Though Toy Story fans thought they said goodbye to Woody and Buzz for good with 2019’s Toy Story 4, the next installment of the franchise, Toy Story 5, is on the way. Released in 1995, the first Toy Story movie was celebrated animation studio Pixar’s first-ever feature-length movie. Toy Story revolutionized animated films, and since then, Pixar has become the gold standard of animation, telling emotionally resonant stories that adults enjoy as much as children. Unlike most animated franchises, the Toy Story series has never dipped in quality, and each one of them has introduced new beloved characters.
Toy Story
Woody and Buzz said goodbye in Toy Story 4, the last entry in the series (excluding the spin-off Lightyear), for the final time as they went their separate ways. Woody went on to lead a new life with Bo Peep as a lost toy, and Buzz continued to belong to Bonnie, living comfortably with Jessie, Rex, and new additions such as Forky. However, regardless of Toy Story 4‘s perfect ending, some of the toys will be getting new adventures in Toy Story 5, but it might be a while before the sequel actually gets released. Here’s all the Toy Story 5 news, including information about the release date, cast, story, and when a trailer may arrive.
Toy Story 4
Toy Story 5 Latest News
The most recent Toy Story 5 news has had a mixed reception, as Pixar’s chief creative officer Pete Docter has confirmed that Woody and Buzz are returning for Toy Story 5. Docter simply mentioned, “We have another Toy Story, so Woody and Buzz are back.” While that sounds like a relief, as the idea of a Toy Story 5 without Woody and Buzz is unthinkable to some, it risks undoing Toy Story 4’s ending. However, there’s no knowing in what capacity they will return as yet, and it could be done in a careful and tasteful way that’ll work.
Given that Pixar is among the most highly-regarded studio when it comes to storytelling in animated features, there’s every chance Woody and Buzz’s Toy Story 5 reunion could be an incredibly heartwarming moment. That being said, recent movies like Lightyear haven’t been heavy hitters for Pixar, and there are several online who’ve pointed out that modern-day Pixar resurrecting classic characters like Woody and Buzz could be an unnecessary and risky continuation of their story. Of course, only time will tell.
Toy Story 5 Confirmed
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On February 8, 2023, returning Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed some huge Toy Story 5 news in a quarterly earnings call for the studio, including the fact that the Toy Story 5 movie had been greenlit and is now in active development. This comes after Iger was rehired following the firing of former CEO Bob Chapek, who made a lot of damaging decisions for Disney during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as giving blockbuster movies like Cruella and Black Widow day-and-date releases on Disney+.
During the quarterly earnings call, Iger detailed a whole restructuring at Disney that will save $5.5 billion, but that comes with the price of cutting 7000 jobs (via CNBC). Along with the restructuring, Disney can recuperate some of its losses by capitalizing on its iconic billion-dollar franchises. As a result, Disney announced Frozen 3, Zootopia 2, and, of course, the next Toy Story movie, despite Toy Story 5 fan reactions that question if the movie is necessary. In total, the Toy Story movies have grossed over $3 billion (via The Numbers), so greenlighting a sequel is a no-brainer, but Pixar could have another genius story idea up its sleeve.
Other Toy Story 5 news comes from Tim Allen, who revealed that the Toy Story 5 development had been in progress long before the movie was announced in February. The Buzz Lightyear actor explained, “Toy Story five had been kind of laid down quite a while ago, but we just couldn’t get into it. Then Disney announced it about two months ago.” The actor even shed some light on how long it had been in development before being officially announced, explaining that there was some crossover with Lightyear, which sees Chris Evans playing the space cadet, not Allen. Allen added, “It was kind of peculiar.“
Related: Toy Story Movies Ranked Worst To Best
Toy Story 5 Release Date Info
Though Iger announced Toy Story 5 in February, that doesn’t mean the Toy Story 5 release date is near, and it has yet to be announced. Animated movies have a much longer development and production than live-action movies, particularly Pixar movies, as the studio puts so much effort into its photorealistic effects. The rendering time alone takes up a shocking amount of time, as one frame of Toy Story 3 took seven hours to render (via Wired).
Toy Story 4 was announced during a Disney investor’s call in 2014, but it wasn’t until five years later that the movie was finally released. So while Toy Story 5 is in development, it could be a long time before its release. If the upcoming animated movie has the same timeline as Toy Story 4’s development, it won’t be until 2028 when Toy Story 5 is finally released. However, as Allen revealed that the movie has been in development since before Lightyear’s release, which was in June 2022, over a year ago, there’s a small chance that the Toy Stroy 5 release date could be in 2027 or even earlier.
Toy Story 5 Cast: Who Could Return?
Nothing has been confirmed when it comes to the Toy Story 5 cast, with the exception of Tim Allen discussing how excited he is to return as Buzz Lightyear. Along with his comments about the movie’s development, Allen quickly tweeted after the Toy Story 5 announcement, “See ya soon Woody, you are a sad strange little man and you have my pity. And off we go to a number 5! To infinity and beyond!” However, even though Docter announced that Buzz and Woody will be back, that doesn’t confirm that Tom Hanks is confirmed to return to voice the cowboy, though it’s a safe bet to say that the actor will be back.
Outside of Allen and Hanks returning for the Toy Story 5 cast, Toy Story 4 introduced a lot of new and exciting Toy Story characters that will likely return. A whole slate of brand-new toy characters were introduced in Toy Story 4, many of which were more entertaining than some of the older toys. The most notable of which were Bunny and Ducky (Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key), the Canadian stuntman Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), and Bonnie’s own creation, Forky (Tony Hale). Bunny, Ducky, and Forky are all but shoo-ins for the Toy Story 5 cast giving that they’re now part of Bonnie’s toy collection.
Many of the older toy characters will likely return for Toy Story 5 too, including Jessie (Joan Cusack), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), and Slinky (Blake Clark). If Woody is back, it’s likely that Bo Peep will appear in some capacity too. In terms of human characters, Bonnie (Madeleine McGraw) will almost certainly appear, though there’s a chance McGraw could be replaced by an older voice actor if there’s a significant time jump. There’s always a possibility that Andy (John Morris) could appear too.
Toy Story 5 Story
Toy Story 4 seemed to complete the franchise, as Woody went on to lead a new life with Bo Peep, and Buzz continued to belong to Bonnie, living comfortably with Jessie, Rex, and new additions such as Forky. However, while it’s hard to imagine how the series could continue in the Toy Story 5 story, Toy Story 3 also had an emotional ending, and before the release of Toy Story 4, the series was considered a near-flawless trilogy. When Toy Story 4 was announced, many believed that it could have ruined the series, but the 2019 movie proved naysayers wrong.
With that in mind, there’s a chance that Toy Story 5 could do the very same thing. Though Toy Story 5 may seem like it’s being developed for financial reasons, Pixar can come up with an incredible and just-as-sentimental story as ever. The movie could follow Buzz and Bonnie’s other toys on a new adventure, and without ruining their original goodbye, Woody could appear briefly in a cameo-like appearance where Buzz seeks his advice. Or it could feature two different stories where half of the movie follows Woody and his gang of lost toys, and the other half follows Bonnie’s toys, with the two stories intersecting.
However, one possible Toy Story 5 story could perfectly answer a Toy Story series mystery, as well as bring it full circle, as Sid could be Toy Story 5’s villain. Sid was already the villain of the first movie, but he surely has so much trauma in his adult life from the experience of finding out that toys are alive. Sid is the only person in the universe who knows that toys are alive, but it’s unclear what he would have done with that information. If Sid told people, they would have thought he was crazy. In the decades since Toy Story, he could have been trying endlessly to prove that toys are alive and failed, which has led him to become even more hateful of toys in Toy Story 5.
Toy Story 5 Trailer
As yet, there is no Toy Story 5 trailer, and even though it has been in development for over a year, it’s still years away from release and there isn’t even a release date yet. It will be years before a Toy Story 5 trailer is released, but more and more news about the sequel will likely arrive the closer it gets to being finished.
