Tom Hanks may be the iconic voice behind Woody in the Toy Story films, but there’s another Hanks family member who has quietly helped bring the beloved cowboy to life for years — his younger brother, Jim Hanks.
In a recent appearance on the Love It podcast, Jim Hanks, 64, revealed that he has frequently stepped in to voice Woody for various Toy Story projects whenever Tom Hanks was unavailable. From video games to talking toys and theme park attractions, Jim has spent years helping maintain the character’s familiar voice outside the main Pixar movies.
According to Jim, one of his earliest Woody jobs involved recording lines for pull-string toys inspired by the original Toy Story film. Because Tom’s movie dialogue had been heavily processed for the toys, producers needed cleaner recordings, leading Jim to step in and recreate the voice.
Over time, Jim became the go-to backup voice for Woody, something he says he feels “immensely grateful” for. He explained that he always tries to stay faithful to Tom’s version of the character so audiences won’t notice a major difference between the two performances.
Still, Jim admitted he added a small personal touch while voicing Woody for Disney California Adventure’s Midway Mania attraction. He said he imagined Woody speaking to children the way a favorite teacher would — warm, energetic, and encouraging.
Joking about the similarities between his brother’s real-life personality and Woody’s voice, Jim laughed, “My Woody is basically my impression of Tom yelling at his kids. ‘Get down from there!’ sounds exactly like ‘Buzz!’”
Jim Hanks also reflected on another famous moment he shared with his brother’s career — serving as Tom’s body double in the 1994 Oscar-winning film Forrest Gump. During many of the movie’s long-distance running scenes, Jim was actually the one on screen whenever Forrest’s face wasn’t clearly visible.
“Pretty much all the running scenes where you can’t see his face, that’s me,” Jim explained. “If you can see the face, then it’s obviously Tom.”
He recalled traveling across multiple states to film the sequences, including Montana, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and Vermont. One moment in particular still stands out to him: while filming a running scene near cows, the animals kept staring directly at the cameras instead of toward him.
Crew members eventually asked Jim to shout and wave while running to distract the cows. Laughing at the memory, he described himself sprinting across the field yelling, “Hey cow! Cow!” while trying to stay in character as Forrest Gump.
While Tom Hanks went on to win his second Academy Award for Forrest Gump, Jim continued building his own acting and production career. He later appeared in films including Buford’s Beach Bunnies and also runs his own production company, Feet First Films.
The Hanks family includes two other siblings as well — brother Larry Hanks, a longtime entomology professor at the University of Illinois, and sister Sandra Hanks.
