The Digital Challenge: Toy Story 5 Trailer Teases a Battle Against the Tablet Age
Woody and Buzz Lightyear are coming back! Toy Story 5 is set for release next summer, and Pixar today dropped the first teaser trailer:
Toy Story 5 will be released in North America on June 19 next year (2026).Directed and written by Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), this film will revolve around a story of toys battling technology. Bonnie is now 8 years old in this installment, and the protagonists must face the challenges posed by Bonnie's new favorite: a tablet computer. In addition to the returning main cast from previous installments, new cast members include talk show host Conan O’Brien and Anna Faris (Mom). Greta Lee (Past Lives) will voice the tablet, named Lilypad, and Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters series) will take over the voice of Combat Carl, replacing the late Carl Weathers who passed away last year.
The Toy Story franchise has consistently been one of Pixar's most popular series. The last two installments (Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4) both earned over $1 billion globally, ranking third and fourth on Pixar’s all-time box office list. Furthermore, both films won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, with Toy Story 3 also receiving a Best Picture nomination. Toy Story 3 (2010) was widely considered a perfect conclusion to the story of Andy. Nine years later, Toy Story 4 was released, ending with the farewell between Woody and Buzz Lightyear—another perfect conclusion. The question now is how this fifth installment will continue the story. Notably, Toy Story 5 is the first film in the series not to have any involvement from original director/writer John Lasseter, who resigned as Chief Creative Officer in 2017 following sexual misconduct allegations.
In addition to the teaser trailer, Pixar also release the below poster:
Pixar's original film released this past summer, Elio, had a disappointing opening weekend, taking in only about $20 million, making it Pixar's lowest opening weekend box office to date. While Pixar's previous original film, Elemental, also had a soft opening but showed strong legs to finish with nearly $500 million worldwide, Elio ultimately earned only $150 million globally, resulting in a loss. This box office underperformance, contrasted with the excellent box office success of last year's sequel Inside Out 2 (which was the highest-grossing film of that year), raises the question of whether Pixar will further shift its strategy to rely more heavily on popular franchise sequels. In fact, Pixar is set to release several sequels in the coming years, including the aforementioned Toy Story 5, Incredibles 3 in 2028, and Coco 2 in 2029.
For original films, Pixar will release Hoppers in March next year. Directed Daniel Chong (We Bare Bears: The Movie) and written by him and Jesse Andrews (Luca), the voice cast includes Piper Curda, comedian Bobby Moynihan (Saturday Night Live) and Emmy winner Jon Hamm (Mad Men). In this film, scientists have found a way to transfer human consciousness into robotic animals, allowing them to communicate with other animals in animal form. Young nature enthusiast Mabel (Piper Curda) is trying to stop local mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) from building a highway that will destroy her hometown's forest. Thanks to a secret consciousness transfer experiment, Mabel is able to transfer her consciousness into a robotic beaver and travels to a pond, where she meets a group of animal refugees affected by industrialization. There, she tries to persuade the animals, led by the majestic Beaver King George (Bobby Moynihan), to join her in stopping the highway construction. In 2027, Pixar will release Gatto, directed by Enrico Casarosa (Luca). Like Luca, the film is set in Italy and tells the story of a black cat named Nero who, owing a favor to a feline mob boss, is forced into an unexpected friendship with a street musician named Maya. This may ultimately lead him to discover his true purpose...
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Photo and Source: Pixar