COMMENTARY: Could ‘Toy Story 4’ Bring Animation Into the Legacy Sequel Fold?1 min read
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If there’s one movie that could challenge Avengers: Endgame‘s dominance this summer (and 2019 as a whole), it’s Toy Story 4. Like Endgame, the Pixar animated feature is a Disney sequel, fourth in a series (but twenty-somethingth in a larger cinematic franchise). And like Endgame, Toy Story 4 appears to be passing the torch to a new generation of characters. No, I don’t expect Buzz and Woody to die at the end of the movie so that Forky can take over as the star of a new phase of the franchise, but this could be the closest we come to an animated legacy sequel.
Legacy sequels are primarily a live-action concept because they have to be. Returning to a franchise many years later means revisiting characters who are older and in need of being retired. We’ve seen this happen with Star Wars, Star Trek, Tron, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Blade Runner, Rocky, Wall Street, and Halloween. And even many decades ago with The Color of Money passing the baton from The Hustler. But animated properties don’t ever need to be rebooted from within because their main characters never get old — or never need to, anyway.
Image credit: Pixar
