Toy Story 4 producer Mark Nielsen talks favorite bonus features coming to home release

Toy Story 4 producer Mark Nielsen uncovers his favorite never before seen bonus extras included in the digital and Blu-ray release.

The best part about Toy Story 4‘s home release isn’t only that fans of the film can relive the popular movie and all their favorite characters. Toy Story 4 on digital and Blu-ray is packed with bonus features that include deleted scenes, easter eggs, commentary and more of the adorable talking toys.

Additionally, if you ever wondered how the creators put together such a fantastic animated film, you’ll also be able to learn about the animation process and how they got their finished product.

After working on the animated greats Up and Inside Out, producer Mark Nielsen became one of the talented people who helped bring Toy Story 4 to life. Nielsen spoke with Hidden Remote recently to uncover all of the best moments and never before seen content that will now be available on the home release.

Hidden Remote: What are you most excited for Toy Story fans to see in the home release?

Mark Nielsen: There’s a lot of things to be excited about in the home release. We’ve got things like deleted scenes included in here. There’s some great little documentary pieces. There’s one on the history between Woody and Buzz’s relationship going all the way back with some great interviews with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. There are pieces on each of our new characters — the making of Giggle Mcdimples and Duke Kaboom and some other great pieces like that.

More from Movies

• The story of a French emperor: Here’s where Napoleon will stream after theaters
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes honors its origins and far surpasses them
• Thanksgiving movie death toll: Why [SPOILER] is still alive
• No, Thanksgiving is not streaming yet (But here’s where it’ll land)
• Trolls Band Together soundtrack guide: Which songs play in the movie?

There’s a lot to look forward to. I would say one more thing that’s cool about this is we have so many easter eggs and hidden things that we’ve put in the background of this movie, especially in the antique store. This will be the first time for audiences to watch this movie and be able to pause and go on a hunt for all the things from past films that we’ve included.

HR: Which do you think is the most impressive easter egg thus far in Toy Story 4?

Nielsen: Oh wow okay, so it’s got to be in the antique store. That’s where we have the most because there’s literally something from every film Pixar’s ever created in that store in the background. One of my favorites, it’s kind of obscure, but one of my favorites is, I don’t know if you remember the short film Geri’s Game, about an old man playing chess? There’s an image of Geri pinned up on the back wall of the cash register area of the antique store. Almost as if it’s a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend of Margaret, the store owner.

HR: Do you have a favorite deleted scene that you wish would have made it into the movie?

Nielsen: One that I always thought was incredibly funny that just didn’t find its way in is called “Knockoffs.” This was before we had the idea to have Ducky and Bunny be the carnival toys that lived in that booth. And instead of them being in there with Buzz Lightyear when he’s strapped into that carnival booth, when he’s picked up by the carney, he’s actually surrounded by knockoffs like offshore versions of Buzz Lightyear with really funny names like Bizz Leapyear and Boss Lightbeer, or whatever.

There’s a whole bunch of them that are just a little bit off. They are huge fans of Buzz. So you’ll get to see that we’ve actually included this in the home release and it’s really funny.

HR: I hear that one of the bonus features is a segment on the cast and crew speaking on their favorite toys. What toy from your personal life impacted the creation of Toy Story 4 the most?

Nielsen: The one that I could relate to the most that I have the most to say about because I was a kid in the 70s is Duke Kaboom. Me, Jonas Rivera, the other producer, we grew up in an era that we all had a stunt motorcycle toy that was like that. And we all could emotionally relate to what Duke was going through in this film.

This idea that toys can’t really live up to their commercials, you know, the commercials just made these toys looks so cool when you were a kid. And you’re like ” I have to have that,” and there was always a disappointment factor when you get that thing home, opened it up, and tried it and it just doesn’t do what you saw it do in the commercial. And it just kind of bums you out. That’s a toy truth that we thought was worthy of being in Toy Story 4.

HR: What would you say is your favorite new character and what is their stand out scene?

Nielsen: So Forky I’ve got to say is probably my favorite. I think he’s the most different toy we put in this film. We’ve never seen a toy that springs to life created by a child. I love that he doesn’t understand anything about anything. That actually was really useful with the storytelling for us because it allowed Woody to have to kind of say out loud the things that were true about a toy. The importance of a toy. The value of a toy. The relationship between a toy and a child.

How do you explain that to Forky, which was funny, and also let us kind of really know where Woody’s head is at and the fact that he’s struggling going from being the favorite of Andy to this new room where he’s kind of relegated to the closet?

But Forky’s so much fun, and I’m thrilled to also say that I got to produce a series of short films about Forky that are going to be on Disney Plus coming out in November. So, there’s going to be even more. Ten short films called Forky asks a Question.

HR: There’s also a segment on the process of making an animated movie. Which scene was the greatest challenge to make?

Nielsen: I would say probably the ending, having this movie coming to this really dramatic conclusion where Woody and Buzz say goodbye to each other. First of all, that wasn’t in the original script, and that wasn’t the way the movie was going to end. It’s actually something we discovered along the way. So there are versions of this movie where Woody ends up going back to Bonnie’s house at the end.

There are versions where Bo Peep actually gets picked up by a child and kind of forms a new connection with a child and Woody lets her go after reuniting with her a second time. And kind of like Gabby goes off with a girl to be loved; you see that happen to Bo. So we went down a lot of roads but what changed the most and didn’t really solidify until the very end of our five-year process was the goodbye scene.

HR: What do you think is Toy Story 4‘s legacy in comparison to the previous three movies?

Nielsen: What we set out to do with this, first of all, make it worthy of being in this collection of Toy Story films because we loved the first three so much it needed to belong. But we got the chance to end it and to bring Woody’s story to a conclusion, and that was really rewarding and really powerful to us both as filmmakers. And hopefully for the audience as well.

It’s been 25 years in the making this ending. And to have Woody’s journey end with the hope of going off with the love of his life, his partner in crime, his best friend, Bo Peep, to serve a greater purpose, this greater good that he has discovered that he could be there for all kids instead of just being there for one. We feel really good about the way that we ended it, and we hope that people feel that it is an ending to this quadrilogy that feels like the completion of Woody’s story.

Toy Story is now available on Digital and available to own on 4K UHD and Blu-ray Oct. 8, 2019.