Toy Story 5 Needs To Revive 1 Franchise Rule That Recent Sequels Ignored

Toy Story 5 has the chance to bring back a huge part of the franchise canon that, while present, has been handled carelessly in the last two feature-length installments. Toy Story‘s worldbuilding is relatively simple, and yet Pixar has neglected to uphold one of the world’s biggest rules with any real consistency beyond the franchise’s first sequel back in 1999. Every Toy Story movie has the same pool of lore to draw upon, with the exception being 2022’s Buzz spinoff movie, Lightyear. However, a key element of what allows the main movies to make sense is often applied haphazardly.

With the Toy Story 5 release date now confirmed as June 19, 2026, Pixar will be hard at work putting the movie together. Little is known about the story of the coming installment, but Toy Story 4‘s ending suggests the next movie will continue to focus on Woody’s new life as a Lost Toy with Bo Peep and the rest of his new gang. Woody’s new lifestyle presents Pixar with an interesting storytelling challenge that they’ll have to address very carefully in the script.

Toy Story’s Toys Aren’t Supposed To Come To Life Near Humans

There have been several near misses in the Toy Story universe

One of the most-known rules about the Toy Story universe is that Woody, Buzz, and all the other toys have an unspoken rule to conceal the fact they’re alive. Whenever humans are nearby, all toys revert to their inanimate state, and this is a conscious decision they all consistently make. Other than when the toys confront Sid Philips, this unofficial law is abided by in the first two Toy Story movies, and when it isn’t, there’s sufficient reason to believe the toys won’t be discovered while moving around autonomously.

As the film series has gone on, the toys have become more and more reckless when it comes to preventing their secret from being revealed. For instance, in the first movie, Buzz and Woody move deftly through the shadows of Pizza Planet to avoid being spotted. However, in Toy Story 2, the traffic cone scene causes a major road incident that could have resulted in the toys’ cover being blown. This carelessness becomes more pronounced in the third and fourth Toy Story movies.

The 3rd & 4th Toy Story Movies Break This Rule Too Often

The issue becomes more pronounced as the Toy Story movies progress

Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 are the guiltiest when it comes to bending franchise lore. Toy Story 3 almost has Woody reveal to the world that toys aren’t as inanimate as they appear to be. When escaping Sunnyside Daycare, his escape through the restroom window is nearly thwarted when a caretaker looks as though he spots the cowboy doll making a break for it. While Woody isn’t caught, he then glides over the daycare’s grounds in broad daylight, where all it would have taken for him to be discovered would be for someone to look up at him.

The final sequence in Toy Story 4 is just as risky. The journey across the funfair may be at night, but the more-than-adequate lighting makes it genuinely surprising that none of the toys’ endeavors lead to them being spotted. In addition, Trixie impersonating the RV’s GPS means she is speaking directly to Bonnie’s father, and despite his doubts, he thankfully falls for the ruse. These kinds of instances are peppered throughout the first four Toy Story movies.

The Toy Story 5 Needs To Revive The Franchise’s Earliest Rule

The fifth film in the series can return Toy Story to its roots

Eventually, the toys’ luck will run out, and the human race discovering their toys have been sentient the whole time is a little too existential for Pixar to address. For this reason, Toy Story 5 needs to return to its roots and make its diminutive protagonists act with much greater caution than they’ve displayed in the last two movies. While it’s unrealistic to expect the toys to always feign not being alive whenever a human is anywhere nearby, the fifth movie can strike a suitable balance between what the first film established and what the sequels have strayed from.

While there’s the theory that Woody could speak with Andy to end the Toy Story franchise in the fifth film, this could also be a little on-the-nose, especially since the pair already had an emotional farewell at the end of Toy Story 3. Another issue is that humans have become more important in the narrative as the films have progressed, so having them completely separate from the toy characters could also affect how the movie is assembled. However, Toy Story 5 still needs to make at least a token effort to show Pixar is playing by its own rules.