixar’s lack of diversity, where women and people of color were seldom given “an equal creative voice.” A year later it was John Lasseter’s time for the exit door, but not entirely by choice. Multiple women had come forward with harassment allegations against the former Pixar chief, detailing a pattern of groping, kissing, and comments about employees’ bodies that was so pervasive…
