Last year, we learned that Toy Story 5 would hit theaters in 2026, but that was pretty much all we knew about Pixar’s sequel to its longest-running and arguably most popular film franchise. Fortunately, Disney and Pixar revealed some more information about the upcoming sequel tonight at the panel presentation at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, and /Film’s Jacob Hall was on hand to experience it in person.
Andrew Stanton, the Pixar veteran who has directed animated films such as A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, WALL*E and Finding Dory, is officially returning to the studio to write and direct Toy Story 5. It’s a homecoming for him in more ways than one: He’s spent the last few years directing live-action films such as Better Call Saul, Three Body Problem and others, and Stanton was also one of the writers of the original Toy Story in 1995.
As for the plot, the toys will be competing with electronic devices this time around, and the presentation included concept art of the toys standing sadly at the foot of a bed while a child – perhaps Bonnie – plays with a tablet under the covers. This sounds like a continuation of a theme that has permeated this franchise from the beginning, and was explicitly addressed in the short film “Toy Story That Time Forgot,” which sees Bonnie at a gaming meet-up where video games temporarily claim her attention before she eventually returns to her toy friends.
Stanton, who was on stage in Anaheim, also hinted at a plot in which 50 Buzz Lightyear toys get stuck in toy mode and spin out of control, which sounds incredibly funny.
Pixar’s latest original film is called Hoppers
After Inside Out 2 became such a huge success, we feared that Pixar would resort to more sequels. That’s still possible (probably?) in the coming years, but at least there will be a few original films as well. In addition to the upcoming Elio, Pixar announced a brand new original film called Hoppers, which will also hit theaters in 2026.
Brief footage showed two mad scientists who looked like a cross between veterinarians and Doc Brown from Back to the Future and who can transplant human minds into animals, as well as a new character named Mabel – a young woman who loves animals and can enter the mind of a robot gopher to go undercover in the animal world. The footage was extremely cute and featured traditional Pixar character design; there were a few quick shots of her running wild in her new body and sprinting through a clearing toward the camera. It had a lot of Looney Tunes energy, which could be a nice change for Pixar.
As for the voice actors, Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) will lend his voice to the villain, a human mayor, while “Saturday Night Live” veteran Bobby Moynihan will play a beaver king (adorned with crown and all) who befriends Mabel.
Stay tuned for more information about this film as soon as we find out.
