Tom Hanks is back as Woody in “Top Story 5,” which set a franchise record with its massive $312 million worldwide opening. Given the enduring popularity of the 31-year-old franchise, people are already wondering if “Toy Story 6” is an inevitability. But would two-time Oscar winner Hanks return as Woody in a sixth movie?
“If you’re gonna do another ‘Toy Story,’ it better be worthwhile,” Hanks told Entertainment Weekly. “It better be great. You better be examining some theme that is not just dragging it out because people like the title. I mean, it is a huge corporate business without a doubt, I’m not gonna discount that. But unless it’s good, new, fresh, there’s no reason to do it at all.”
However, Hanks is also aware that Disney probably doesn’t even need him to return as Woody if it wants to make “Toy Story 6.” The studio has access to so much recorded dialogue of Hanks as Woody over the last 31 years that AI could easily string words together into new sentences in order to bring Woody back for “Toy Story 6” without Hanks’ physical participation.
“Time is undefeated,” Hanks said. “The question would be whether or not we could cobble together some version of me. Every word we have ever recorded in time in ‘Toy Story’ is on digital media somewhere, so they could put together anything they would want.”
Hanks and his longtime co-star Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) both agreed the idea is “a scary thought.” During an interview on “The Adam Buxton Podcast” in 2023, Hanks spoke about how AI and deepfake technology could mean that death is no longer the end of an actors’ career.
“The first time we did a movie that had a huge amount of our own data locked in a computer — literally what we looked like — was a movie called ‘The Polar Express,’” Hanks said, referring to Robert Zemeckis’ 2004 Christmas movie. “We saw this coming, we saw that there was going to be this ability to take zeros and ones from inside a computer and turn it into a face and a character. That has only grown a billion-fold since then and we see it everywhere.”
Hanks said that because of AI and deepfake technology, it’s now possible for him to pitch multiple movies in which he would appear as a 32 year old, adding: “Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deep fake technology. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but performances can go on and on and on and on. Outside the understanding of AI and deepfake, there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me and me alone. And it’s going to have some degree of lifelike quality. That’s certainly an artistic challenge but it’s also a legal one.”
“Toy Story 5” is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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