Photo Credit: Getty Images
The renowned actress made her first red carpet appearance in 11 years, joining co-stars Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, and Greta Lee at the Toy Story 5 U.K. premiere on May 28 in London.
Joan, who last appeared on the red carpet at Showtime's Emmy Eve celebration in 2015, dressed in a white button-up shirt tucked into a high-waisted black skirt for her first public appearance in over a decade. She finished the appearance with thick-rimmed black glasses.
The 63-year-old's casting as Jessie in Toy Story 5 marks her first acting appearance in six years, having previously appeared as a guest performer on the 2020 sitcom Homecoming. While she has remained out of the spotlight in recent years, she couldn't say no to returning to the Toy Story franchise, especially because the new film focuses so much on her yodeling cowgirl.
“It’s Jessie’s story,” Joan exclaimed during an interview on Virgin Radio UK May 28. “It’s glorious.”
In the new film, which comes out on June 19, Jessie enlists Tom's Woody and Tim's Buzz Lightyear to assist her owner Bonnie in making new friends. And the story was definitely one Joan "could relate to."
"It's hard to make friends when you're eight and a half," she said, noting that it's especially difficult when seeking "the right friends."
And, with Toy Story 5 likely to be released, Joan—who has sons Dylan John, 28, and Miles, 25, with husband Richard Burke—can return to her Chicago-based company, Judy Maxwell Home, which she founded in 2011 while working on the sitcom Shameless in Chicago.
"My children were young, and I didn't want to do acting work because I always had to leave," she told The New Yorker in 2019. "I was trying to think of something to do, because I'm not really a big cooking person."
And, since she was reared outside of Chicago, it seemed like a perfect fit for her.
"I also think, if you're a woman now, it's so fun to have a shop of your own," Joan said. "You hone your instincts in the world, not at home. This is a small laboratory for my own instincts about being in the world."
The business has also provided her a reason to walk away from the spotlight, according to the School of Rock actor that “being a celebrity actress isn’t that fun, over and over.”
“It’s just not that great of a world, except for being exposed to cool sets and talented, interesting people,” she explained. “But this is so fun.”
