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In “Toy Story 5,” the heroes will face technology head-on.

Posted on by darion

In Toy Story 5, Buzz Lightyear, Woody and the rest of the gang will be in “serious competition” with each other using electronic devices.

Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter took the stage at Disney’s D23 fan convention to announce that Finding Nemo and Wall-E director Andrew Stanton will write and direct the sequel, set for a summer 2026 release.

D23 viewers were shown a photo of little girl Bonnie, who inherited the toys from original owner Andy, lying under the covers with a tablet while her other friends sat dejectedly at the end of the bed.

Docter described Stanton – co-creator of the original Toy Story film – as a “genius” when introducing him to the California stage.

“As you can imagine, Toy Story holds a special place in my heart,” Stanton said.

“Through our experiences with these toys, we all learned about loyalty, belonging, and friendship.

“These characters gave us a unique perspective on growing up, dealing with life, and in all the Toy Story movies, above all else, the toy’s job is to be there for its child.

“And with Toy Story 5, the toys’ task becomes much more difficult as our toy group goes head to head with what kids are so fascinated with today – electronics.”

Stanton said toys “have some serious competition these days with phones, tablets, technology everywhere – so this time it’s a combination of toy and technology.”

Since the first film premiered in November 1995, Toy Story has become a critically acclaimed franchise that has spawned three sequels.

During an earlier D23 panel celebrating the film’s 30th anniversary, Stanton said the original film started life as “a half-baked idea about a ventriloquist puppet and Tinny from Tin Toy who go on a road trip together.”

He added that Disney chose this idea over two others – James and the Giant Peach and Bob the Dinosaur.

The panel also heard from star Tom Hanks, who invoked Woody’s famous line, “There’s a snake in my shoe.”

Viewers were shown a printed list titled “Woody’s Line Ideas” dated February 3, 1993, with three handwritten sentences at the bottom.

“Those were the lines we gave to Tom (Hanks) to read, Woody’s recordings, but at the bottom is my writing, he came up with it,” Stanton said.

“I’m the one who wrote down what he said, and now it’s law. It was from his first session, he continued.”

Toy Story, an animated comedy about a group of toys, stars Tim Allen as superhero Buzz Lightyear and Hanks as a cowboy doll named Woody who can be pulled on a string.

Bonnie Arnold, who produced the original film, said the actors “weren’t our first choice, but we were able to pull it off.”

Tom Hanks voices Woody in the Toy Story series (Doug Peters/PA)

The team first approached Hanks with the proposal, who they said had lost a significant amount of weight while filming Philadelphia – a role for which he later won an Oscar for Best Actor.

Meanwhile, Arnold claimed that Disney “grossly underestimated” the cost of making the original Toy Story film, joking that “we were counting paperclips.”

“This is the cheapest movie we’ve ever made,” Stanton said.

The couple recalled how employees would prepare meals at home and bring them to those working overtime, and how they would bring their own chairs to the theater to watch drafts of the film.