Man Was 9 When He Lost His Leg to Cancer. As an Adult, He Celebrates Halloween by Making Costumes Only He Could Wear (Exclusive)
Man Was 9 When He Lost His Leg to Cancer. As an Adult, He Celebrates Halloween by Making Costumes Only He Could Wear (Exclusive)
Abigail AdamsThu, October 29, 2026 at 10:25 AM UTC
0
Josh Sundquist exclusively revealed to PEOPLE he is dressing up as Forky from the ‘Toy Story’ franchise for Halloween in 2026.Credit: Josh Sundquist -
Josh Sundquist has exclusively revealed to PEOPLE that he will be transforming into Forky from Toy Story for his annual adaptive Halloween costume
This year, Sundquist says he will be joined by his wife and their 3-year-old son, who will dress as Woody and Buzz Lightyear, respectively
Sundquist hopes his costumes inspire both adults and children with disabilities to embrace creative self-expression
After more than a decade, Josh Sundquist is still cranking out creative, adaptive costumes for Halloween.
This year, the motivational speaker and author exclusively tells PEOPLE his latest inspiration comes from the hit film series Toy Story — it’s Forky!
And this time around, it will be a family affair. Sundquist’s wife Ashley and their 3-year-old son will accompany him dressed as Woody and Buzz Lightyear, respectively, as they celebrate their first Halloween at their new home in Vero Beach, Fla.
Sundquist says his son is a big fan of the Toy Story franchise and being able to share this moment with him is thrilling.
“To have that layer of fun or whimsy with the costumes in real life, not just on the internet, is a fun development in my Halloween saga,” he says.
Josh Sundquist will be joined this Halloween by his wife Ashley and their 3-year-old son, who will dress up as Woody and Buzz Lightyear, respectively.Credit: Josh Sundquist
Sundquist was just 9 years old when he lost his leg to cancer. As an adult, the former paralympic athlete began making his own Halloween costumes that adapted to his disability, and in 2012, the former Paralympic athlete went viral after dressing up as the leg lamp from the movie A Christmas Story.
Each year since then, Sundquist has come up with a creative adaptive costume.
Some of Sundquist’s most well-known costumes include the Pixar lamp, the Genie from Aladdin, an inflatable tube man and Tigger from Winne the Pooh.
One thing that’s consistent between all the designs? As he told PEOPLE in 2024, the goal with his costumes is to always “make it visually clear that it would be impossible for a two-legged person to wear.”
This year, Sundquist originally had a different Halloween costume in mind, but after Forky reappeared in Toy Story 5, Sundquist jumped on the opportunity.
And since his son also happens to be a big Toy Story too, Sundquist will get an opportunity to do something he has never done before.
“It’s such a different layer of meaning to doing a costume, to know we’re going to go trick-or-treating and he will wear this costume,” says Sundquist, who has not always had a traditional venue to show off his work.
Josh Sundquist went viral as the leg lamp from ‘A Christmas Story’ in 2012.Credit: Josh Sundquist
Sundquist has been working with the same costume maker, Calen Hoffman, since 2020.
Advertisement
In years past, Hoffman used a duct tape mannequin version of Sunquist’s body to help create the costume. But last year, the pair found a real mannequin online with Sunquist’s exact proportions to work with.
The biggest challenge this year, he says, was making Forky’s arms and head proportionate to his body.
— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
“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?” he explains.
As for the arms, Sundquist wanted to integrate his crutches in a seamless way. “Most of my costumes don’t involve the crutches, but they are a part of how I get around, and I like the idea of them being a part of what makes the costume unique or makes it something that only I could wear,” he says.
“So I was really excited about how Forky’s arms are disproportionately long,” he continues, adding, “that gave me a perfect opportunity to integrate the crutches and just make the crutches an extension of my real arms and try to give it the illusion of being all one pipe cleaner.”
Josh Sundquist wants to “actively promote” adaptive Halloween costumes, like his, moving forward.Credit: Josh Sundquist
Since going viral for his first costume over a decade ago, Sundquist says he has been recognized for his costume work more and more each year — and that he feels his work has helped change many people’s associations with what it means to be an amputee in a positive way.
“I love that if someone sees an amputee and instead feels this remembrance of a spark of creativity or humor,” he explains. “That feels to me like the costumes are something more than just funny images, that they have an actual positive effect on people.”
Josh Sundquist has also dressed up as Tigger from ‘Winnie the Pooh’ and an inflatable tube man for Halloween in the past.Credit: Josh Sundquist
Sundquist has also thought a lot about how his creative costumes have had an impact on the disability community — especially children — and hopes they can serve as a “positive example” for them.
“I love hearing from families who have a kid with a disability or special needs to whom the costumes are meaningful,” he tells PEOPLE.
Now, Sundquist wants to “actively promote adaptive costumes,” and encourages anybody to send him their costume ideas so he can amplify their voices and ideas, and “hopefully start empowering the next generation of people like me.”
“I have no plans to stop doing this, but someday I won’t,” he says. “So shouldn’t we be making this replicable for other kids and families and giving them not just inspiration that they can feel good about, but direct inspiration of a way that they can follow this same process and hopefully experience similar benefits for themselves?”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
