Toy Story 5
Directed by Andrew Stanton & Kenna Harris
Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Greta Lee, Scarlett Spears
“Pixar finally let the adult in the room direct a Toy Story, and America is so grateful it's handing over $175 million like a kid handing over a credit card at a Disney Store.”
Sally's not done with you yet.
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The Review
Let's get one thing straight: nobody asked for Toy Story 5. Nobody. And yet here you are, Pixar, showing up at the dinner party nobody invited you to, with a dish so good that everyone pretends they planned the whole thing. Andrew Stanton, the man who gave us Wall-E and Finding Nemo and wrote the first three Toy Story films without ever sitting in the director's chair for one, has finally been handed the keys. The result? A $150-175 million projected opening weekend that just casually body-slammed every other animated film of 2026 before it even hits theaters. Cool. Cool cool cool.
The plot, bless its little plastic heart, is a straight-up intervention story: eight-year-old Bonnie has discovered the Lilypad tablet, voiced by Greta Lee doing her best 'seductive rectangle' performance, and has effectively ghosted her toys the way you ghost a gym membership in February. Jessie, now the leader of the toy gang, calls in the old guard, meaning Woody and Buzz, to stage a rescue. It's a clever pivot to give Joan Cusack's Jessie the throne, and honestly Jessie deserved it after being third-wheel'd through two films. But let's be honest: the villain is a tablet. Pixar is asking you to root against a screen while you watch this on a screen, possibly on a tablet. The irony is not subtle. It is not even trying to be subtle.
Still, the numbers don't lie and neither does Sally. Revised tracking from Box Office Theory, via Deadline, bumped this thing from a $130-160M range to $150-175M in the last 48 hours, which means audience interest is genuinely running hotter than Inside Out 2 at the same point in its cycle. That's not hype. That's a cultural event disguised as a children's movie. Toy Story 4 opened at $120.9M in 2019 and people acted like it was the second coming. This film is casually batting that aside like Buzz swatting a Happy Meal toy. The ceiling is Incredibles 2 at $182.6M, and Pixar is staring at it like it owes them money.
What It Nails
- +Jessie finally gets her flowers. Handing Joan Cusack's Jessie the leadership role is the single smartest creative decision in the franchise since Woody admitted he was terrified of being replaced. It gives this sequel a reason to exist beyond nostalgia harvesting.
- +Andrew Stanton directing is the right call, full stop. The man wrote the emotional DNA of this franchise and directed two of Pixar's greatest films. Putting him in the chair for a Toy Story entry is not a gimmick, it's a correction of a long overdue wrong.
- +The villain concept is genuinely sharp. Using a tablet, the Lilypad, as the thing that steals a child's attention from physical toys is the kind of thematically loaded premise that Pixar does better than anyone alive. It's Toy Story 1's 'Buzz replaces Woody' anxiety updated for the attention-economy era.
- +The tracking momentum is real and grounded. The jump from $130-160M to $150-175M in 48 hours, running ahead of Inside Out 2 at the same point in its cycle, suggests genuine audience desire rather than studio astroturfing. This is earned heat, not manufactured hype.
What It Botches
- -You are making a movie about a child ignoring her toys for a screen and releasing it into a world where children will watch it on a screen and then immediately go back to their screens. The meta-irony is either genius or a cry for help, and the film needs to earn that distinction rather than just wave at it.
- -Toy Story 4 ended with Woody riding off into the sunset, a complete emotional farewell that left audiences genuinely satisfied. Calling him back, even for Jessie's story, risks retroactively shrinking that ending the way sequels shrink goodbyes. You owe audiences an explanation that holds up, not just Tom Hanks' voice and a box office target.
- -Five films in, the franchise math is working against you. The projected domestic run of $465M-$602M is a massive range, which tells you even the analysts don't know how much gas is left in this engine. Incredibles 2's $182.6M ceiling exists because even beloved Pixar properties plateau. You are not immune to the law of diminishing emotional returns.
- -Releasing during Pixar's 'traditional prime summer slot' is fine as a strategy and lazy as a statement. The June 19 date is safe, corporate, and optimized within an inch of its life. There is nothing wrong with it. There is also nothing interesting about it. You are a product launch wearing a cowboy hat.
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Who It's For
Anyone who cried at Toy Story 3, has a complicated relationship with their childhood belongings, and is secretly terrified that their kids love their iPad more than them.
Who Should Skip
Toy Story 4 apologists who cannot handle Woody being sidelined again, and anyone allergic to Pixar using your childhood as an ATM with feelings.
Marketing Roast
Your marketing team looked at the Toy Story brand and said, 'What if we just pointed at it?' The tracking bump to $150-175M happened not because of any brilliant campaign but because the words 'Toy Story' and 'Tom Hanks' still function as a defibrillator on the wallets of every millennial with a Disney+ subscription and a kid under ten. The trailers feature Jessie stepping up, Buzz being Buzz, and a glowing tablet being ominous, which is genuinely the most accurate trailer Pixar has made in years because that is exactly what the film is. There is no misdirect, no fake-out, no Pixar trailer grief-bait. Just: here is the movie, give us your money. Respect the honesty. Resent the ease of it."]
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