Toy Story 5 Breaks Box Office Records with $300M

Toy Story 5 has scored the highest opening weekend at the 2026 box office, as the Pixar franchise continues to enthrall audiences 30 years on.

The movie smashed box office records in the North America market, with a total of $160milllion, securing the biggest domestic debut of the year over Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which debuted with a $131.7 million first weekend in April. 

The fifth Toy Story movie also ranks as the largest start in Disney and Pixar’s franchise, not adjusted for , surpassing the record set by 2019’s Toy Story 4 with $120 million. 

It has also scored the second-largest animated opening weekend in history, behind another Pixar favourite - 2018’s Incredibles 2 which had a total of $182.7 million.

In the global market the film also scored hugely, opening to $152 million for a global tally of $312 million, on the back of a $250 million budget.  

Toy Story 5 arrived in cinemas across the world on Friday, reuniting the beloved trio of Woody (), Buzz () and Jessie (Joan Cusack).

Over 30 years since the first Pixar movie left audiences spellbound, the fifth installment is a tale for the ages as Bonnie's toys go head-to-head with the rising influence of technology, in the form of her new tablet called Lilypad.

Hanks and Allen have been on a global publicity blitz in recent weeks, helped along by the likes of Taylor Swift, who has penned a new track for the movie.

With their promo trail over, critics have taken up the baton, awarding the anticipated movie a series of stellar reviews last week.

Whilst there is plenty of praise for the sequel's new cautionary tale and the promotion of Joan Cusack's Jessie to main character, other reviews have insisted this may be the right moment for the franchise to finally 'bow out.'

Giving the film five stars, : 'This movie is more than just another Hollywood sequel. It's a miracle.' 

She added: 'The genius of lies in making audiences feel, rather than telling them what to think. With their finest work – Inside Out, Up and the Toy Story films – they mine deep emotional truths in a way that is almost magically transformative.' 

Awarding the film four stars, Empire's Helen O'Hara wrote: 'The first three films taught us that the work is still meaningful even if the love is finite, but the fourth struggled for a similarly powerful theme. 

'This latest outing, however, is a welcome return to philosophical form as well as being funny, warm-hearted and largely — perhaps overly — optimistic.'

The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney said: 'Toy Story 5 comes an astonishing 31 years after the original and does the enduring franchise proud...

'[Director Andrew] Stanton and [writer Kenna] Harris arguably take too long integrating the Buzz brigade into Jessie's quest, but once all the toys start working together for a common goal, their collective can-do spirit proves stirring.

'The same goes for the insanely catchy song, I Knew It, I Knew You, co-written with regular collaborator Jack Antonoff, on the end credits.'

Praising Joan's role as Jessie, The Times' Kevin Maher gave the film four stars, writing: 'Woody enjoys mostly a co-starring role this time, and has wickedly funny gags about his bald spot and growing paunch. 

'Cusack's Jessie is the star turn, faced with the pain of imminent obsolescence that has become the franchise's favoured theme.'

Writing in Deadline, Damon Wise said: 'Yes, it's a rinse-and-repeat of the usual formula, but the digital-age backdrop adds an intriguing dimension; Stanton and Kenna Harris' script doesn't treat tech as the enemy but, like the rest of the toys, just one more thing that's subject to time and obsolescence.

'Stanton's film is a fun, thoughtful, multi-generational family film based on a well-written script that genuinely tries to say something new while staying faithful to a well-worn premise. 

'In that sense, given that it holds up much better than the last one, it feels like this would be a good place to bow out... Strange but true; there could be a little more life in this old warhorse yet.'

In Variety, Owen Gleiberman called the fifth run a 'nimble, moving, irresistible sequel,' and while comparing each film to an era The Beatles' music evolution, he wrote: 'It's a sublime summing up, a movie that reflects the whole series in its magic mirror, and (just maybe) a perfect ending.'

Robbie Collin in The Telegraph called the film a 'warm and wry update,' writing: 'While Toy Story 5 may fall short of essential, in an age in which children's entertainment routinely panders to its audience, there is something quietly radical about a film that is willing to worry for them.' 

He also singled out Joan Cusack as Jessie and her justifiable 'promotion' to lead character.

However, not all critics were as complimentary, with The Independent's Clarisse Loughrey only awarding the film two stars and deciding the movie was 'certainly topical' but also 'the worst in the series'.

She wrote: 'We've already watched Jessie and then Woody learn to live on, and 5's attempt to achieve unnecessary emotional closure ends with a reveal that only becomes more ludicrous with every second spent thinking about it.'

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw wrote: 'As a piece of family-entertainment content it has the unblemished sheen of a brand new smartphone. 

'But at heart, it has gone dead. 

'For all the intensive, high-energy creative work that has clearly gone into this film's every frame, the jeopardy, the novelty, the ideas and the passion are lacking; the crucial Toy Story theme of mortality feels underpowered, and the film even calamitously loses its nerve with its own big idea.'

Rolling Stone's David Fear, asked: 'Why are you doing this, Pixar?

'Regardless of well-deserved worries about screen-time or not, there doesn't feel like there's a reason for this to exist other than keeping your stockholders happy.'

Directed by Andrew Stanton, the film features an original score by Oscar-winner Randy Newman, who returns to score his fifth Toy Story feature. 

Taylor Swift has lent her star power to the movie, composing a new country song titled I Knew It, I Knew You with director Stanton gushing: 'It’s incredible just how meaningful it’s been having Taylor write and perform this song.'

'Her connection to Jessie and the immediate way she understood what the character was going through was undeniable.'

'The song is so deeply connected to Toy Story. So much so that on first listen, it instantly felt like it had always belonged there, like a long-lost family member. It was kismet.'

Toy Story 5 is in cinemas now.