Annie Potts Talks Bo Peep’s Action Fueled Return in Toy Story 4

With Toy Story 4, the franchise brought back one of its original toys with the return of Annie Potts as Bo Peep, and she’s back a very different toy than when we last saw her (way back in 1999’s Toy Story 2)!

“It was presented to me in that you know, she had been out on her own and had a lot of challenges and met them with the grace and dignity and new sort of just like, as people do,” Potts told us at the film’s press junket. “And I think that it’s a story like an immigrant and there’s a lot of stories all over the world like that. She’s been homeless and she’s made the best of it. And she’s in good spirits about it, you know? Her arm is torn off and she’s like, ‘Ah, that’s nothing.’ So she’s very resilient. And I think these are all fantastic concepts for grown-ups and children to hear. It reminds us that we can keep going on and still have our sense of humor and all of that.”

Toy Story 4 establishes early on that Bo has been gone for the better part of a decade, off having her own adventures, and keeping her guard up about her past.

“I think she’s held some cards kind of close to her vest because maybe she didn’t want to admit to anybody else or maybe herself how much Woody meant to her because she’s a girl who’s picked her chin up and gone forward. And she’s not full of any kind of self pity, but I’m sure she said there was this guy and he meant a lot to me.”

The previous Toy Story movies saw Bo Peep as a delicate, porcelain figure, seldom taking on the kind of rough housing that the other toys could participate in. For the sequel though, Bo has had to adapt. She roams the wilds of the world in a tricked out RC car, her skirt is now a cape, and her arm has even come off at one point (don’t worry, it still works thanks to to tape! Potts clued us in to a secret for recording dialogue for a Pixar character with frequent action.

“In the script, those are written as ‘Efforts,'” Potts says of the sounds of physical exertion she has to make. “And she’s moving this, sound of effort. And so, you have to make an effort to achieve that sound.”

Another recording secret Potts revealed to us? While everyone else recorded their sessions on their own, she got to record her scenes with Tom Hanks alongside the legendary actor!

“I hadn’t worked with him in the earlier ones, but it’s wonderful to work with him. He’s such a great actor, and it’s great to be in the room because he gives it 195 percent, and he’s also just incredibly charming and sweet and fun, you know? It’s just fun.”

Toy Story 4 is in theaters now! Get your tickets by clicking here!