Toy Story 5

Background

In May 2019, producer Mark Nielsen said Pixar was returning its focus to making original films instead of sequels after Toy Story 4 for a while.^[18] On the May 22, 2019, episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Tom Hanks, the voice of Woody, stated that the fourth main film was the final film in the series. He said Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, had "warned him about the emotional final goodbye between their characters Woody and Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 4."^[19] However, Nielsen did not rule out the possibility of a fifth main film and said later that month, "Every film we make, we treat it like it's the first and the last film we're ever going to make, so you force yourself to make it hold up. You don't get in over your skis. Whether there's another one? I don't know. If there is, it's tomorrow's problem."^[20]

In February 2023, during the Q1 earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed that a fifth main film in the Toy Story franchise was in active development.^[21] It would be the first main film in the series without any involvement from co-creator John Lasseter, who left Pixar during the development of Toy Story 4 in late 2018.^[22][23][24] In June 2023, Pixar's chief creative officer Pete Docter confirmed Woody's return in the film.^[25] The following year, Docter named Andrew Stanton, who co-wrote the first four Toy Story films, to be the director of Toy Story 5, and Kenna Harris as the co-director.^[26][27][28] At the D23 event in August 2024, Docter announced Stanton's writing contributions to the film in addition to his directorial effort.^[29]

Animation

Visual effects supervisor Thomas Jordan said filmmakers did not use artificial intelligence during production. "We're learning about it, and we have done experiments with it, but so far nothing lives up to the standards or expectations that we have for the quality of our films," Jordan explained.^[30]

Pixar used a new version of its rendering software, RenderMan XPU, for the first time on a feature film. XPU, a new renderer that can use both CPUs and GPUs concurrently, enabled artists to see "nine times faster speeds for interactive, full-frame rendering".^[31] The Luna extension for Presto, Pixar's core 3D animation system, was first used in Pixar's previous film, Hoppers, and expanded for Toy Story 5. Luna allowed lighting artists to work across multiple shots at once. For instance, if the position of the sun was moved in one shot, the effect was immediately replicated across a grid of shots.^[31]

Daffodil, a horse character, took more than a year to build, rig and simulate.^[31] Pixar brought a real horse to its campus for animators to study and developed a new animation technology they called "invertible rigging".^[30][31] Pixar CTO Steve May explained, "The idea is that you can do direct manipulation, inverse and forward kinematics, with every control in the character. You can bend a finger or pull it, move the hand, then pull the elbow and shoulder with it, solve the way feet make contact with the ground and make the ankles roll. Riggers no longer need to build unique controls for special manipulation."^[31]

Another breakthrough was the curly hair of a new character, Blaze. While previous Pixar characters had long and loose curls, Blaze's tight curls required more detail and complexity.^[30] Jordan said the system developed for Blaze's hair enabled greater diversity in future Pixar films. Co-director Kenna Harris said animators relied on Black colleagues' opinions to ensure Blaze's hair looked and behaved authentically in different scenes.^[32]

By June 2026, Variety reported that the film had a $250 million production budget.^[2]

Casting and recording

Shortly after the film's official announcement in February 2023, Allen confirmed he was returning to voice Buzz Lightyear.^[5] In September, Tom Hanks' brother Jim Hanks confirmed his brother's return as the voice of Woody.^[4] Allen revealed in mid-December 2024 that he had begun recording his dialogue and said that the story was "really good".^[33] In January 2025, it was reported that Anna Faris was cast in an undisclosed role.^[34] In April, Ernie Hudson was announced to be voicing Combat Carl, taking over the role from the late Carl Weathers.^[12] Later that month, Hanks revealed that he had begun recording his lines.^[35] In May, Conan O'Brien joined the cast as a new character named Smarty Pants,^[36] with Joan Cusack returning to voice Jessie.^[10] She was verified the following month.^[8] In August, Tony Hale confirmed his return as Forky from Toy Story 4, having recorded dialogue in July.^[15] Later that month, it was reported Faris was voicing Lilypad.^[37] However, it was revealed on November 11, 2025, that Lilypad was instead being voiced by Greta Lee.^[9] Faris later denied her involvement in the film.^[38] On November 21, 2025, Allen finished recording his lines for the film.^[39]

Themes

Toy Story 5 deals with children increasingly eschewing traditional toys in favor of touchscreen devices like tablets.^[40] Jessie admits that she is "losing Bonnie to this device".^[41] Director Andrew Stanton explained that the film is a "realisation of an existential problem: that nobody's really playing with toys anymore" and asks what increasing screen time means for children.^[42] The toys must confront what it means to stay relevant when technology reshapes playtime.^[43]

Marketing

The film's opening scene was previewed at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 13, 2025, and at Destination D23 on August 30, 2025,^[8] where Pete Docter described the film's log line as "Toy meets Tech".^[53][54][37] The teaser trailer was released in November 2025 and amassed 142 million views within 24 hours.^[55] The film had a red-carpet launch event at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London on May 28, 2026.^[56][57][58]

Box office

As of June 20, 2026, Toy Story 5 grossed $17.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $26 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $43.5 million.^[3]

Critical response

Toy Story 5 received positive reviews from critics, with praise for its visuals, voice performances, humor and themes, while criticism was directed at its script and message.^[59] Opinions were divided on whether the film justified its existence, with some critics arguing the franchise "felt exhausted".^[60] On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Toy Story 5 has an approval rating of 93% based on 199 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Proving that old toys can learn new tricks while reckoning with an era of endless screen time, Toy Story 5 largely sidesteps franchise fatigue by reaffirming that children everywhere still got a friend in these lovable characters."^[61] Metacritic, another review aggregator which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, gave the film a score of 73 out of 100 based on 49 critics.^[62] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.^[63]

David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a B+, but wrote it was "often scattered to a degree that leaves even its central plot somewhat undercooked" and "adding another 30 or so characters to it in one fell swoop."^[64] Owen Gleiberman of Variety compared the five-film Toy Story saga to the catalog of the Beatles, arguing that all the films worked together as a unified masterpiece. He described Toy Story 5 as the equivalent of the band's later-career triumph, praising it as a "sublime summing up" of everything the series has explored.^[65] Odie Henderson of The Boston Globe wrote the film "wrings new life out of its lore by making this installment Jessie's journey", but did not follow through on its "initial thesis that technology has turned humankind into a bunch of cruel, narcissistic zombies who can't imagine life without a screen to stare at all day."^[66] Clint Gage of IGN wrote Woody was not needed for the film, but it "managed to pull off an adventurous and resonant conclusion."^[67] Conversely, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it two out of five stars. He wrote the franchise "needs new batteries," adding that "it is played out and IP exhaustion has set in."^[68]