Everything to know about ‘Toy Story 5': the Pixar franchise returns June 2026 with new themes and familiar faces
According to early details shared by the filmmakers, Toy Story 5 will explore the role of toys in an age dominated by screens. Bonnie, last seen as a young child in Toy Story 3, is now eight years old and spending more of her time with a new tech tablet she's named Lillypad. Her growing attachment to the device has led to a gradual disinterest in her traditional toys, sparking an identity crisis among her longtime favorites. The situation comes to a head with the arrival of Lilly, a sleek, voice-interactive AI character who quickly becomes the center of Bonnie's attention.
More from GoldDerby
Oscar winner Zoe Saldaña on Pixar's first Mexican-Dominican animated lead in 'Elio': 'The future of America are Latinos'
'There's no skimming a Wes Anderson script': 'The Phoenician Scheme' cast on working with the director
How Zoe Saldaña helped shape Pixar's upcoming film 'Elio'
Meanwhile, Woody (Tom Hanks) —who chose to live as a 'lost toy' with Bo Peep (Annie Potts) at the end of Toy Story 4 — is drawn back into the fold as the situation with Bonnie escalates. His return reunites him with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the rest of the gang. While details about the film's central quest are still under wraps, the thematic undercurrents reflect a growing concern shared by many parents and creators: what happens to imagination when screen time takes over?
A sneak peek of the film's opening scene was shown during a presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. According to The Wrap, the scene begins with a first-person POV shot that mirrors the original Toy Story film — this time from the perspective of a Buzz Lightyear action figure waking up on a mysterious, deserted island. Surrounding him are dozens of other Buzz figures, each outfitted with glowing LED screens. As they attempt to reestablish contact with "Star Command," the sequence builds to a haunting yet playful campfire moment, where the Buzzes chant 'Star Command' under the night sky.
Several familiar voices will return for the latest chapter, including Hanks, Allen, and Cusack, who will be joined by newcomers Ernie Hudson, who steps into the role of Combat Carl following the death of Carl Weathers, and Conan O'Brien, who lends his voice to a new character named Smarty Pants.
Also at Annecy, Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter previewed not only Toy Story 5 but also teased what's next for the studio. In addition to showcasing footage from their upcoming 2025 release Elio, Docter offered a first look at Gatto, a new original feature slated for summer 2027. Directed by the team behind Luca, Gatto takes place in Italy and centers on a mysterious black cat named Nero. The announcement underscores Pixar's dual commitment to franchise storytelling and original content—a balancing act the studio has managed for years with critical and box office success.
With Toy Story 5, Pixar is returning to its roots while asking timely questions about growing up, moving on, and the ever-changing definition of play. If early glimpses are any indication, the film aims to capture the emotional resonance that made its predecessors beloved by audiences of all ages, while reimagining what a toy's purpose can be in a digital world.
Veteran Pixar director Andrew Stanton is at the helm and McKenna Harris joining as codirector.
Also at Annecy, Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter previewed not only Toy Story 5 but also teased what's next for the studio. In addition to showcasing footage from their upcoming 2025 release Elio, Docter offered a first look at Gatto, a new original feature slated for summer 2027. Directed by the team behind Luca, Gatto takes place in Italy and centers on a mysterious black cat named Nero. The announcement underscores Pixar's dual commitment to franchise storytelling and original content — a balancing act the studio has managed for years with critical and box-office success.
With Toy Story 5, Pixar is returning to its roots while asking timely questions about growing up, moving on, and the ever-changing definition of play. If early glimpses are any indication, the film aims to capture the emotional resonance that made its predecessors beloved by audiences of all ages, while reimagining what a toy's purpose can be in a digital world.
Best of GoldDerby
'It almost killed me': Horror maestro Mike Flanagan looks back at career-making hits from 'Gerald's Game' to 'Hill House' to 'Life of Chuck'
Stephen King movies: 14 greatest films ranked worst to best
'The Life of Chuck' cast reveal their favorite Stephen King works, including Mark Hamill's love of the 'terrifying' 'Pet Sematary'
Click here to read the full article.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Magazine
2 days ago
- Time Magazine
Sorry, 'First Steps,' But No Fantastic Four Movie Has Lived Up to 'The Incredibles'
The critical consensus on The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that, finally, they made a good Fantastic Four movie. The previous attempts to bring Marvel's First Family to the big screen—a low-budget unreleased Roger Corman movie, a pair of middling films in the '00s, and Josh Trank's universally panned 2015 movie—were all failures, and while First Steps isn't by any means perfect, it's the closest thing we've gotten to a great Fantastic Four movie. Except, that's not really the case, because there was an incredible Fantastic Four movie just over 20 years ago. It just wasn't technically a Fantastic Four movie. The argument that Pixar's 2004 masterpiece The Incredibles is not-so-secretly a Fantastic Four film is hardly a new one, though it seems especially relevant in the wake of the original foursome making a high-profile, high-stakes, and warmly received (or at least warmly enough) entrance into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The similarities between the Incredibles and the Fantastic Four are obvious; both are families of four people who all have superpowers, including one person with the ability to stretch, another who can turn invisible and make forcefields, and a big strong guy. It's not a one-to-one match; Fantastic Four have the Human Torch while The Incredibles' Dash has superspeed. The relations are different, too, as The Incredibles focuses on two parents and their two kids while the Fantastic Four consist of a husband, his wife, his brother-in-law, and his best friend. Brad Bird, who wrote and directed the Pixar film, didn't set out to explicitly make a movie about the Fantastic Four with the serial numbers filed off, and indeed The Incredibles is much more than just that. The Fantastic Four, one of the most famous superhero teams around, are an obvious influence, and there are shades of the X-Men, James Bond-esque spy antics, and Alan Moore's seminal comic Watchmen. (Bird claims he hadn't read Watchmen prior to penning The Incredibles, making it a coincidence that both plots involve superheroes in hiding after the government outlaws vigilantism.) To call The Incredibles a knock-off of any specific superhero story rather than a broad homage is to do the Oscar-winning movie a disservice, especially considering it came out four years before the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the truly modern era of superhero cinema as it exists today. Still, it's the Fantastic Four who seem like the most natural point of comparison to the Incredibles. The makers of the 2005 Fantastic Four movie certainly thought so; there were reports that they had to reshoot the ending of the live-action movie because they worried the cartoon had already outdone them. First Steps almost seems like it's copying The Incredibles; the movie is set in its own corner of the MCU's multiverse on a retro-futuristic world that very much resembles the stylish mid-century modern vibes of The Incredibles. Composer Michael Giacchino provided the music to both films, and in an interview Giacchino admitted that it was a challenge for him to differentiate the two scores. The Incredibles is the secret benchmark that Fantastic Four films need to try to live up to, and it's an incredibly high one. Certainly in the conversation for the title of "Pixar's best film," The Incredibles is a rollicking superhero adventure that also digs deeply into familial dynamics, touching on fears of infidelity, the way marriages change, and the way kids fight with their parents (and each other). Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) misses the thrill of crime-fighting so he goes behind his wife Elastigirl's back and accepts a moonlighting superhero gig. But when his employer, Syndrome (Jason Lee), reveals himself to be a spurned would-be sidekick who now wants to make it so no one is super (except him, of course), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) and their kids Violet (Sarah Vowell) and Dash (Spencer Fox) must come to his rescue—and get the whole costumed family doing good together. The Incredibles is a remarkably standalone story. All of its influences are just that, influences, rather than homework. You basically just need to know that superhero fiction exists and have the vaguest awareness of the core tropes to enjoy The Incredibles, and even then you'd probably be fine going in with a blank slate. Compare that to The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is going to great lengths to attempt to be a standalone story. Despite being the 37th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—a franchise that is clearly straining under the weight of its own continuity—First Steps takes place in an alternate reality. There are no shared characters, previous plot developments to be aware of, or even any Easter eggs connecting First Steps to the main MCU, and even though the foursome will eventually join the rest of the Avengers in Doomsday, out next year, the film ends without any multiversal voyages. Instead, we meet Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm (Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn) four years after they got their superpowers and watch them save the planet (and Reed and Sue's newborn son) from a powerful planet-eater known as Galactus. It's a grander plot than The Incredibles and it's executed more sloppily, but the focus is clearly intended to be on this family rather than a larger cinematic universe. And yet the looming specter of a continuity and questions about how the Fantastic Four fit into the MCU loom over First Steps. Even more oppressive is the sense that, for as much as First Steps tries in its aesthetic and with its marketing to tell audiences that it's a breezy, new kind of superhero movie, First Steps is sweaty. Fantastic Four needed to be good and do really well at the box office to help the MCU recover after an ongoing fallow period in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. It's a crucial pivot for the biggest franchise in the world, a superhero movie that's all-but explicitly tasked with reversing superhero fatigue. Meanwhile, The Incredibles is a breath of fresh air; a superhero movie made before costumed crime-fighters reached total cinematic and cultural saturation. (It helps that The Incredibles was made by Pixar during the studio's golden era that saw some of its best creative output. Marvel Studios, meanwhile, is tired and on the backfoot.) To mix superhero metaphors, the kryptonite of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is that it's following in another movie's footsteps. First Steps is a fine enough movie that's under a lot of pressure and scrutiny; The Incredibles is an unburdened masterpiece with similar characters, a similar look, some similar themes, and a similar score. Maybe that's OK, though—another similarity they have is that they're both owned by Disney. You'll be able to watch either of them on Disney+ soon enough.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
What Are The Bad Guys 2's Box Office Predictions?
The animated sequel to the 2022 hit, The Bad Guys, The Bad Guys 2, is nearly here, and the early box office prediction numbers are already out. With the strong performance of the previous movie, The Bad Guys 2 will have a head start. But is that enough to ensure a successful haul? How much is The Bad Guys 2 predicted to make at the box office? Box Office Pro predicts that The Bad Guys 2 will open with a weekend haul ranging from $25 million to $35 million. Industry analysts consider this strong for an animated sequel. However, they note that the numbers might have climbed higher with a different release window. The Bad Guys had a $23.9 million domestic opening and a $97.4 million domestic total. The studio released it in April, which is typically a favorable month for animated films. Changing release schedules has not worked well for many films in the past, and this strategy could pose a risk for The Bad Guys 2. However, a summer release would have meant competing with the highly anticipated Minecraft movie. The current release window offers relatively less competition. One factor that could benefit the upcoming Universal Pictures release is its position in the release schedule. It will be the first animated film to hit theaters since Pixar's Elio. The movie is made on a budget of $80 million and will require a significant haul to be considered profitable. The Bad Guys 2 features an ensemble cast that includes Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, and Alex Borstein, among others. The synopsis for the movie reads, 'The Bad Guys 2 follows the crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws who are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys. However, they're pulled out of retirement and forced to do 'one last job' by an all-female squad of criminals.' It will premiere on August 1, 2025. Stay tuned for more updates. Solve the daily Crossword
Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Buzz Feed
Pixar Movies Screenshot Trivia Quiz — BuzzFeed Quizzes
I know I'm just one person, but I'm here to officially declare Pixar the queen of animated movies. Specifically, the Pixar movies from the '90s until the mid-2010s reign supreme as some of the greatest films of all time, and I fear most kids today just wouldn't understand that. So for all of us who grew up with these beloved animated movies, I put together a little test to see how well we can remember the details in each one. It's simple: I'll give you a screenshot, and you'll have to tell me which movie it's from. Ready? To infinity and beyond! And for more fun trivia quizzes, be sure to follow BuzzFeed Canada on Instagram and TikTok!
