Toy Story 5 Scores Year’s Biggest Opening With Franchise-Best $160 Million
The fifth installment of the beloved Pixar franchise, Toy Story 5, has made a remarkable debut, earning $160 million in domestic ticket sales during its opening weekend. This figure, reported on June 21, sets a new franchise record and marks the largest opening weekend of the year.
Record-Breaking Performance
Toy Story 5 launched 31 years after the original Toy Story first captivated audiences. The latest film has significantly outperformed its predecessor, Toy Story 4, which debuted with $120 million in 2019. Internationally, Toy Story 5 also showed strong performance, generating $152 million in opening-weekend sales, bringing its global total to $312 million.
The Toy Story franchise is among the most lucrative for The Walt Disney Company, having collectively grossed over $3 billion prior to the release of Toy Story 5. The franchise’s financial success extends beyond box office receipts, with billions generated from merchandising.
Continued Popularity Despite Controversy
While the series appeared to conclude with Toy Story 3 in 2010, the decision to revive the franchise nearly a decade later has proven to be financially rewarding. Toy Story 4 surpassed $1 billion in ticket sales, and Toy Story 5 is poised to follow suit.
Among animated films, only Incredibles 2 (2018) had a larger opening weekend, with $182.7 million. However, the production costs for Toy Story 5 have escalated, with the film’s budget reported at $250 million, excluding marketing expenses. The voice cast features returning stars Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, and Joan Cusack as Jessie.
Plot and Creative Team
In Toy Story 5, the narrative follows the toys as they face new challenges when Bonnie acquires a new tablet. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton, a veteran of Pixar known for his work on Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008). Additionally, the film features a new song by Taylor Swift titled “I Knew It, I Knew You.”
Audience reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with Toy Story 5 receiving an “A” CinemaScore, indicating its potential to maintain strong box office performance in the weeks to come.
Competition and Box Office Landscape
Following its impressive debut, Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day fell to second place, earning $17 million in its second weekend. This represents a 61% drop from its initial weekend, raising concerns about its long-term viability in theaters. Despite this, the film, which has a budget of $115 million and stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, and Colman Domingo, has grossed $160.4 million globally within two weeks.
Toy Story 5 faced minimal competition from new releases. A24’s The Death of Robin Hood, a reimagining of the classic tale, underperformed with $2.6 million across 1,762 screens. Directed by Michael Sarnoski and featuring Hugh Jackman, the film was budgeted at $20 million but received mixed reviews, resulting in a “C+” CinemaScore.
Neon’s Leviticus performed slightly better, earning $2.7 million from 1,076 theaters. This low-budget horror film, directed by Adrian Chiarella, tells the story of two teenage boys in conversion therapy. Despite its modest start and positive word-of-mouth, Leviticus faced stiff competition from established horror hits like Obsession and Backrooms.
Horror Genre Dominance
Obsession, a microbudget horror film directed by 26-year-old Curry Barker, continues to dominate the horror genre. In its sixth weekend, it nearly matched its $17 million opening weekend from mid-May, adding $14.2 million to its domestic total, which now stands at $215.8 million, with a global haul of $333.3 million.
With Toy Story 5 and Obsession leading box office sales, the summer box office has seen a 15% increase compared to the summer of 2025, according to Rentrak. Notably, ticket sales are nearly on par with the summer of 2019 at the same point, showing only a 1.9% decline when adjusted for inflation.
Industry Insights
Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends for Rentrak, anticipates that Hollywood is on track for its best summer since before the pandemic. He notes that the success is emerging from both expected and unexpected sources.
Dergarabedian describes the current summer as a “hybrid summer,” suggesting it could serve as a blueprint for future box office strategies. He emphasizes the importance of diversifying film offerings beyond traditional franchises to include innovative and original films like Backrooms, Obsession, and Disclosure Day.
As reported by www.billboard.com.
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Published on 2026-06-21 22:00:00 • By FAME Delivered News Desk