2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the original Toy Story. The movie, without question, changed the world of animated movies forever, and is still one of the best Pixar movies ever made. It also began a lifelong friendship between the two franchise leads, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. It turns out the duo, who will reunite in the upcoming Toy Story 5, have also taught each other a few things.
Hanks and Allen aren’t necessarily a pair of celebrities that you would expect would become friends, but the pair have frequently been spotted having breakfast together and otherwise getting together even when they don’t have a movie to work on together. In a recent appearance on theHowie Mandel Does Stuff podcast, Allen talks about his friendship and the way Hanks specifically helped him deal with one of the hardest parts of the job, press interviews. Allen said…
I’ve learned a ton of stuff from that very patient guy who taught me about doing press. It’s just the same question 35 times, you know, and eventually I’d lose it. ‘We’ve already answered this question.’ And Tom would go, ‘Tim, just takes longer when you go off like that.’
Tom Hanks has a reputation as one of the nicest guys in Hollywood, and it’s insights like this that go a long way to help explain where that idea came from. Even in this interaction, it’s clear that Tom Hanks isn’t necessarily any less irritated by being asked the same question 35 times, but he’s keeping his frustration under control because he knows it all be over faster if he does that.
As somebody who occasionally is one of the 35 people asking somebody the same question in a day, I can sympathize with Tim Allen’s frustration with the process that takes place at press junkets surrounding film releases. To be fair, I’m not sure the interviewers like asking the same questions over and over either, but it’s part of the deal.
It’s not difficult to imagine that when Toy Story 5 hits theaters next summer, the pair will have to undergo the same press experience that Allen clearly dreads. I can already predict they will be asked whether they think they will be back for Toy Story 6 about 35 times. Hopefully, Tom Hanks can help keep his co-star calm.
Having said that, the fact that Hanks and Allen will be out promoting Toy Story 5 together next year likely has the two friends looking forward to the experience. It’s still unclear how Buzz and Woody will be getting together for the new film. If people get a chance to interview Tim Allen, you can guess that a lot of people will ask that question.
