Toy Story 4, the latest movie in Disney Pixar’s mega-franchise, includes a two-mom couple and their child. They’re background characters, but the fact that they are no big deal is in fact a pretty big deal.
Without giving out any spoilers, I can say that when one of the main human characters goes to kindergarten, we see one of her classmates being dropped off by two moms, then being picked up at the end of the day and hugged by them. It’s a very brief couple of moments, akin to Disney’s very small “gay moment” in its 2014 Beauty and the Beast-–but the “gayness” of the Beauty and the Beast moment could easily be mistaken for a stumble on the dance floor, as one man ends up in the arms of another for about two seconds. The two moms here are much more clearly a couple. (Some have also argued that Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory also briefly showed a two-mom couple, but the filmmakers refused to confirm it, and lead voice actor Ellen Degeneres, who one would expect knows what she’s talking about here, denied it.)
Bonus fun fact: Actor and singer Bea Miller, who played toy owner Andy’s sister Molly in Toy Story 3, has two moms. Second bonus fun fact: Actor Annie Potts, who voices Toy Story 4’s Bo Peep (a character whom some see as having lesbian vibes herself), also had a recurring role as the mother of lesbian mom Stef Adams Foster on Freeform’s The Fosters.
Disney seems to have learned from its experience with Beauty and the Beast, though, when director Bill Condon had promoted the “exclusively gay moment,” only to disappoint the LGBTQ community with how small it was. There’s been no hype around the moment in Toy Story 4, and very little coverage of it as of this writing. Kudos to Disney for including it like it’s no big deal, because indeed, same-sex parents today really are no big deal, or shouldn’t be. (Bonus fun fact: Actor and singer Bea Miller, who played toy owner Andy’s sister Molly in Toy Story 3, has two moms in real life. Second bonus fun fact: Actor Annie Potts, who voices Toy Story 4’s Bo Peep (a character whom some see as having lesbian vibes herself), also had a recurring role as the mother of lesbian mom Stef Adams Foster on Freeform’s The Fosters.)
Still, on another level, a two-mom couple in a beloved franchise like this is a big deal. Disney has already had a few queer characters in its children’s television shows, as I explained in a longer piece on LGBTQ representation in children’s media, but to have them in their feature films feels much more significant. It’s representation in front of a huge audience, and shows queer people as simply another part of the world.
Having said that, I think there’s also need for children’s shows (in film and television) that focus on families of LGBTQ parents and their children (not to mention LGBTQ children themselves), like Hulu’s just-launched The Bravest Knight (about which more here). Yes, we’re part of the background of many people’s lives now, but we also have our own stories to share. Let’s hope that’s the next step for Disney, too.