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In Infinity War, Dr. Strange's last statement to Tony is "Tony, there was no other way."
What did he actually mean in Endgame?
Was he referring to whether only Tony can invent the time travel formula or how he can invent his own gauntlet or some other thing?
We all know that Doctor Strange saw 14,000,605 futures including the one where they win. Near the end of Infinity War, he gave the time stone to Thanos when he was about to kill Tony. He must have seen that Tony will be the one who will invent the time travel formula and build a second Infinity Gauntlet (of course with help of Professor Hulk) and will then snap Thanos and his army in Endgame.
That's why he saved Tony in IW. In Endgame, when Tony and Strange look at each other after Captain Marvel got punched by Thanos, we can also see Strange pointing that this is the one future where they defeat Thanos.
What did Doctor Strange mean by the last thing he said in Infinity War?
Doctor Strange was talking about all the realities where he doesn't give Thanos the time stone. We never see them and don't know what they are, but presumably no matter what else Doctor Strange does, Thanos still gets all six stones and does the snap.
The only futures where the Avengers achieve victory was the one in Endgame. After Thanos does the snap and destroys the stones, quantum particles are used to fuel time travel and gather the stones for an "undo snap" and eradicating Thanos and his armies.
Dr Strange will have seen that in every possible future, Thanos will gain all 6 infinity stones, and the only way to snap everyone back will be to gather the stones from history.
Whatever happens, Thanos would get the time stone from Dr Strange, but the only way the Ancient One will hand over the time stone is if Dr Strange gave it away willingly. Therefore, Strange handing over the time stone was the only way.
