New Details About Toy Story 5
On June 13th, Pixar Animation Studios showcased the new development of the beloved Toy Story series at Annecy’s International Animation Film Festival in France. Although the audiences still need to wait for the new movie release (on June 19, 2026), they now have a sense of familiarity and anticipation from the revealed details.
Pete Docter, the chief creative officer, shared in concept art that Toy Story 5’s new villain will be Lily Pad. The antagonist is a frog-faced tablet — the touchscreen enemy of the toy box. The tyrant wants to steal all the awareness and fondness from naive little Bonnie Anderson, the owner of the toy box. Lily Pad, who looks down on Buzz and his friends, appears much larger than Bonnie’s favorite toy friends. In the concept art, Lily Pad’s cheerful demeanor is probably hiding the inimicality she actually feels toward the toys.
Besides the new character, Pixar also showed concept art of the opening scene in Toy Story 5. This is important because the concept art shows Toy Story 5’s potential to generate excitement and speculation about the movie’s direction.The released picture shows a red intermodal container stuck on a desert island with an army of desperate Buzzes searching for Star Command. Apparently the copies of Buzz are in Toy Mode, so they need to find a way out.
Although we don’t know more details about the story, Toy Story 5 sets out to confront today’s biggest challenge about raising children: technology. Lily Pad symbolizes the always-on tech, while Woody and the other non-electronic toys represent the traditional way of playing.
The movie welcomes back three familiar voices: Tom Hanks will return as Woody, Tim Allen will continue to be Buzz, and Joan Cusack will voice Jesse again. As Carl Weathers passed away recently in 2024, Ernie Hudson will step in as Combat Carl.
Some other new characters are added to Toy Story 5. Smarty Pants, a tech-savvy toy, entices kids into obsessing with electronics all day long. The studio confirmed Conan O’Brien, a TV host and comedian, will be the voice for the new character.
The Toy Story series is legendary in animated movies. When the first film hit the theater, it became the second top-grossing film in the year of 1995. The 4th movie amazed audiences and crossed the $1 billion at the global box office, in addition to winning the Oscar, the Academy Award of Merit. Since the 4th installment released in 2019, it has been 6 years before Pixar announced plans of the new production.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c2kqkey78x9o