Toy Story 5 has roared back to life with the animated franchise’s best ever opening weekend, taking more than $300m (£227m) globally in ticket sales. Released on 19 June, the fifth installment pits Woody, Jessie and Buzz Lightyear against their toughest rival yet: a tablet computer.
The film earned over $160m in North America and more than $150m internationally in its first three days. That makes it the year’s second-biggest opening weekend worldwide, trailing only The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which has grossed over $1bn to become 2025’s highest-grossing film.
“Toy Story 5 achieves franchise-best $300m global opening, returning Disney and Pixar to form after recent flops.”
With an estimated production budget of $250m, Toy Story 5 will need to generate at least $500m to cover additional marketing and distribution costs. Historically, Disney and Pixar films have recouped their budgets comfortably, often raking in three times their cost. Sequels such as The Incredibles 2 and Inside Out 2 each crossed the $1bn mark.
But the blockbuster performance marks a return to form for the storied studio after a string of challenges. Recent Pixar titles like the alien adventure Elio and the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear bombed at the box office. The Mandalorian and Grogu, Disney’s latest big-budget Star Wars spin-off, has yet to double its $165m cost. Overall box office revenues have declined since the Covid-19 pandemic, with studios struggling to lure audiences back amid a shift toward streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+.
Despite those headwinds, Toy Story remains one of Pixar’s most lucrative franchises, having earned more than $3bn globally since audiences first met Woody and Buzz in 1995. The original film revolutionised computer-generated animation and catapulted Pixar to the forefront of the industry. The third and fourth instalments each surpassed $1bn at the box office. Now Toy Story 5 has given Disney and Pixar their biggest opening weekend in years — a sign that audiences are still willing to line up for Woody, Buzz and the gang, even as screens face competition from tablets in the real world.