Things are looking mighty good for Pixar’s “Toy Story 5,” which had a $17.5M Thursday preview. That’s a franchise record and a 2026-best for Thursday previews. It’s the second-highest ever for an animated film, behind “Incredibles 2” ($18.5M). “Tot Story 5” already has $70M in pre-sales for the upcoming weekend.
I’m now going to predict a $180M+ weekend—it could potentially surpass the current animation record holder, also “Incredibles 2” ($182.5M). With strong audience scores, it’s poised to dominate for several weeks and may even prevent “Supergirl” from reaching #1 next weekend.
With a worldwide tally that should hit $300M+ by Sunday night, this film will easily hit the $1 billion mark, and then some, by the end of its run — only one other movie this year has hit that milestone, “Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” with “Michael” ($937M) inching closer by the day.
Despite my mixed feelings about this film, and its status as the least well-reviewed entry in the franchise (72 on Metacritic), I can’t help but feel a glow at how much the box office has been booming this year, with hit after hit—not just sequels, but also non-sequels and original stories capturing cultural attention. It’s great to see.
The film is set to shoot in fall 2027. The idea would be to release it in December 2028, timed to Trump's exit from office. Oh, and it's now Warner Bros.' indie label, Clockwork, that's backing the film.