Since it was announced, many Toy Story fans like myself have been scratching our heads about the upcoming plot for Toy Story 4.

After all, John Lasseter promises that it’s good enough to warrant yet another sequel to an otherwise perfect trilogy. So what could this great idea be?

It’s too early to tell, but that didn’t stop Aaron Helman from writing out what he considers to be a pretty exciting script. Enjoy:

TOY STORY 4

by Aaron Helman

The film is set 6-7 years after Toy Story 3.

The toys are hanging out by themselves, doing Toy Story things when a woman barges in the room in a tizzy and starts throwing them into boxes. The toys are confused, but they hear a conversation in the next room, trying to figure out what’s going on. Through the perspective of the toys, we hear bits and pieces:

“Once I heard, I just knew you had to have these.”

“That’s so sweet, but what about…”

“Oh she’s 13 now. She doesn’t really play with them anymore.”

“I’m sure Andy will be thrilled.”

“When’s the baby due?”

Cue music and excitement from the toys.

Andy’s mom drops the toys off for Andy, but he’s in a rush. He sets the box in a partially completed nursery but doesn’t open it. And he doesn’t play with the toys.

We see, from the perspective of the toys, time-lapse work on the nursery. Andy’s wife’s bump grows and we hear a crying baby after they come back from the hospital to place him in his crib. Andy still hasn’t gotten to the toys.

The baby gets bigger and learns to crawl. Andy seems preoccupied with other things, but he finally opens the box and haphazardly hands one of the toys to baby.

One day, the baby “catches” the toys when they’ve come to life. The toys soon realize that the baby can’t communicate and won’t remember any of this, so they begin to come alive around the baby to play. The baby loves this.

There’s a scene where baby drops his pacifier, starts crying, but the toys work together to fix it.

Throughout all of this, Andy is being revealed to be a workaholic. Mom wants help with the baby, Andy’s coming home later and later; he’s stressed out, too.

Next we have a scene where the baby picks up Woody, crawls over to Andy and raises his arms to be lifted up. Andy brushes the baby (and Woody) aside because he’s in the middle of working on something. We overhear that Andy is working for a firm that’s trying to buy the now-for-sale Al’s Toy Barn to put up an office complex.

Woody gathers the other toys because he’s worried about Andy. He’s not the same person he used to be, doesn’t have time for the toys and doesn’t appear to have time for his baby. He thinks that it’s because of “work,” which is a concept the toys don’t really understand.

Buzz suggests that maybe Andy’s been brainwashed, and they go on an adventure to Andy’s work to find out what’s going on.

At the office — a sterile place altogether — they sneak around to watch what goes down, confused by everything. They refer to a meeting as a play-date, etc… (Maybe Rainn Wilson and Steve Carrell can voice Andy’s co-workers).

Finally, they see Andy copying a page from a book, with the copy machine lid lifted. They see the green glow from the machine’s “wand” and deduce that this is the brainwashing machine.

After everyone’s gone, the toys set out to destroy the copy machine, but some weird bobbleheads come to life from a desk to explain that it’s not a brainwashing machine, but a copy machine. Etch and the Copy Machine have a duel. Etch wins.

The toys come up with the idea to go back to Andy’s room to find something to remind him of who he really is because Jesse saw that in a movie once.

As they leave, Hamm is photocopying his butt.

They go to Andy’s Room, but it’s not the same. It’s been repainted. There’s a treadmill and a desk in there. They start looking anyway. When they can’t find anything, Buzz calls it off and says they need to head back.

Woody says, “No. I know what we need.” He walks solemnly over to a vent, removes the cover, and with the help of the toys, retrieves a small journal.

One of the toys asks, “What is it?”

Woody: “I’m not sure. When Andy was little, he used to look at it all the time. But every time he looked at it, he would cry. So one day, when he was at school, I hid it, because I didn’t want to see Andy cry like that anymore.”

The toys turn the pages of the journal. A photo of a man holding a baby. A photo of the same man holding a toddler at Christmas. A photo of the same man hugging a young Andy and his Woody doll. A photo of the same man on a hospital bed, Andy snuggled up against him.

Then pages of words and pictures as the toys leaf through the journal, finally settling on this page with a child’s handwriting.

I love playing with Woody, but I just really miss my dad.

The toys head back home with the journal in tow, and leave it out on the table. The next day Andy returns home, late again, and drops his briefcase on the table. He’s on the phone, discussing the Toy Barn deal, and the toys overhear him say that he’s got a meeting tomorrow and has to have a decision by then.

Andy ends the call, is clearly exasperated, then buries his head in his hands before noticing his old journal.

He leafs through it, holding back tears as he looks through the pictures, then settles on the same page as the toys noticed. He reads the words, “I love playing with Woody. But I just really miss my dad.”

He looks up, and sees the baby in the other room playing all by himself with Woody.

Etch spends the rest of the night working on his piece de resistance: a picture of the baby, Buzz and Woody. The toys sneak Etch into Andy’s briefcase before the big meeting where the decision will be made.

At the meeting, Andy opens the briefcase, sees Etch, has a moment, excuses himself and apologizes for getting choked up. He composes himself and says, “I would hate for this not to be a toy store anymore. What if I run it?”

The other workers in the firm are livid, but Andy ignores them as he reaches across to shake a hand.

The final scene is back at Andy’s home. Buzz and Woody watch from a window as Andy plays with his son in the leaves. They congratulate each other on a job well done. Woody protests that “Ah, I’m just a toy.

Buzz disagrees, “No, Cowboy. Today, you are a bona-fide hero.”

Final montage as the familiar music of “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” starts to play. We see Andy wrestling with the baby, feeding the baby (the baby spitting up on Andy) and snuggling with the baby. In each of these moments, Buzz and Woody are inanimate, but still looking on approvingly.

The movie ends with Andy feeding baby a bottle and rocking him gently while he sings:

You’ve got a friend in me.

You’ve got a friend in me.

When the road looks rough ahead…

That’s it! Tweet @AaronHelman if you liked his take on Toy Story 4! And be sure to share your own ideas in the comments below.

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