Tony Hale on the Ageless Appeal of Disney's 'Toy Story’ Franchise

The hook of the new Toy Story is a fight every parent already knows: toys versus tech. The plastic ones are losing out to kids parked in front of iPads, and Tony Hale, who voices Forky, told Rich that Pixar earned the right to tell it.

"They wouldn't have told another story if they didn't have a story to tell," Hale said. He was careful about the message. The film does not bash technology, because technology is not going away. What it argues instead is that the screen, for all its pull, is never going to replace true connection. "True connection is where it's at," Hale said, and in his view the movie lands it beautifully.

Rich pointed out the irony that of all the toys to carry that message, a plastic spork is about as far from technology as you can get. He spoke from experience. On long car rides when his kids were younger and there was no tech in reach, the entertainment was whatever was on hand, a plastic bottle to squeeze, an Amazon box, or yes, a spork with a face drawn on it. That is essentially Forky's origin, and the creativity of the child who made him, the rainbow sticker on the foot, the pipe cleaner arms, was a highlight of the exchange. Getting away from the screen, both men agreed, is exactly when ideas spark.

Even Woody is showing his years. After a clip revealed the cowboy sporting a worn bald spot and a little tummy, Hale laughed that Woody "does suck it back in like I do every day." But the wear is the point. Asked recently what keeps people coming back to Toy Story after all this time, Hale pointed to the toys having each other's back, staying together and rooting for each other. "It's all that power of relationship," he said.

The way the movie gets made is less of a group hug than you would think. The cast records separately, with no "we are the world" moment in the booth alongside Tom Hanks. Hale said he did not meet his castmates until the press tour. He had crossed paths with Hanks once, a kind word Hanks offered the Veep cast as a fan of the show, but this round he finally met Joan Cusack, who voices Jessie in what Hale called very much Jessie's story, along with Greta Lee.

The conversation detoured, as these things do, into Rich's own short-lived stand-up career at Michigan, where he once opened for fellow Michigander Tim Allen and got the advice to work less blue. Hale floated the idea of Rich doing a full set on the show someday. "I don't know if The Rich Eisen Show would survive that," Rich said. Toy Story arrives Friday, June 19th.