A new set of quotes reveal the first details of the "surprising" story set for Pixar's Toy Story 5.
The latest Toy Story sequel was just one of a number of animated announcements at Disney, including the development of Inside Out 2 and Frozen 3.
While many have remarked that Toy Story 4, and Toy Story 3 before that, felt like a natural conclusion to the Toy Story franchise, Pixar continues to want to expand on the world of Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and co.
This announcement comes off the general disappointment being felt around Disney's output from the last year with names like Toy Story director John Lasseter supposedly being "extremely critical" of how Disney and Pixar's animated strategy.
Toy Story 5's 'Surprising' Story
After being recently revealed to be in the works, Pixar CEO Pete Docter offered up the first hints at the plot of Toy Story 5 following its announcement earlier this month.
Speaking with The Wrap, Docter said that Toy Story 5 is going to be "surprising," teasing that the sequel has "got some really cool stuff that [audiences] haven’t seen before.”
The Pixar executive noted that the Toy Story strategy has been to "not plan for the future" and simply "make this movie."
“The thing we’ve been really trying to do, and this has been the case for a while, is we’ve been looking at them a little bit like, okay, we’re not planning for the future. When we made the first ‘Toy Story,’ we had no idea there would be a ‘Toy Story 2.’ We’re just trying to make this movie."
He lamented this is all part of the creative process and letting these projects take the story to "unexpected places:"
"But that in making the movie, it takes you places, unexpected places, which is what I love about the creative process. If I knew exactly what I was doing when I started making a movie, there’d kind of be no point in making it. I discover so much along the way. [I] come home wiser and more worldly.”
This is all in line with previous comments from Pixar on a potential Toy Story 5, with Toy Story 4 producer Mark Nielsen telling Comicbook.com back in 2019 that Pixar treats all of its films "like it's the first and the last film [they're] ever going to make:"
“Every film we make, we treat it like it’s the first and the last film we’re ever going to make. So you force yourself to make it hold up. You don’t get in over your skis. Whether there’s another one? I don’t know. If there is, it’s tomorrow’s problem.”
Even series star Tim Allen has chimed in, remarking that "[he'd] say do five" when asked about a fifth movie.
Can Toy Story 5 Exist?
While the specifics of Toy Story 5 remain shrouded in mystery, there is still much to speculate about with the Pixar sequel.
To some, this may have felt like an unneeded sequel, with the story of Woody and Buzz seemingly coming to an end at the close of Toy Story 4. Tom Hank's animated cowboy saw himself splitting from the rest of the toys, seeming to closing the door on any more stories to be told with this cast of characters.
However, this sense of closure was something audiences also felt at the end of Toy Story 3, so who is to say that Pixar cannot strike gold again with another installment in the Toy Story universe?
The reason this sequel exists at all is likely because of a failed attempt to expand the franchise beyond its Toy Story confines. Lightyear - which released in June 2022 - saw the series spin-off around its iconic Space Ranger Buzz.
The film failed to garner the critical and financial success Pixar has become accustomed to with the mainline Toy Story films, so it would make sense that the powers that be would want to try and milk that cash cow once again with a Toy Story 5.
Whether the Lightyear mistep was a sign of greater franchise fatigue or simply the result of the film itself remains unknown, but Toy Story 5 feels like a bit of an experiment from Pixar and Disney to see what is what with their biggest animated property going.
Toy Story 1-4 are available to stream now on Disney+.
