“Toy Story 5” is nearly here.
The sequel, written and directed by Pixar legend Andrew Stanton, co-directed by McKenna Harris and produced by Jessica Choi, doesn’t arrive until next summer. But at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Friday, Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter surprised the audience by showing the first scene of the movie – and it is a doozy.
Docter set up the story by saying that, since Woody (Tom Hanks) left Bonnie to look after abandoned toys, Jesse (Joan Cusack, whom Docter confirmed would be returning) has led the charge in Bonnie’s room. Buzz (Tim Allen) is her dutiful second-in-command. But Bonnie is now 8 (they showed her new look and it is appropriately adorable) and it seems like she is becoming enamored with more advanced toys, like Lilypad, which is like an iPad with a frog’s features around its frame. (Hey, that’s enough for Pixar to anthropomorphize.)
The logline for the movie has been described as “toys versus tech,” an idea that had been touched on previously in things like the holiday special “The Toy Story That Time Forgot,” but the new sequel looks to address the problem head on.
And then, as a treat, Docter showed us the opening of the film. He cautioned that, while it might look finished, it is far from done. The movie doesn’t hit theaters until June 2026 and you know the wizards at Pixar are going to use every last second to refine the film. If you want to know more about how “Toy Story 5” opens, read on – if you don’t, turn back now. Consider this a mild spoiler warning.
The movie opens with a POV shot. It’s both familiar and strange. But it will certainly remind you of something – the iconic Buzz POV shot from the original “Toy Story,” when he’s looking around Andy’s bed and first encounters Woody. But this isn’t Andy’s bed. It’s nobody’s bed. This is the sandy shores of a tropical island. And as this Buzz looks around, he sees other Buzzes littered on the beach. This is a new, technologically advanced Buzz, with a glowing LED screen on his chest. He walks around, seeing the other Buzzes, with a decidedly haunted “Lost” energy. At last, he comes across a shipping container that has washed ashore, wrecked in the rocks of the island.
This new Buzz climbs down. He pushes the screen on his chest and the other Buzzes are activated and follow him out of the shipping container. There are many Buzzes and yet they are all alone. The scene cuts to them sitting around a campfire they have built. How they built a campfire is not addressed and only adds to the hilariousness of the shot. The Buzzes look up at the stars. One says “Star.” Another says, “C-command.” And in unison they all say, “Star Command.” The stars are calling them. We next see a shot of a hastily constructed boat, with some of the Buzzes paddling behind it, another one in a makeshift crow’s nest and others simply yearning together. “Star Command!” they chant. The camera pans up into the stars, when suddenly a title glitters to life: “Toy Story 5.”
It is really striking and really strange, just the kind of opening that jolts you to attention. Whatever you think “Toy Story 5” might be – and, of course, it still could be – this opening makes you pay attention. This is a franchise that is constantly evolving and taking risks and “Toy Story 5” seems no different. This opening is totally unlike anything in the series so far. And it is awesome.
One thing that we did notice is that the aspect ratio has gone back to 1.85:1 from the first three films. “Toy Story 4” boldly shifted to 2.39:1, a super-wide screen shape that fit that movie’s epic, offbeat story. But now it’s back to the traditional aspect ratio. (This was particularly on our mind because they showed a sizzle of the first four movies and watching it shift between the 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 was very striking.) In some ways, “Toy Story 5” is maintaining the visual identity of previous installments, while in others, it is forging its own path.
“Toy Story 5” opens on June 19, 2026.
