NOT everyone sees their childhood dream become a reality, but Sian Welby is one of the lucky ones.
The This Morning and Capital radio presenter has wanted to be in Toy Story since she was ten.
And Sian says she was so surprised to get the call asking her to be in the new movie that she thought she was being pranked by one of her co-hosts.
In an exclusive interview, the 39-year-old, who voices the Inflatable Flamingo, says: “If you’d told me as a nine or ten-year-old when the very first Toy Story movie came out, that one day I’d have a role in one of the sequels and that I’d be laughing and joking with Tom Hanks, I’d have never believed you.
“If a clairvoyant had predicted it, I’d have said, ‘No way, what a con’.
“I’m from a village in the Midlands with no showbiz connections, without a hope or a prayer of making it in the TV industry so what’s happened to me is just magical.”
Sian and her radio co-host, I’m A Celeb star Jordan North, 36, were talent-spotted by the Disney UK team, who were looking for people to do regional voice cameos.
Jordan plays a Garden Gnome in the film, which will be released in cinemas on Friday.
Sian says: “I honestly thought it was a Capital Radio prank by Jordan and Chris Stark, because we always begin the year telling each other what’s on our bucket list.
“Jordan said he wanted to interview Barack Obama, Chris said he wanted a barbecue with David Beckham and I said I wanted to be a little voice in a Pixar movie.
“Then, in March, I got the call. I was actually a bit angry as I thought, ‘That’s really mean to pretend I’ve got a role in Toy Story as they know it’s my dream’.
“I told my agent the email must be a con but she came back and said, ‘I have double-checked and triple-checked and it’s definitely from Disney’.”
Weeks later Sian, who has presented the flagship breakfast show since 2020 and been a main studio co- host on This Morning since 2024, recorded her voice role.
Then she was given the job of interviewing Tom Hanks, who plays cowboy doll Woody, and Tim Allen — Buzz Lightyear himself — before the film’s premiere last month.
Sian has spoken to many A-list celebrities but giggles as she says: “I grew up watching Tom Hanks in Big and I loved Tim Allen in The Santa Claus.
“These guys are absolute legends and there I was, meeting my heroes.
“I’ve interviewed huge stars like Harrison Ford, and they make you feel on edge the entire time, but Tom and Tim were so nice and warm and giving. They were brilliant.”
And when the duo took to the red carpet, Sian says Oscar-winner Tom treated her like a “full-on co-star”.
She says: “I had chronic imposter syndrome, but he was such a decent man and included us in all the cast photos. He was so welcoming.
“I was in disbelief the whole time and literally felt like a competition winner, but I rem- ember Tom saying to me, ‘You’re in good company, co-star’. We had such a laugh.
“I have to pinch myself most days at the moment. Every week, something else happens where I think, ‘Is this my actual life?’.”
In 2010, Sian, who hails from Newark in Nottinghamshire, would record videos from the New Look store where she worked as a shop assistant to try to get on TV.
One, filmed in the fitting room, was spotted by former Channel 5 boss Richard Desmond and Sian became the station’s lead weather presenter, despite having no experience.
She went on to present Channel 5’s Formula E: Street Racers show about electric car racing before landing a hosting role on Heart FM in 2017.
Instead of feeling over- whelmed when meeting and interviewing high-profile celebrities, Sian has ended up becoming friends with many of them.
Kylie Minogue stayed in touch after they chatted and American actor Chris Pratt even forgave her for giving him an electric shock with a cattle prod.
Sian recalls: “I got on famously with Chris Pratt. There was a scene in the Jurassic Park movie where they use electric shocks on dinosaurs, so we found these mini electric shock things and did a quiz where if you got an answer wrong, you electrocuted each other.
“Chris was like, ‘Sian, I can’t electrocute you’, but I said, ‘You can, because I’m going to get you’, then I gave him a proper zap like you’d feel from a TENS machine when you’re giving birth, and he said, ‘I kind of liked that’, so we carried on.”
Another famous name who got on board with Sian’s sense of mischief was Mariah Carey, who she interviewed a year ago.
Sian says: “I bonded with her and we talked about the fact that she gets followed around with this Mariah Carey lighting rig and gets a lot of jip for it.
“She has this special Mariah Carey light — like a floor light, that lights upwards.
“I said to her, ‘You get a lot of heat for being a diva, but I bet you carry these lights because you’ve had some interviews where you were lit so badly and you felt gross’, and she was, like, ‘I’ve had hundreds’. She was basically saying that she did so many interviews where she felt like she looked awful because of the lighting that she was, like, ‘I’m solving this problem and I’m bringing my own’, and I really applauded it.
“I thought she was actually a very nice person — very sweet. And I don’t know how to phrase this without swearing, but I think that she is just a diva, not a d*ck.
“She’s not awful for the sake of it or difficult for the sake of it, but she’s definitely got high standards.”
The one celebrity who almost made unflappable Sian lose her cool was Bridgerton, Wicked and Jurassic World Rebirth actor Jonathan Bailey, who was voted People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive last year.
Sian says: “Whether you’re boy, girl or beast, there is something about that man. He’s gay, but absolutely everyone fancied him and he’s got the most charming charisma you could ever ask for.
“I was interviewing him for Capital last summer and when he entered the room, I just got lost. I was hanging off every word he said.
“And what was really lovely, too, was that even though he’s been in these massive movies and might have gone all Hollywood, he was just really nice and down to earth.”
Sian has presented at both the Baftas and Brits. Last weekend, she hosted the Capital’s Summertime Ball at Wembley Stadium, which was headlined by acts including Fatboy Slim, Calvin Harris, Raye and former One Direction singer Niall Horan.
But she says her biggest challenge to date is juggling her career with being a mum to her two-year-old daughter, Ruby.
Sian is also planning her wedding to Heart Breakfast producer Jake Beckett, 33.
She says: “I try not to think too much about how I do it, or I’ll have a nervous breakdown.
“There have been moments when I have been physically and emotionally exhausted, and I’ve burst out crying.
“I’ve literally been running from a Timothee Chalamet interview to sort out an explosive nappy at home.”
When she and Jake get married next year, little Ruby will play a key part in the ceremony.
Sian says: “It’s great Ruby will be old enough to be involved. Jake is my biggest fan and I’m his, and we make such a good team. He’s definitely the groomzilla — he’s a man that plans an outfit three months in advance.
“But because my job is so stressful, I’m way more relaxed. I’ve learned to just go with the flow.”
First though, Sian will be celebrating her 40th birthday this September.
Laughing, she says: “It feels like being a proper grown-up and I feel like I have been masquerading as an adult for years. When I look back at my sliding doors moments in my career, it was probably a bit of skill versus luck versus chance versus opportunity.
“As for the future, I still want to be doing radio.
“I’d love to do a big Saturday night TV show and maybe I could co-star in a comedy movie with Tom Hanks.
“We could be the new comedy double act no one saw coming.”