Tony Hale Thought He’d Be Replaced by Huge Star in ‘Toy Story 4’ (Exclusive)

Tony Hale doesn’t really know what happens in next year’s Toy Story 5, but he also didn’t know he was even in Toy Story 4 despite reading for the part.

“It wasn’t until I heard my voice on the Toy Story 4 trailer that I actually thought I was still in it. It wasn’t until then,” he confesses to PEOPLE.

“The whole time I was like, ‘They’re going to cut me. They’re going to replace me with some huge star,'” he adds.

Not only did the Veep star make the final cut of the 2019 film, but his character, Forky, a talking spork, played a pivotal role in the Oscar-winning film. Hale, 54, himself has come to love the fork-spoon he portrays.

“When you were playing in a world of Forky from Toy Story, it means just the power of simplicity. That’s why children’s books are so popular. I mean, sometimes adults gravitate to children’s books because of the simplicity,” he offers.

“What I loved is [Forky] was the first toy that was made by a kid,” he continues. “So talk about simplicity. I mean, it was like a spork and some pipe cleaner arms, some popsicle feet.”

Forky, who has a penchant for trash cans and differently shaped eyes with a blue wax mouth, is curious, simple and profound, despite having no real deep thoughts, Hale believes. 

“He just had this kind of wide-eyed simplicity and newness to him that was just so beautiful,” the Sketch actor adds.

While the two-time Emmy winner has recorded his Toy Story 5 scenes for Forky, he has no spoilers to offer, other than to say the theme surrounds toys vs. technology.

“They give you pieces of the script, and so I saw glimpses, but the glimpses I saw are pretty cool,” he says. “I don’t want to lose the surprise. I want to be completely surprised with Toy Story 5.”

Toy Story 5 is slated for release on June 19, 2026.