The Carnival is the carnival place and one of the key locations in the 2019 Disney/Pixar animated film, Toy Story 4. Buzz Lightyear tried to find Woody and Forky in this carnival, but met Ducky and Bunny. It includes carnival games notably Star Adventurer, and carnival rides from roller coasters to Ferris wheels.
Background
Official Description
- According to Screenwriter and Executive Producer Andrew Stanton, the idea of a carnival conjured many ideas when it came to new characters. “If you think about it, a carnival has the cheapest, saddest, most disposable toys known to man,” says Stanton.
- Cooley adds that the setting itself provided endless opportunities for the toys to explore those areas unseen by humans. “We want the toys to go places we can’t,” says Cooley. “They walk the roofs of the game booths, along the giant power cords on the ground and even into the middle of the carousel. And it just looks beautiful.”
- Pauley and other artists went to several carnivals to gather reference. “We wanted to capture the charm of carnivals—the bright candy colors, the lights, the obligatory Ferris wheel, all the rides and game booths,” he says. “We learned how they function, how they are designed and work. Few will notice all the details, but together, they help build a world that just feels right.”
Role in the film
In the Grand Basin, the carnival lives next door to the Second Chance Antiques at the beginning of the film when Bonnie and her family go on a road trip. When Woody spots Bo Peep's lamp in the Second Chance Antiques in an attempt to find Bo, Buzz plans to look for Woody to know if he is safe. However, Buzz is placed on the grand prize section in the carnival game Star Adventurer where Ducky and Bunny help Buzz find ways to avoid being won by midway game players.
Later after Gabby Gabby takes Woody's voice box and takes it to her to replace the broken voice box inside her, the toys then find ways to look for Woody. Woody, Bo Peep, and Gabby Gabby head to the carnival to look for Buzz and the gang just as Bonnie and her parents are about to return home in order to reunite with Bonnie. Bonnie's toys, however, mess up the RV's controls, forcing her father to drive back to the carnival. However, after noticing a lost girl in the carnival, Gabby decides to change her mind to find her a new owner who can play with her instead of returning to Bonnie. Later, the police talking to Bonnie's parents reunites the lost girl to her family so that she can return to her parents instead of giving Bonnie's parents a fine (actually caused by Bonnie's toys preventing them from leaving).
Later, Woody then feels inspired by the lost girl who gave Gabby Gabby a new owner just as he bids a farewell to Bonnie's toys by giving Jessie his sheriff badge to her. The carnival then moves to the New Stanton Beach where Woody, Bo Peep, Ducky, Bunny, Giggles McDimples, and Duke Caboom begin their new life in the carnival finding new owners to lost toys in the carnival by helping other players win plush toys in the Star Adventurer carnival game.
Gallery
Trivia
- At one point in the carnival, Figment the Dragon can be seen in the "Dragon Zone" carnival game. Toy Story 4 is the second Pixar film to feature Figment; the first was in Inside Out.
- In the mid-credits scene where the carnival moves to New Stanton Beach, the aforementioned location is named after Andrew Stanton.
- A carnival truck has a picture of the face of Lumpy the Clown from Red's Dream on the back
- In the first mid-credits scene, the bouncy castle in the carnival has the same winged unicorn design as Barley Lightfoot's van, Guinevere, a reference to Pixar's next film Onward.
