Pixar fans, I have good news and I have bad news. The bad news is, Tom Hanks didn't voice the real-life Woody dolls that we know and love from Toy Story. WHAT. HOW. But hold on for the good news! The good news is, he has a really good reason for shirking that particular responsibility (and no, I do not apologize for my phrasing), one that will warm your heart so much that you won't be able to shake your first at the sky in betrayal like you were planning. So, at the end of the day, it all evens out.
This news apparently came out all the way back in 2011, on the always-wonderful The Graham Norton Show , so I have no idea what you and I were doing that day or every day since that caused us to miss it. I just hope it was important and we had fun. But, on that fateful day, Norton pulled the string on a Woody doll he had on set, and asked Hanks whether it was his voice squawking out, "Ha ha! Boy am I glad to see you!" Norton had apparently seen something online suggesting that the voice didn't belong to Hanks, but he didn't believe it and just wanted to confirm. Except that's not how it went down! Hanks got a sneaky smile on his face like he was just bursting to share and said, "No, that's my brother Jim!"
Well, color. Me. Shocked. I never thought to question it before now, because I'm a trusting individual who doesn't buy into sibling-swap conspiracy theories, but, even now that I know the toy is voiced by Jim Hanks and not Tom Hanks, I can't tell the difference. Which I guess makes it OK, especially since Tom says doing the voice work for projects outside the movies themselves used to keep Jim busy pretty much year-round! So, when you really think about it, it's a pretty generous brotherly move to throw all that extra work his way. It's a very kind way of providing for his brother without just writing a check. Plus, it means the two of them work in the same industry, giving them something in common and presumably improving their relationship.
So I guess what I'm saying is that just this once, I can forgive Tom Hanks lying by omission about the fact that he's the voice of anything and everything associated with Woody... but only because he was simultaneously being such a good brother. Just don't let it happen again in Toy Story 4 , Hanks.
Image: giphy
