If you’re like me and grew up in the 1990s, then there’s a good chance that Toy Story was played at least once in your household, if not many, many times. Pixar’s first feature-length film opened to critical acclaim in 1995 and spawned a franchise that’s still going strong 31 years later. Ahead of Toy Story 5’s release on the 2026 movies schedule, even Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, is astounded by how the Toy Story property is still so popular after all this time.
The star of ABC’s Shifting Gears voiced this thought directly on X. With the Toy Story 5 press tour having kicked off ahead of its arrival in June, Allen shared this moment he recently had with his co-star Tom Hanks, the voice of Woody:
Literally time flys. Doing Toy Story 5 press now for the June premiere and Tom and I were stunned that we have been at this series for over thirty years.
Same, man. While I know Toy Story wasn’t the first movie I ever saw in a theater (I’m pretty sure that was The Lion King in 1994), it’s definitely one of the earliest ones I saw. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t familiar with Woody, Buzz, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Rex, Bo Peep and the rest of the gang of playthings that originally lived at Andy’s house. The fact that it’s still so pop culturally relevant after all this time amidst so many shakeups in the film industry is astounding!
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While Toy Story could have easily been a one-and-done movie, Disney and Pixar officially announced Toy Story 2 in March 1997. It was originally intended to be direct-to-video, but the Mouse House upgraded the sequel to a theatrical release upon being impressed by the story reels. There’s actually a world where we never got to see Toy Story 2, as it was accidentally deleted from Pixar’s internal servers by one of the animators, and was only saved because technical director Galyn Susman had a backup copy on her home computer. So Toy Story 2 came out in 1999, and its own positive critical reception cemented the public’s interest in following along with these toys across multiple adventures.
Toy Story 3 followed in 2010, then Toy Story 4 in 2019. The franchise also encompasses the Lightyear spinoff, the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command TV series, numerous animated shorts, video games, comic books, theme park attractions, the list goes on. As far as the movies go, Tim Allen and Tom Hanks have stuck with Woody and Buzz for this entire time, which is a testament to how much they care about their characters. I never thought as a kid I’d still be thinking about Toy Story as regularly as I am 30+ years later, but I’m definitely not mad about it!
Toy Story 5 will see eight-year-old Bonnie, who Andy gave his toys to at the end of Toy Story 3, becoming obsessed with a frog-themed tablet named Lilypad. This throws Buzz and the gang for a loop and paves the way for a reunion with Woody, who left with Bo Peep to help abandoned toys at the end of Toy Story 4. Catch the fifth movie in theaters starting on June 19.
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