Why Josh Sundquist’s Brilliant New Toy Story Halloween Costume Is Literally Impossible for a Two-Legged Person to Wear

Josh Sundquist has officially solved his latest Halloween puzzle by transforming into Forky from Toy Story, utilizing an adaptive structural design engineered specifically around his single-leg silhouette. Sundquist, who lost his leg to cancer at age nine, turned his mobility crutches directly into the beloved spork’s oversized, bright red pipe cleaner arms.

The viral build also marks a major personal milestone for the former Paralympic athlete and motivational speaker. For the first time, he is taking his custom handiwork beyond internet screens and onto neighborhood sidewalks for trick-or-treating in Vero Beach, Florida, alongside his wife Ashley dressed as Woody and their 3-year-old son dressed as Buzz Lightyear.

Sundquist decided to lean into the franchise after seeing Forky featured in Toy Story 5, noticing an instant match between the offbeat character’s geometry and his own adaptive engineering criteria.

Man Who Lost Leg to Cancer Debuts New

Flipping the Script on Adaptive Costumes

A widespread assumption about adaptive outfitting is that designs are meant to disguise an amputation or mimic a two-legged silhouette. Sundquist approaches every build with the exact opposite philosophy.

His defining rule across more than a decade of creations is uncompromising: the concept must feature an illusion that a person with two legs simply could not pull off.

“The goal with my costumes is to always make it visually clear that it would be impossible for a two-legged person to wear.”

That unconventional design mindset first catapulted Sundquist into internet fame back in 2012, when he debuted a viral replica of the iconic fishnet leg lamp from A Christmas Story. Since then, he has expanded the tradition every single October with increasingly intricate pop-culture tributes.

Man Who Lost Leg to Cancer Debuts New

The Engineering Behind the Forky Build

Executing an illusion of this scale requires serious fabrication precision. Sundquist partnered once again with professional costume builder Calen Hoffman, who has engineered his annual concepts since 2020.

In previous years, Hoffman had to rely on a homemade duct-tape cast of Sundquist’s frame. The duo streamlined the manufacturing process by acquiring a display mannequin customized to Sundquist’s exact real-life body measurements.

Solving the Scale and Balance Obstacles

Translating an animated plastic utensil into a wearable, walk-ready suit created immediate structural challenges that had to be resolved during fabrication:

• Proportion Calibration: True-to-animation scaling would have produced a spork head measuring roughly six feet in diameter, forcing the team to downscale the piece to preserve mobility.
• Crutch Integration: Rather than hiding his daily mobility aids, Sundquist integrated the metal crutches to form the structure of Forky’s extended pipe cleaner limbs.
• Visual Uniformity: Hoffman fabricated continuous covers across the forearm cuffs, giving the illusion that Sundquist’s torso flows directly into bent crafting wire.

“The head would’ve been — I can’t remember the exact number — six feet across? It was wildly impractical. So it was trying to figure out, what’s the biggest head that still gives us that spork appearance?”

Man Who Lost Leg to Cancer Debuts New

Sparking Creativity for the Next Generation

Beyond the laughs and viral impressions, Sundquist is using his high-profile platform to normalize disability and spark creative self-expression. He routinely fields notes from parents of children with physical differences who draw confidence from seeing mobility aids reimagined as art.

Sundquist is now actively inviting fans and families to submit design pitches for future projects. His long-term goal is to make adaptive costume blueprints repeatable and accessible for kids everywhere.

Sharing the experience on the street with his son brings that lifelong mission full circle, giving real-world purpose to a tradition once confined to social feeds.

Man Who Lost Leg to Cancer Debuts New

✨ Sundquist’s annual tradition proves that physical differences can become the ultimate foundation for world-class creativity.

💬 Seeing everyday mobility devices transformed into cartoon classics shows how much perspective can shift with a little humor.

📱 Drop your thoughts in the comments below: Which of Josh Sundquist’s adaptive costume transformations has been your all-time favorite?

👇 Share this with fellow Pixar fans who love to see engineering and storytelling come together.