Toy Story 5 star teases “brilliant” sequel after first recording session

Toy Story 5 may still be a while off, but the animated sequel has a good chance of success according to star Tim Allen, who has teased that the unexpected follow-up will be well worth the wait.

After Disney‘s huge end-of-year success with Moana 2, the only animated movie that might surpass it is Toy Story 5. The fourth installment appeared to bring an end to Woody, Buzz, and Jessie’s adventures, but a surprise fifth movie was announced back in August at D23.

The characters are set to return with the original cast, including Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear. Only this time the toys will be tackling technology, competing with the latest gizmos to earn the attention of iPad kids.

It’s a brand-new challenge for the toys, but despite the change-up, Allen maintains that the latest story will live up to expectations.

Tim Allen says Toy Story sequel is “really good”

“I just did the first five-hour session for Buzz, probably a week ago,” Allen said [via Collider]. “It’s a very, very clever story. Do you wanna do five of these? I don’t really believe it’s about the money.

“I’m sure they want it to be a success, but that’s not why they did it. Had they not come up with a brilliant script, they wouldn’t have done it and they wouldn’t have called me and Tom [Hanks]. It’s really clever.”

Allen didn’t return to voice the character in 2022’s solo movie, Lightyear. Instead, the mantle was passed onto Chris Evans. As such, it’s been over five years since Allen last voiced the superhero astronaut.

“It was really a struggle to get, and then maybe two hours in, I was doing Buzz,” he explained. “I’m so blessed to be Buzz Lightyear, to be honest. It’s gonna be fun. I think we’re a year out. I’ve gotten up to the third act. We’ll do the third act. And then, we’ll go back and clean it. And then, I’ll do it about five more times.

“It’s a really good story, guys. It’s really good.”

The official synopsis for the new movie is as follows: “The toys are back in Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 and this time around it’s Toy meets Tech. Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the rest of the gang’s jobs get exponentially harder when they go head to head with this all new threat to playtime.”

Toy Story 5 will be released on June 19, 2026.

For more, check out our guides to the How to Train Your Dragon live-action movie, Shrek 5, and all the best Studio Ghibli movies.