Disney Turning to 'Toy Story 5' After Latest Pixar Failures - Inside the Magic

The Toy Story franchise is the most popular of any Disney Pixar property by a long shot.

Because of the popularity of Toy Story, Disney Pixar took a shot at producing a “prequel” to the franchise titled Lightyear. Instead of starring Tim Allen— the voice of Buzz Lightyear– the movies went in a direction with Chris Evans as the voice and said the film would be focusing on the “real man Buzz Lightyear,” and not the toy.

Still, for a variety of reasons, fans weren’t buying it.

Lightyear fell flat at the box office, producing an abysmal $224 million at the box office with a budget of $200 million. Just for reference, the film’s competition, Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022), generated nearly $1 billion on a budget of just $80 million.

After those failures, Disney Pixar has reportedly had to go back to the drawing board.

Disney Pixar is planning a sequel to Inside Out (2015), which is expected to be a big box office draw when it is released in 2024, and Pixar’s Elemental will be released later this year. However, beyond the Inside Out sequel, Disney has not announced what will be coming in 2025 and 2026.

Some reports are coming forward that Disney could “return to the well” and bring back its beloved Toy Story cast for one more movie. For those who saw Toy Story 4, you know that Buzz Lightyear and the rest of toys parted ways with Woody and Bo Peep, seemingly moving on forever. Could a fifth film bring the characters back together and give a better ending?

Nothing has been confirmed, and Disney hasn’t shared plans to make a fifth film. However, it certainly makes sense that Pixar could focus on ending its top franchise on the right foot, and bringing home a big payday in the process.

Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 2 (1999), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Toy Story 4 (2019) produced a massive $3.3 billion at the box office, which gave the franchise a spot inside the top-2o for the highest-grossing franchises of all time. The original produced a worldwide box office total of more than $365 million on a budget of just $30 million. From there, the sequel nearly doubled its numbers, with more than $511 million. Both Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 would go on to generate more than $1 billion apiece in each of their debuts.

The four films kept the majority of their casting together over the years, with Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) and Tom Hanks (Woody) each reprising their roles in not just the films but also several Pixar animated shorts throughout the years.

What do you think of a potential Toy Story 5? Let us know in the comment!