{"id":749246,"date":"2026-06-20T17:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T17:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749246\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T17:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T17:36:11","slug":"tony-hale-on-forky-toy-story-5-and-entering-the-nancy-meyers-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/749246\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Hale on Forky, Toy Story 5 and Entering the Nancy Meyers Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m still that 25-year-old needy actor,\u201d insists two-time Emmy winner Tony Hale.<\/a> \u201cOnce there\u2019s an opportunity, it\u2019s like: Really? Me? Seriously?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHale\u2019s latest chance to get in front of audiences comes this weekend in Toy Story<\/a> 5, playing Forky, Pixar<\/a>\u2019s closest approximation to Kierkegaard, a philosopher-utensil that is simultaneously horrified and delighted by the realities of his own free will.<\/p>\n

\n\tForky\u2019s introduction came in Toy Story 4, starting life as a plastic spork who was then fashioned into a toy thanks to some artful placement of pipe cleaners and popsicle sticks by Buzz and Woody\u2019s current kid, Bonnie. Having started life as single-use plastic, he is convinced his rightful place is in the trash until persuaded by Woody that he is meant for a different destiny.<\/p>\n

\n\tForky comes with the kind of interior life that could power even the haughtiest of awards season performances, but he just so happens to be a supporting character in Pixar\u2019s foundational franchise. Fits of existential crises aren\u2019t often combined with animated children\u2019s comedy, but who better to walk that precarious tightrope than Hale, the man who has spent decades spinning angst and anxiety into comedy gold.<\/p>\n

\n\tForky has shades of Buster Bluth, the socially inept youngest sibling in Arrested Development, and Gary Walsh, the always available aide in VEEP, who brings co-dependence to dizzying new heights. (The latter role earned Hale both his Emmys.)<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Toy Story 5<\/a>, which sees Jesse go toe-to-toe with a tablet for Bonnie\u2019s attention, Forky picks up largely where he left off in the last film. He\u2019s a trouper in Bonnie\u2019s toy box, who is more assured in his status as a playtime pal but still has a fair share of existential musings. One big life update: He is due to be married to the googly-eyed plastic knife named Karen Beverly. Hale points out, \u201cHe works fast, I might add, because he was introduced in 4 and he\u2019s already found somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Toy Story 5, Hale went in for two recording sessions with co-directors Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, who let Hale really let loose in the booth for Forky\u2019s second feature film foray. Hale says it was typical of the Pixar experience.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDuring the recording of [Disney+ short series Forky Asks a Question], I said, \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 a lot,\u201d remembers Hale. \u201cAnd you\u2019re saying it so many times, you think, gosh, how many different ways can I say \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019? They will be like, \u2018Let\u2019s be a little louder, a little softer, now you\u2019re really curious, now you\u2019re not so curious, now you just make it a statement.\u2019 Then, all of a sudden, 30 minutes pass and you\u2019re like, wow, \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019, really has a spectrum there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOutside of the recording booth, Hale relishes the opportunity to send voice memos from his alter ego. A teacher friend recently had her class make their own Forkys and played a note from Hale: \u201cShe says, \u2018Guys, Forky just wanted to say how good of a job you did.\u2019 And then she played my voice and they are like \u2018What!\u2019 It\u2019s just magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the street, he will get approached by parents who tell their five- and six-year-olds that Hale is, in fact, their favorite Toy Story character, and they look at him with a fair amount of skepticism. \u201cYou can see in the kid\u2019s face, like, \u201cThat\u2019s not Forky.\u201d He has figured out a workaround, though, \u201cWhat I say is, \u201cYou know what? Forky asked if he could borrow my voice.\u201d I say, \u2018You\u2019re absolutely right, he just borrowed my voice.\u2019 And then the kid\u2019s like, \u2018Oh, okay, I got it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Woody and Forky in Toy Story 4.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Disney\/Pixar<\/p>\n

\n\tToy Story 5, which has received near-universal praise<\/a> and has been called Pixar\u2019s best sequel since Toy Story 2<\/a>, is coming out in the middle of a busy time for Hale. He just starred in Jennifer Lopez\u2019s latest rom-com, Office Romance, playing the ever-suffering head of HR in charge of enforcing the company\u2019s strict no inter-office dating policy. \u201cAs you get older, it\u2019s about the experience,\u201d says Hale when asked why he signed on for the film. \u201cIt was just a good set. People were willing to play, because what you don\u2019t want with comedy is, \u2018It sounds like this\u2026 it has to be something like this\u2026\u2019 It was just free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHale is saying all of this while on the set of his next movie \u2014 Nancy Meyers<\/a>\u2019 long-awaited return to the director\u2019s chair. He narrates, \u201cI just walked by a grip stand with a sign that said \u2018Nancy\u2019s crew.\u2019 Isn\u2019t that so sweet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe movie, which will be Meyers\u2019 first since 2015\u2019s The Intern, follows a filmmaker and producer who fall in love after a successful string of projects, but break up and then have to reunite for a high-profile film with a group of volatile stars. Hale shares a call sheet with Pen\u00e9lope Cruz, Kieran Culkin, Owen Wilson and Jude Law. Hale laughs, \u201cIt\u2019s like always looking around, going which one of these is not like the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for Meyers, he offers, \u201cShe\u2019s just the real deal, and she\u2019s so relaxed. Not only does her sets always look comfortable, like the design and world of her movies, but she\u2019s just so good at what she does, and creates this really easy set where everybody feels comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile filming the Meyers movie, Hale finds himself back in Los Angeles. Two years ago, Hale relocated from L.A. to Birmingham, Alabama, after his daughter graduated from high school, to be closer to family. In Alabama, parking is never an issue, and everything is approximately ten minutes away from everything else, but being away has made him recognize the inherent camaraderie that comes with living in a city full of people working in and around entertainment. Every coffee shop is filled with writers, actors and other creatives who are trying to figure out their next job, which is how Hale sees himself. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s something about this business, I have no idea what surprise is gonna come this week or what calls I might get,\u201d says Hale, who says he often checks his own expectations and leans into a general sense of gratitude. \u201cIt\u2019s just so exciting, and I don\u2019t ever want to lose that. The hustle of it is tough, but it makes you so grateful when those jobs do come around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m still that 25-year-old needy actor,\u201d insists two-time Emmy winner Tony Hale. \u201cOnce there\u2019s an opportunity, it\u2019s like:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344,35370,98236,89941,165749,78559],"class_list":["post-749246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-nancy-meyers","tag-pixar","tag-tony-hale","tag-toy-story","tag-toy-story-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}