Toy Story 5 (Pixar) (2026)

[Jake Lipson]

Title: Toy Story 5

Release: 2026-06-19

Plot: Plot unknown.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Bob Iger just confirmed that another Toy Story movie is "in the works."

‘Frozen’, ’Toy Story’ & ‘Zootopia’ Sequels In The Works, Disney CEO Bob Iger Says

Animated sequels to ‘Toy Story,’ ‘Frozen’ and ‘Zootopia ‘are in the works, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced on the February 8 Q1 earnings call.

deadline.com

The forum software wanted a release date to make the thread, so I added today's date. Obviously, that is not the case. I will update the release date whenever Disney announces more information.

 

[Sam Favate]

I knew Woody would be back!

 

[John Sparks]

...you just can't keep a Woody down!

 

[Jake Lipson]

I knew Woody would be back!

This is a potential problem for me. The ending with Woody going with Bo was so perfect. I don't know how you do another movie without Bonnie's toys seeing Woody again. But I also think that the ending of the fourth movie must be protected. For Woody to just change his mind and go back to Bonnie's room would diminish the terrific character work done with him to get him to the point where he could put his own happiness first. I really, really don't want them to walk that decision back.

That being said, I was also apprehensive about Toy Story 4 before it was released and I thought it was perfect. So fingers crossed they can do it again.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Toy $tory $

 

[Jeff Cooper]

This is a potential problem for me. The ending with Woody going with Bo was so perfect. I don't know how you do another movie

To be fair, this is what everyone said about Toy Story 3's ending, too.

 

[Lord Dalek]

To be fair, this is what everyone said about Toy Story 3's ending, too.

Yeah and for that reason 4 should have never happned (even if it was still pretty decent in the end) in the first place.

 

[Malcolm R]

Will be interested to see how this does in theaters given that most of the family audience is conditioned that Pixar movies are now made for D+, and Lightyear was a theatrical bomb ($200 million production budget vs. $226 million worldwide gross). TS5 would be the most likely "sure thing" in the Pixar/Disney arsenel.

I know some like to trot out a COVID excuse for Lightyear's low performance, but Minions 2 blasted off with an opening weekend of over $107 million just two weeks later. So the family audience was perfectly willing to go to theaters at that time.

 

[Edwin-S]

To me, Lightyear and Strange World bombed because both films introduced a character trait that Disney's family target audience didn't want their kids exposed to with even the slightest reference.

 

[Todd Erwin]

Will be interested to see how this does in theaters given that most of the family audience is conditioned that Pixar movies are now made for D+, and Lightyear was a theatrical bomb ($200 million production budget vs. $226 million worldwide gross).

Actually, I think they are more conditioned to the "I'll wait for it on Disney+" attitude based on the failures of both Lightyear and Strange World.

 

[Jake Lipson]

To be fair, this is what everyone said about Toy Story 3's ending, too.

That's why I said in the post that you quoted:

That being said, I was also apprehensive about Toy Story 4 before it was released and I thought it was perfect. So fingers crossed they can do it again.

The difference here is that Toy Story 3 did not end with Woody being separated from the rest of the group.

To me, Lightyear and Strange World bombed because both films introduced a character trait that Disney's family target audience didn't want their kids exposed to with even the slightest reference.

So did the live-action Beauty and the Beast, and that made a billion dollars. So did all three of the MCU movies Disney released last year. It is unquestionably true that some audience members avoided Lightyear and Strange World because of the gay and lesbian characters, respectively. (Edit: I should have switched around that wording.). But I don't think that explains everyone who didn't go.

I know some like to trot out a COVID excuse for Lightyear's low performance, but Minions 2 blasted off with an opening weekend of over $107 million just two weeks later. So the family audience was perfectly willing to go to theaters at that time.

I will defend Lightyear any day because I loved that movie. It is my favorite movie of last year and the only one I went to the theater for three times. But the reason it did poorly is because the majority of audiences weren't interested in a different version of Buzz. It presented a different setting and situation than we had seen from the toy. Toy Story 5 will not have that problem.

Minions had a month-long theatrical window, the same as Strange World and a little bit less than Lightyear. But people went to it because they love that series and responded to the Minions characters. I think it is a pretty good bet that people will show up to Toy Story 5 because of their affection for the previous films.

 

[Edwin-S]

So did the live-action Beauty and the Beast, and that made a billion dollars. So did all three of the MCU movies Disney released last year. It is unquestionably true that some audience members avoided Lightyear and Strange World because of the gay and lesbian characters, respectively. But I don't think that explains everyone who didn't go.

I don't think "Beauty and The Beast" is a good example to use, because the character was depicted as a stereotypical burlesque character played for laughs. He was a ridiculous character that was non-threatening to quite a few of Disney's target audience beliefs.

The examples in the later two films are treating.the characters as mainstream and normal. The MCU films are aimed at a broader audience target than the typical.family audience that Disney's animated films are aimed at, so I don't see them as relevant examples.

I'm not saying that all of the box office problems were attributable to the character traits highlighted in LY and SW, but I think there is a high liklihiod of target audience families staying away because the two Gay characters were depicted as normal, adjusted, human beings and not stereotypical caricatures.

 

[Edwin-S]

It would be interesting to see how the views of those two films on D+ compare to their other animated films of the last couple of years.

All I figure is that the brain matrer of a large number of parents from Disney's core target audience for their animated films would be all.over the walls from their heads exploding if they caught their kids watching Paranormal Park on NetFlix.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Whatever the case, I'm certainly far more interested in a Toy Story 5 than Lightyear... although I did end up buying the Lightyear 4K disc largely because it (along w/ a few other recent-ish MCU/Disney releases) was deeply discounted for BF shopping season, which is rather unusual for a Pixar 4K release, especially so soon after its release no less -- of course, same for the other recent-ish MCU/Disney 4Ks I bought. I probably wouldn't bother buying Lightyear otherwise (as I don't anymore for some other middling Disney offerings) particularly since I expect to be a (more or less) regular D+ subscriber for the foreseeable future...

Yeah, I do wonder if the shine for this iteration of the franchise will finally wear off (too much) though...

_Man_

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

To be fair, this is what everyone said about Toy Story 3's ending, too.

Not me, I never thought TS3 had a great ending, or even was great, it was just a toy remake of a WW2 prison camp story, and I was suprised how people loved it so much. TS4, on the other hand, was really great, and doesn't need a sequel.
But that is just me, probably not target audience ...

 

[Jake Lipson]

TS4, on the other hand, was really great, and doesn't need a sequel.

As usual, I think that depends on what they do with it. Although I have expressed reservations about it here and mean them, it is always possible that the people at Pixar have cracked another really worthwhile story with these characters. I certainly hope that is the case and am rooting for the film to be fantastic.

 

[Malcolm R]

Given that a whole slew of sequels were announced by Iger at a shareholder meeting, it reeks of money grubbing rather than "hey, we have a great story we want to tell."

Most likely they're just now starting to think up a story and write since Iger has decreed that they're making another.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I'm not sure I would make that assumption. Iger obviously announced them now to have some good news for the shareholders, but I don't think that means they are inherently creatively bereft. Certainly, a fifth one a could be cash grab sequel, but none of its predecessors were that, so I'm choosing to be cautiously optimistic.

We'll see when the movies come out. The earliest possible date for Toy Story 5 would probably be 2025 because Pixar already announced two other films, including an Inside Out sequel, for 2024. The fact that he didn't actually announce release dates for these yet suggests to me that they are committed to working on them rather than rushing them to make a date, and that's good.