Toy Story 5: Release date, cast, plot for Pixar sequel

Disney has announced a return to the world of Woody and Buzz in Toy Story 5.

Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed there would a new Toy Story sequel coming from Pixar during the 2023 year-end earnings call. It will be the sixth feature-length Toy Story movie following 2022’s Lightyear and 2019’s Toy Story 4.

The Pixar series, which announced the arrival of the animation studio back in 1995, has grossed more than $3.3bn so far, and Toy Story 5 will hope to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors to become another box office hit for Disney.

Read more: Why isn’t Tim Allen in Lightyear?

Here’s everything we know about Toy Story 5 so far.

Toy Story 5 potential release date

Tom Hanks and Woody at the European premiere of Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 4, 2019. (Getty Images for Disney and Pixar)

An official release date for Toy Story 5 has not been announced so far and its status is ‘in development’ at Pixar.

Judging by the release cycle of the previous films, we might be waiting up to four or five years for Toy Story 5 placing its release window at some time in 2027-2028. However Pixar currently has three untitled movies on its slate dated for June 2025, March 2026, and June 2026: could June 2026 be the release date of Toy Story 5?

Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 enjoyed summer release dates, so we expect Toy Story 5 to follow suit.

Toy Story 5 cast

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen at a press event for Toy Story 4 in 2019. (Disney Resorts via Getty Images)

In June 2023, Pixar boss Pete Docter confirmed that Toy Story 5 would again focus on the story of Woody and Buzz.

There wouldn’t be Toy Story without the powerhouse voice performances of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz Lightyear — so will they return for Toy Story 5?

Read more: Tom Hanks’ greatest moments

Following the announcement of Toy Story 5, the Home Improvement star — who didn’t appear in the Lightyear spinoff — confirmed he would be back as Buzz alongside Woody tweeting: “See ya soon Woody… off we go to a number 5! To infinity and beyond!”

Allen confirmed Disney had reached out to both himself and Hanks during a visit to The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon before pondering whether five might be Buzz and Woody’s limit.

“Bob Iger, head of Disney, said it was on and said it was going to happen. They have reached out to Tom and I to reprise the roles,” he told Fallon, adding: “…you wonder if four was too many. Is five going to be too much?”

Despite this, Allen’s apparent interest in returning to the franchise goes back a few years. Talking to ET in 2019 about the prospect of Toy Story 5, Allen didn’t rule out returning as Buzz Lightyear for a fifth film.

“Once you’ve gotten to four, you’re passed that trilogy [point], so I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t do it, certainly,” Allen said. “If you ask me, I’d say do five.”

Hanks seemed less sure in 2019, telling Ellen DeGeneres: “We’re saying goodbye to Woody and Buzz and Bonnie’s room and Andy and everybody,” before adding: “Is it over? I don’t know. It’ll live forever.”

Hopefully, this means we’ll also see the return of Tony Hale as Forky, Annie Potts as Bo Peep, Joan Cusack as Jessie, Wallace Shawn as Rex, John Ratzenberger as Hamm, and Blake Clark as Slinky Dog.

One cast member who sadly won’t return is Don Rickles as Mr Potato Head as the actor died in 2017.

Toy Story 5 plot

Toy Story 4 (Credit: Pixar/Disney)

While we don’t know details of Toy Story 5’s plot yet, it’s clear that Woody and Buzz will need to reunite once again for another adventure.

Talking about the fifth film, Pixar boss Pete Docter told The Wrap: “I think it’ll be surprising. It’s got some really cool stuff that you haven’t seen before.”

The ending of Toy Story 4 was an emotional one as it saw Woody and Bo Peep leaving Bonnie’s toys to become ‘lost toys’ with Giggle McDimples, Duke Caboom, Bunny and Ducky at the fair ground.

They decided to stay behind with the travelling carnival as Bonnie no longer needed Woody. It was an emotional scene for the cast to record as it seemed to mark the end of the series, with Hanks saying he had to turn around from the crew in the recording booth in case it made him cry.

Read more: Pixar in-jokes that will blow your mind

The rest of Bonnie’s toys — Buzz, Jessie, Forky, Bullseye, Slinky, Rex, the Potato Heads, Trixie, Dolly, and Buttercup — returned to her family’s RV to continue being the young girl’s playthings while she still needed them.

Looking ahead, while official details of Toy Story 5’s plot are still hidden deep in the toy chest, that hasn’t stopped its stars from suggesting their own ideas. In addition to confirming that Disney has one of the original Toy Story franchise scribes penning the script, Allen shared his thoughts on a potential new Woody and Buzz adventure that’d reunite all of the toys with their beloved owner Andy.

Speaking to The Movie Dweeb whilst promoting season two of The Santa Clauses, Allen said: “I don’t know if this is where the story is going, but what if the whole story was through Andy as an adult? [He] has children, and they just happen to be online, and the kid goes, ‘Have you ever seen this toy?’ and Andy sees that Buzz has got a hand missing, and they’re selling these vintage toys. And Andy goes and gathers all the toys up.

“He has to go out and find each one of them and put them back together, bring them back to his house, and start the whole thing over again with his son. And I said, ‘What a wonderful idea, it’s all through Andy’s eyes because we [the toys] made his life, and now he’s returning that favor.”

Will this be the plot of Toy Story 5? Only time will tell.

Who is making Toy Story 5?

Josh Cooley poses with Toy Story 4’s Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film backstage during the 92nd Annual Academy Awards . (A.M.P.A.S. via Getty Images)

Josh Cooley was the director of Toy Story 4, taking over the reins from John Lasseter — the director on the first three films — who left Pixar in 2017 following allegations of misconduct at the Californian animation studio.

Cooley has since moved on from Pixar to direct an animated Transformers movie for Paramount which is due for release in 2024 which likely rules him out from directing Toy Story 5.

However, with a wealth of talent at Pixar, expect someone at the studio to be handed the reins for the fifth film.

Toy Story 5 is currently in development at Pixar.

Watch: Tom Hanks on how Toy Story changed his life