Tony Hale Says He Thought A “Huge Star” Would Replace Him in ‘Toy Story 4’ as Forky: “The Whole Time I Was Like, ‘They’re Going to Cut Me’”

A fan can learn a lot from a movie trailer—and apparently, so can the film’s stars.

Tony Hale, who lent his voice to Forky in 2019’s Toy Story 4, revealed to People that while he read for the role, he was not so sure he was actually in the film.

“It wasn’t until I heard my voice on the Toy Story 4 trailer that I actually thought I was still in it. It wasn’t until then,” he shared. “The whole time I was like, ‘They’re going to cut me. They’re going to replace me with some huge star.”

Fortunately, the film had a friend in Hale, who will also be reprising his role in the upcoming Toy Story 5. Hale, who lauded his character’s “wide-eyed simplicity and newness,” teased that he “saw glimpses” of the new script, noting that “the glimpses [he] saw are pretty cool.”

“I don’t want to lose the surprise,” he added. “I want to be completely surprised with Toy Story 5.”

The movie, which will also see the return of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack as Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie, is set to hit theaters on June 19, 2026. Others joining the cast are Conan O’Brien, who will voice the new character Smarty Pants, and Ernie Hudson, who is taking over for the late Carl Weathers in the role of Combat Carl, per The Hollywood Reporter. According to Variety, DisneyPixar’s CCO Peter Docter described the next Toy Story installment as “Toys Meet Tech,” in which Bonnie, now eight years old, discovers her new toy tablet.

Outside of his work as a voice actor, Hale is often recognized from Veep and Arrested Development. The actor addressed Veep‘s resurgence in an interview with DECIDER last fall.

“I’m such a fan of the show, so it’s made me want to see things again,” he explained. “Any time someone comes up to me with, both Arrested and Veep and they’re like, ‘Remember that time Gary did this and Buster did that?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t, so please tell me.’ Then I go back and watch the clip, and I’m like, ‘My gosh, this is really funny!’ I like remembering that stuff. We were in Baltimore for four years shooting the first four seasons. Those were just such great times. It always triggers those memories. I’m like, ‘Oh, man.’ It’s like I get to go back again, which is great.”