5 Reasons Why Pixar's Toy Story 5 Ruled The Box Office

Disney and Pixar just delivered one of the biggest box office hits of 2026 thus far. "Toy Story 5" posted a monster opening weekend, dethroning "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" for the biggest of the year to date. "Mario" opened to $131.7 million domestically and became Hollywood's first $1 billion hit of 2026, so Woody and Buzz are instantly in good company.

Directed by Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, "Toy Story 5" opened to a colossal $160 million domestically to go with $152 million internationally for a whopping $312 million global opening. This sets a new record for the "Toy Story" franchise, topping the debut of "Toy Story 4" ($120.9 million domestic), which was one of several movies that made more than $1 billion when Disney made a ridiculous amount of money at the box office in 2019. Again, this bodes very well for the new movie's long term prospects.

The latest entry in Pixar's longest-running franchise centers on Jessie (Joan Cusack), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and the rest of the gang as their jobs are threatened when Lilypad (Greta Lee), a brand-new tablet device, arrives. She brings her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie, and Woody (Tom Hanks) is called in for help.

This isn't just business as usual. This is taking a very successful thing and making it more successful than it's ever been. So, how did Disney and Pixar manage to so successfully bring "Toy Story" back again and make it bigger than ever? We're going to look at the biggest reasons why "Toy Story 5" ruled the box office on its opening weekend. Let's get into it.

Disney couldn't have picked a better release date for "Toy Story 5." Not only are we right in the heart of the summer movie season, meaning families are free to head to the movies without school getting in the way, but there was very little by way of direct competition. In terms of family-friendly, PG movies, this was pretty much the only meaningful game in town.

There are no other animated movies in the top ten right now, and "Mario" ran out of gas several weeks ago. "The Mandalorian and Grogu" set an unwanted record for "Star Wars" at the box office and is flaming out quicker than Disney had hoped. It's certainly geared towards families more than almost any other "Star Wars" movie in recent memory, but still, it's pretty much a non-issue in its fifth weekend.

Meanwhile, Amazon's "Masters of the Universe" pretty much ensured that franchise has no future, as it majorly disappointed commercially. That could have been friendly to families had things gone better, but that's not the world we're living in. The only newcomers this weekend were "The Death of Robin Hood" and "Leviticus," both of which were aimed squarely at adults.

All of this to say, the road was completely clear for "Toy Story 5" to do its thing unobstructed by any rival movies that were targeted at families.

One of the biggest things that "Toy Story 5" has going for it is word of mouth. Like many Pixar movies before it, the latest entry in the storied franchise won over both critics and audiences alike, which undoubtedly helped push the opening weekend number higher than estimates suggested it would go.

"Toy Story 5" currently holds a 93% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes to go with an outstanding 95% audience rating. That's not as good as "Toy Story" or "Toy Story 2," both of which have an unblemished 100% approval rating, but it's pretty damn impressive for a franchise that has been around for more than 30 years. All five movies are among the 20 highest-rated movies in Pixar's history. The sequel also earned an A grade on CinemaScore.

/Film's BJ Colangelo called "Toy Story 5" a "heartfelt, nuanced, and uneven sequel" in her review. For whatever perceived faults the sequel may have, they pale in comparison to the joy it brings. This should lead to strong word of mouth in the coming weeks, meaning it probably won't fall off a cliff in weekend two and beyond. Now, it's just a matter of seeing how high it can fly before all's said and done.

In 1995, "Toy Story" launched Pixar and gave us one of Hollywood's most reliable hit-makers. A lot has changed in the 31 years since Woody and Buzz first graced the silver screen. Among the biggest events was the Covid-19 pandemic completely upending the industry, and the decision was made to drop several Pixar originals directly on Disney+. Ever since, Disney has had a tough time selling Pixar originals to the masses.

But the Pixar brand still means something to audiences, particularly if the movie in question centers on characters they already care about. Case in point, "Inside Out 2" became one of the highest-grossing animated movies of all time, taking in $1.69 billion globally. It was, for a short while, the highest-grossing animated movie ever until China's "Ne Zha 2" made more than $2 billion in one of the most shocking box office performances in recent memory, but I digress.

Meanwhile, "Elio" flopped at the box office last year, becoming Pixar's lowest-grossing movie ever with just $154 million worldwide. There have been flashes of hope, with "Elemental" making $496 million worldwide after what seemed like a disastrous opening weekend. But "Lightyear" also bombed, and "Hoppers" merely did so-so business.

As it relates to "Toy Story 5," it's clear that these characters mean something and audiences still trust Pixar to do its thing. It's just much harder than it's ever been to get the ticket-buying masses to show up for something that's entirely new.

Hollywood is as franchise-obsessed as ever, but that doesn't mean that all franchises are good franchises, or even that once-popular franchises can stay on top forever. "Transformers" has struggled in recent years. We already discussed the fact that "Masters of the Universe" flopped at the box office recently. Maintaining relevance over a number of decades is exceedingly tricky.

For that reason, it's hard to ignore the fact that Disney and Pixar have done a remarkably good job at keeping "Toy Story" relevant. Andy's trilogy came to an end when "Toy Story 3" hit theaters in 2010. When "Toy Story 4" arrived in 2019, the focus shifted towards Bonnie, which allowed younger kids to have a way in while giving parents that nostalgic feeling. "Toy Story 5" also kept things very relevant by focusing on how tech is becoming more prevalent with children, with more traditional toys becoming increasingly obsolete.

Plenty of storied franchises have had to endure the notion of diminished returns. Even Marvel's recent box office returns prove that the MCU has fallen from grace. Nothing lasts forever. That's not to say that "Toy Story" can go on forever or that this franchise will have limitless amounts of gas. The failure of "Lightyear" proved that there are limits to what these characters can do and how far the interest extends from audiences.

But in light of this movie's opening weekend, the franchise is evidently as big now as it's ever been, and 31 years removed from its debut, that's extremely impressive. Keeping characters relevant in the cultural consciousness for that long is easier said than done.

In terms of Hollywood trends, we really do have to look at things from a "before the pandemic" and "after the pandemic" perspective. That was a real dividing line in terms of audience viewing habits, which have irrevocably changed. What once worked often doesn't work anymore. The bar to get people off the couch and away from their 4K TV with endless seas of streaming content available at the click of a button is very high. Family-friendly movies continue to be the safest bet in town, particularly when it comes to success at a blockbuster level.

"The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" is currently the biggest movie of 2026 with more than $1 billion to its name. "Toy Story 5" will probably take that crown before the calendar rolls over to 2027. Hollywood's biggest hits of 2025 all had something crucial in common: they were PG, family-oriented affairs. The five biggest movies of last year were "Ne Zha 2," "Zootopia 2," "Avatar: Fire and Ash," "Lilo & Stitch," and "A Minecraft Movie." "Avatar" is the only real outlier there.

Even if we look at this year, most of the biggest hits are probably ahead of us rather than behind us. Save for Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" and a few other outliers, those big hits are going to belong to this camp. "Minions & Monsters," the live-action "Moana," "Jumanji 3: Open World" ... not to say there won't be surprises along the way, but making big-budget movies that motivate entire families to head to the multiplex is, more often than not, a recipe for success.

"Toy Story 5" is in theaters now.