For five Toy Story movies now—including the upcoming Toy Story 5, premiering June 19—Tom Hanks has famously provided the voice of the lead character, Sheriff Woody Pride. That’s common knowledge, but what you might not be aware of is that for most of Woody’s other appearances, that’s another Hanks you hear filling in: Tom’s younger brother, Jim. In fact, Jim Hanks actually has more credits to his name than Tom does for voicing the character. Among the projects the younger Hanks has lent his voice to are short films, video games, and various merchandise.
During a recent interview for the Love it Film podcast, Jim revealed that his first gig as Woody was for a pull-string toy that was released to coincide with the original 1995 film. He drew inspiration for his version of the character by imitating Tom yelling at his kids. However, over the years, Jim’s been able to put his own spin on things. When he provided Woody’s voice for Disney California Adventure Park’s Midway Mania!, for example, Jim suggested that Woody speak to kids on the ride as if he were their favorite teacher.
Tom Hanks’ Brother Has Been Playing Woody Since the Original Toy Story
Jim also said he’s “immensely grateful” for the opportunity to play the character made famous by his brother, and that he makes an effort to stay as true as possible to Tom’s portrayal. One of Jim’s more recent turns as Woody was in the 2020 Disney+ short Lamp Life, which reveals what happened to Bo Peep between the second and fourth films. Additionally, Jim’s played Woody in close to 20 video games to date. Two of those games—Disney Dreamlight Valley and Disney Speedstorm—came out in 2023 alone.
But Jim didn’t just sub for his big brother when it came to Toy Story-related stuff. While discussing his career on the aforementioned podcast episode, Jim talked about serving as Tom’s body double in Forrest Gump. “Pretty much all that running stuff, if you can’t see his face, it’s me. If you can see his face, it’s obviously him,” he explained.
You can check out Jim’s full interview with Love it Film right here:
The post A Beloved ‘Toy Story’ Character Has Secretly Been Played by Another Actor for Decades, and Fans Had No Idea appeared first on VICE.
