John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar and Walt Disney Animations and the director of the first two "Toy Story" films, revealed during an interview at Disney's D23 Expo that "Toy Story 4" will not be a direct sequel to "Toy Story 3." Instead, it will be a romantic-comedy centered on the search for Bo Peep (Annie Potts). 

Bo Peep was noticeably absent in the third film, believed to have been sold in a yard sale. This absence, however, opened the doors for the fourth film's plot. 

"As we were looking around we came up with this idea because Bo Peep was not in 'Toy Story 3,' and it actually worked beautifully into this... so Woody and Buzz Lightyear go out to find Bo Peep and bring her back, and it's a very special and emotional love story. But it's extremely funny too," Lasseter explained via Collider. 

Lasseter continued to explain that the goal with the fourth title is to make something different instead of re-treading stories that were already told before, a process he stated is applied to all of their projects. He also explained that the plot was partially inspired by his wife's life story. 

"I've been very inspired by my wife Nancy's story in her life before I met her. It's an incredible story," he explained, "and it's been sort of a bit of an inspiration for this." 

According to a report from Empire Online, Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, who also worked on previous films in the franchise, came up with the idea while in a meeting for a different film. The two continued to work on their concept without initially telling anyone at Disney. 

"Toy Story 4" is being directed by Lasseter alongside Josh Cooley who recently helmed the critically-acclaimed "Inside Out," based on a script by Will McCormack and Rashida Jones. The film opens nationwide on June 16, 2017.