Matty Matheson just wants to hang with Tom Hanks
The Toy Story 5 voice actor is desperate for some Tommy Time
Matty Matheson may be the biggest thing to come out of the Toronto food scene since sushi pizza, but there’s big in The Six and then there’s Tom Hanks big—and the guy who sometimes goes by “big dog” is still working to get behind that second velvet rope.
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Backstory: After parlaying his career in kitchens into an acting career on The Bear, Matheson made a pivot to voice work (a pretty logical one given his rather unique vocal timbre that sounds a bit like an excited frog imitating a record scratch). Last year he played a loveable confection named Cookie Bobby in the Gabby’s Dollhouse movie. Now he’s following up with a role in Toy Story 5, which hits theatres today.
Matheson plays Dr. Nutcase, a rebellious peanut who “blows his whistle on big tech,” which is how he described his character during a recent appearance on The Tonight Show. Speaking with Jimmy Fallon, Matheson explained how he couldn’t quite believe his fortune, joking that his initial instinct was to offer to pay them for the gig. Granted, he assumed that meeting Toy Story grandhomme Tom Hanks would be part of the deal.
“I’m waiting—I’m like Tom’s gonna be here for sure,” Matheson said, of arriving at a recording studio in Buffalo only to learn that the most decorated living actor does not necessarily show up to record voice work with every animated doll, stuffed animal or—in Matheson’s case—legume. Fast forward to the movie’s world premiere last week in LA: Matheson was on the red carpet and assumed this would finally be his chance to pal around with you know who.
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But once again, it was a case of Hankus Interruptus when the group shot Matheson was banking on never happened. Or at least it didn’t happen with him (Hanks did do some posing with fellow Toy Story vets Tim Allen and Joan Cusack).
Chin up Matty, there’s always Toy Story 6! (And chin down, Mr. Hanks: there is an exuberant Canadian “chefspian” who reallllllly wants some Tommy Time).
Courtney Shea is a freelance journalist in Toronto. She started her career as an intern at Toronto Life and continues to contribute frequently to the publication, including her 2022 National Magazine Award–winning feature, “The Death Cheaters,” her regular Q&As and her recent investigation into whether Taylor Swift hung out at a Toronto dive bar (she did not). Courtney was a producer and writer on the 2022 documentary The Talented Mr. Rosenberg, based on her 2014 Toronto Life magazine feature “The Yorkville Swindler.”
