TOY STORY 5 Star Embraces Hands-Off Role as Daughter Leaves the Nest

Published: June 16, 2026

By Michaela Gordoni

Tony Hale, who plays Forky in the TOY STORY movies, had to learn not to be a helicopter parent now that his 20-year-old daughter has left the nest.

He recently visited her in New York, where she has a summer internship.

“It’s amazing when you just see that flourishing, and…it makes me leave New York and be like, ‘Okay, she’s going to be okay,'” he told PEOPLE of his daughter, Loy Ann, who he shares with wife, Martel Thompson. “I used to track her location in high school and just be like, ‘How fast is she going?’ It was just such a helicopter thing.”

Now, he holds off and trusts her to make good decisions.

“And that she’s also going to learn from other not-so-great choices,” Hale said.

He admires his wife, who’s able to monitor their daughter in a more healthy, less obsessive way.

“When my daughter’s at school, she’s just curious where she is. If my daughter’s not in her dorm room, I’m like, ‘Oh, well, she’s being attacked,’” he said. “I’m the dad that at three in the morning when she was 7, I’m in the room checking her breathing. You know?”

“I don’t know how to say it. It’s a little bit of an identity shift,” Hale said. “I’m always a dad, but you’re very reminded you’re a dad when she’s around, and then when she does her own thing and she moves away, you’re like, ‘Okay, wow.'”

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“Every time she’s leaving the house and not like, ‘Be careful, drive safely,’ I have to let her go,” he added. “It’s a new phase.”

Hale just relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, to be closer to his family. He loves his new place, and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to LA.

“As a whole, it’s an incredibly hospitable place,” Hale said. “There’s really, really good people down here who are striving for truth and healing and just loving people.”

His latest movie, TOY STORY 5, comes out on June 21. The actor is incredibly grateful to have a role in the franchise, and loves how it brings people together.

“One thing I always love for people to discuss after a TOY STORY [movie] is the reason why people keep coming back, [which] in my opinion is because you see this community of characters stick together,” Hale told The HoloFiles. “You see that family. You see that they’re rooting for each other.”

In whatever the toys go through, they always support each other. They have their disagreements, but in the end, they know they’ve got to stick together.

“And there’s such power in that. There’s magic in that and we have to always keep that. That’s the longevity of TOY STORY. That’s what’s kept it alive,” Hale said.

In TOY STORY 5, Forky will start out as a married man — er — toy, and that’ll be an adventure in itself.

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