Over the past few decades, some truly excellent children's films have arrived on our screens. The 2010s brought us the likes of Big Hero 6 and Frozen, the 2000s gifted us The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, and the 1990s produced some films - such as A Bug's Life or Aladdin - that still stand out as great feats of cinema even today.
However, nothing can stand up to Toy Story.
The 1995 animated blockbuster was an instant classic for any and every kid who enjoyed it around the time it first came out - and I'm sure a few parents loved it, too. The film was such a hit that Pixar produced a sequel four years later, and then the third film a whopping 11 years after that.
Not wanting to keep us waiting quite as long the fourth time around, the studio had promised us Toy Story 4 in 2018...
So where is it?
Speaking to the Radio Times, Annie Potts, who voices Bo Peep, explained that the film is behind schedule because most of the script ended up getting trashed some way into production.
"[Toy Story 4] was supposed to come out this year and then they threw out three-quarters of it and rewrote," she said. "Usually, it takes – from start to finish – two years. But because they threw most of it in the bin and started over [my time on the project has] been extended a little bit. I’ve done a lot of work on it."
She wasn't clear on exactly what wasn't right about the first draft of the script, but implied that it had a lot to do with the writers simply being perfectionists.
"They’re funny those Pixar people. They just take their time. It’s very painstaking work. If they don’t like whole sections then they just chuck it and start over again. They have that great creative liberty to do that."
However, because they took so long to get back to Potts, the actress assumed that she'd been cut from the film. Or, even worse, that the fourth film had been scrapped altogether.
"I didn’t hear from them in a year and a half," she said.
It wouldn't be the first time the Toy Story star had been cut from a film, either, as she was dropped from the third instalment in the franchise. "That hurt my feelings a little bit," Potts admitted. "But John [Lasseter, Pixar’s chief creative officer] explained to me the reason was because they were saving me for 4."
This time around, she says, she has a "big part" - but we'll still have to wait a while to see what it is.
For now, the predicted release date for Toy Story 4 is still over a year away - June 21st, 2019, to be precise. By that point, there will have been 24 years between the first and fourth films, making it very likely that many of the kids who grew up on the original movie now have children of their own to share the magic with.
But, even if they don't, I'm sure there are still a lot of "big kids" out there who are just as keen to see Woody and Buzz on their next adventure as any four or five-year-old. Trust me: I'm one of them.
.jpg_uectls?tr=h-184)
