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Tom Hanks on Toy Story, Sequels and The Scene He Regrets

Explore episode Jun 17, 2026

Where this was said

The Toy Story Emotional Contract and Multigenerational Magic

At 9:54 · chapter starts 9:00

A listener named Charlotte asks what Hanks struggles to let go of, inspired by the Toy Story 3 incinerator scene that made her promise never to throw away her daughter's toys — a promise she has kept for 17 years. Hanks responds warmly, confessing to a battle between Marie Kondo's joy principle and the 'diabolically sounding' Swedish death cleaning practice, concluding that some items — like the sweatshirt he wore the day he moved his son into college — simply cannot be discarded regardless of their condition. He then speaks with genuine emotion about the multigenerational reach of Toy Story: the original audience is now in their mid-50s and sharing the films with their own children. This leads to a vivid anecdote about meeting Keir Dullea of 2001: A Space Odyssey — turning into 'a babbling fool' — and his elevator trick with young children who can't compute that Woody is real until he asks them to close their eyes.

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