Pixar’s New ‘Toy Story’ Short, ‘Lamp Life,’ Finally Explains Where Bo Peep Was During ‘Toy Story 3’

Over the years, Pixar’s Toy Story franchise has proven it can justify the existence of every bit of content it puts out, no matter how extraneous it might seem. Toy Story 4? Check. Forky Asks A Question, a Disney+ series of 3 to 4-minute episodes starring everyone’s favorite piece of existential trash? Check. Keep that in mind when I tell you that there is brand new Toy Story content streaming on Disney+ this very instant.

Lamp Life, a new Pixar original short, is all about Bo Peep’s side of the story in Toy Story 4. If you didn’t see the film, the good news that it will be on Disney+ next week, on February 5. But for now, here’s what you need to know before watching the short. Bo, Woody’s longtime love interest, was almost completely absent from Toy Story 3. She returns as a key figure in Toy Story 4. In the movie, we learn that Bo was one of the toys Andy’s mother gave away, a fate she accepted, but one that Woody wasn’t yet ready to face. When Woody finally reunites with her, Bo has embraced being a “lost toy.” She revels in her freedom and also wears pants now. At first, that’s a lifestyle Woody can’t understand, but eventually, he learns to let go of the past, and face his new future by Bo’s side.

Toy Story 4 is still Woody’s story, so we never really learn what Bo was up to all that time while Buzz and Woody were off nearly dying in a hellish fiery pit in Toy Story 3. (I will never get over that. In a kid’s movie!) That’s where Lamp Life comes in, to fill in the gaps in Bo’s story. Directed by Valerie LaPointe and produced by Marc Sondheimer, the short is only 8 minutes long, but it covers a lot of ground.

“Bo, what happened all that time? Do you ever miss the lamp?” asks Woody, who, by the way, is voiced in this short not by Tom Hanks, but his brother, Jim Hanks.

Bo (voiced by original actor Annie Potts) explains that no, she does miss the bedside lamp of which she is a detachable component. She and her sheep went all over the place—first to a new family, then to the trash, then to a white elephant Christmas party, then to a college dorm, and finally to a shelf in the antique shop. Though she enjoyed her time there, she eventually grew bored, escaped, and ended up in the playground, where Woody would run into her in Toy Story 4. And that’s what you missed on Glee!

Look, is this short necessary? No. But it’s fun to get caught up on the adventures of Bo Peep and live in this just a few minutes longer. And let’s be honest: Eight minutes you can keep your kids happy is eight minutes well spent.

Watch Lamp Life on Disney+