Pixar has a long track record of producing successful animated movies, but the performance of Lightyear makes Toy Story 5 much more likely to happen. With just their first feature film, Toy Story made Pixar a globally recognized studio that continues to set the standard for animation and storytelling in the movie industry today. Since 1995, Pixar has released some of the most loved and memorable movies, including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Finding Nemo, but recently the quality of their productions has come into question.

It's been clear in recent years that Pixar desperately wants to do new things, but the studio's original stories have yielded mixed results. While Coco and Inside Out have performed similarly to classic Pixar films both financially and critically, other newer animations like The Good Dinosaur and Onward haven't captured the same magic that the studio is known for. In an attempt to put a fresh spin on their most successful franchise, Toy Story, Pixar released Lightyear, but that underperformed and disappointed many because it didn't focus on the Buzz Lightyear everyone knows and loves. Given Lightyear's critical and commercial failure, as well as the desire from audiences to see more of the familiar, the logical next step for the franchise would be Toy Story 5.

What Pixar Has Said About Toy Story 5


Pixar has not yet announced Toy Story 5, but there are mixed views within the Toy Story cast on whether it will happen. Tom Hanks, the voice of Woody, has gone on record to say that Toy Story 4 would be the franchise's last, but Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, is keen to do another. There are already three upcoming Pixar movies confirmed, including Inside Out 2, which should fill out the studio's schedule until 2024, so if Toy Story 5 were to happen then it wouldn't come until 2025 at the earliest.

Could More Lightyear-Style Pixar Spinoffs Happen?


The lackluster response to Lightyear could signal the end of spinoffs of major Pixar franchises. The Buzz Lightyear shown on screen wasn't the same Buzz that Pixar fans have grown accustomed to, from his different look, the change in Buzz Lightyear's voice, and his new friends around him. Arguably a spinoff of Woody's Roundup would have been a better option because it would have starred characters that audiences are already familiar with, like Jessie and Bullseye, and Woody's personality would not have needed to be changed as much as Buzz's was in Lightyear.

But Pixar still has plenty of existing universes and characters that are ready for their own spinoffs. Supporting characters like The Incredibles' Frozone and Edna Mode are widely popular despite minimal screen time and have been on plenty of off-screen adventures that just haven't been shown yet. Unexplored parts of the Monsters Inc's world and Finding Nemo's ocean are ripe environments for Pixar to explore more, so while Lightyear didn't have the impact Pixar wanted, it doesn't need to be the end of spinoff projects entirely.