From $29m to $312m: how Toy Story became Pixar’s biggest box office juggernaut

Thirty years in, Woody and Buzz are somehow bigger than ever. 'Toy Story 5' just blasted out of the gate with the best opening weekend this series has ever had. For a fifth movie about talking toys, that is not nothing.

The money: where each movie started and where it landed

• Toy Story (1995): $29.1M opening weekend; $365M worldwide on a $30M budget
• Toy Story 2 (1999): $57M opening; $511M worldwide
• Toy Story 3 (2010): $110M opening; $1.067B worldwide (first in the series to cross $1B)
• Toy Story 4 (2019): $238M global opening; $1.074B worldwide (franchise best at the time)
• Toy Story 5 (2026 ): $312M worldwide opening weekend on a $250M budget — the biggest launch in the franchise

So why does this series still work?

Because it keeps evolving without pretending we are all still the same age we were in 1995. Across five movies, the toys have handled friendship, change, growing up, and now how modern tech messes with playtime — and the movies have stayed funny and surprisingly emotional while doing it. Along the way, Pixar reinvented feature animation once, picked up Oscars, and built a fanbase that now spans parents, their kids, and in some cases their kids' kids.

'Toy Story 5' by the basics

It opened nationwide on June 19, 2026 and immediately set a new series record with that $312M global debut. Marketing also teased a fresh look at Jessie’s former owner, Emily — a neat nod for longtime fans. The headline, though, is that after all these years the toys still draw a crowd.

What about a 'Toy Story 6'?

Pixar has not officially announced a sixth film, but after this opening, the chatter is loud for a reason. Director Andrew Stanton and Pixar leadership have said they long pictured 'Toy Story 4,' '5,' and a potential '6' as a connected second trilogy. Translation: this was never just a one-off victory lap.

'If you're gonna do another Toy Story, it better be worthwhile,' Tom Hanks told Entertainment Weekly.

Early work on 'Toy Story 5' apparently kicked up enough story material to carry into a sixth chapter, which is expected — if it happens — to follow an older Bonnie as adolescence starts to pull her away from the toys. If that plan holds, 'Toy Story 6' would likely serve as the emotional cap on the Bonnie era.

Timing-wise, nothing is set. Pixar’s slate already includes 'Incredibles 3' and 'Inside Out 3,' so the current industry expectation puts a sixth 'Toy Story' somewhere around 2029 or early in the 2030s. Again, not official, but that is the lane people are eyeing.

Big picture

This franchise started as a risky Pixar experiment with a $29.1M opening weekend and turned into a box office machine that just posted a $312M debut decades later. More impressive than the receipts: the core still feels relevant. If we do get a sixth film, there is a clear path to make it count — which, to be honest, is the only reason to do it.

Your turn: which 'Toy Story' is your favorite, and do you actually want Pixar to go for a sixth? Or should the toys catch a break?