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Keanu Reeves is getting in the animation game. The actor has built a long and storied over the decades, but he's never lent his voice to a studio animation project -- until now. We caught up with Reeves at the junket for his upcoming sci-fi film Replicas and the actor confirmed he's voicing a character in Pixar's upcoming Toy Story 4.

In November, Toy Story headliner Tim Allen stopped byThe Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and revealed that the John Wick actor had joined the cast. “They really will surprise you with the toys they came up with,” Allen said. “Characters came back, new guys in it that are great. Keanu Reeves has got a great part.”

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Image via Pixar

When we spoke with Reeves, the actor talked about how he landed the role and working with the creators, "I got a call which was really cool out the blue from the lovely people at Pixar and the creators of this number, this edition, or continuation of the story. They pitched the character to me and then we spoke and they allowed me to kind of riff on it." Reeves says he's done four recording sessions for the film so far.

Naturally, Reeves is keeping mum about what part he plays in the film -- after all, the film's story in general is a bit of a mystery still and seems to evolved pretty significantly from when the project was first announced.  At that time, John Lasseter was poised to direct and was teasing a “romantic comedy” storyline that involved Woody (Tom Hanks) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts). However, in the years since the film was announced, Toy Story 4’s original screenwriters (Rashida Jones and Will McCormack) departed the projected, Lasseter stepped down as director and Josh Cooley took over, and Lasseter left Pixar altogether this year.

We do know that the film will introduce a character called "Forky", voiced by Tony Hale, who is a spork made to look like a toy, but who goes through an existential crisis as a result—is he a toy, or is he a utensil? While we don't know much about the character Reeves is playing, Allen revealed that his character will be a bit intense, and a bit like Buzz Lightyear. Allen said, “Actually, a little inside story: Even [Reeves] said — gentle, wonderful guy that he is — ‘This sounds too much like Buzz Lightyear.’ And his character does have an edge to that. And the guy said, ‘So we calmed him down a little bit,’ and they reminded me his toy is only that big.”

The film also stars Tom HanksJoan CusackDon RicklesEstelle Harris, Wallace Shawn, John RatzenbergerJeff Pidgeon, Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key and Blake ClarkToy Story 4 hits theaters on June 21, 2019.

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Image via Saban Films

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