Earlier today, at the Annecy Animation Festival in France, Pete Doctor, Chief Creative Officer at Pixar, took the stage to showcase what’s coming from Pixar. One of the projects he focused on was Toy Story 5— which arrives on June 19, 2026. While we previously knew the sequel, which is helmed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris, would feature our favorite toys grappling with the rise of technology, Doctor revealed new details and even showed off the opening scene of the movie!
The big news is that Bonnie Anderson is now eight years old and is more interested in an electronic lily pad (featured in the image above) that her parents bought her rather than playing with Bo and the other toys. As Doctor said during the panel:
“Toy Story 5, it’s toy meets tech. If you remember from Toy Story 4, Woody has left the kids for a life of adventure with Bo and her friends, helping lots of toys in need. And Sheriff Jesse is now in charge of Bonnie’s room with a recently deputized Buzz Lightyear to assist, and the rest of the toy gang is still there with the same sassy attitudes, Ham, Rex, Slinky, Potato Head.”
He went on to say, “Bonnie is eight now, and she has become more concerned about being socially connected and making friends, which is why her parents agreed to buy her this lily pad. It’s a new tech tablet allowing her to chat with her friends, but lily pad can be a little sneaky and prickly because in her mind, to better socialize, Bonnie needs to move on. She needs to go past toys.” Doctor also elaborated on how this impacts the rest of the gang:
“That of course, puts her at odds with toys who have very different opinions about what Bonnie needs. Woody is called back to help. It’s been a little bit since they’ve seen each other, and he and Buzz don’t always see eye to eye. As Potato Head says in the movie, “It’s nice to see them arguing again.”
“I don’t want to spoil too much,” he remarked. “I won’t say where we go from here, but as a special surprise. I figured I’d just show you how the movie opens. Andrew (Stanton) and McKenna (Harris) wanted me to tell you this may look finished. It is not. It’s still very much a work in progress, so here it is, and you’re the first ones to see this outside of Pixar, the very opening of Toy Story 5.”
The Cast of ‘Toy Story 5’ Have Been Hinting at This New Tech Plot
Earlier this year, Tim Allen revealed the opening of the film was incredible and part of the plot involved a whole squadron of Buzz Lightyear figures stuck in “toy mode,” creating a new type of chaos. Now that I’ve seen the opening of the film, I can say Tim Allen was right.
The opening shot involves a Buzz Lightyear opening his eyes on a beach. He’s groggy and not sure where he is. The audience also isn’t sure if this is the Buzz we know or someone else. As he scans the beach, he sees a number of Buzz Lightyear toys still in their sealed boxes and a huge shipping container partly opened. He walks over and wakes up the sleeping Buzz Lightyears on the beach, and then goes into the container and does the same to the dozens inside. It then cuts to all the Buzz Lightyears sitting around a makeshift campfire at night. There are at least fifty. Maybe more. All of what we’ve seen so far features no dialogue. Just sounds. And we also learn they’re on an island in the middle of nowhere.
As Buzz looks at the starry night, he sees a bright star and starts saying “star” while another Buzz starts saying “command.” This happens a few times till we hear all the Buzz Lightyears saying, “Star Command.” In the next scene, the Buzz Lightyears have assembled a raft of some sort and are chanting “Star Command” and attempting to leave the island. Then the Toy Story 5 logo appears.
Even though the movie is almost a year from coming out, the animation looked amazing, and the level of detail was fantastic. I’d imagine it’s this group of Buzz Lightyears that Allen was talking about, and it’ll be interesting to see how these toys end up at Bonnie’s house or meeting up with the Buzz we know. With the movie over a year away, we’re not going to get any answers soon.
Toy Story 5 is set to hit theaters on June 19, 2026. Look for more from Pixar’s Annecy panel soon.
- Release Date
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June 19, 2026
- Director
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Andrew Stanton
- Writers
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Andrew Stanton
- Producers
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Pete Docter
