Tim Allen Says he was Approached About Toy Story 5

Movies

Disney and Pixar are breaking out their old toys. Earlier this year, amid a string of box office failures (which has only gotten worse since then), Disney CEO Bob Iger announced a fifth Toy Story movie – among some other animated sequels – during the first-quarter earnings call with investors. There hasn’t been much talk since then, but that changed on last night’s episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. (Just typing that makes me wish I appreciated late night television more when I had the chance.) Tim Allen was the lead guest, there to promote his Disney+ series The Santa Clauses, and Fallon asked him if he knew anything about Toy Story 5. Allen downplayed it a bit but actually gave a fairly substantial update:

Allen’s reply confirms that it wasn’t just talk or wishful thinking at that earnings call; Toy Story 5 is in active development with a writer from “one of the better ones” (I love Tim Allen) on board, and both Allen and Tom Hanks have been approached to play the leads, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, again. In other words, this is definitely happening. This doesn’t faze me much; I only saw the first Toy Story when I was a kid, and I remember liking it but was never moved to watch any of the sequels. (I can count the Pixar films I’ve seen on one hand.) But the consensus seems to be that Toy Story 4 was one too many, which Allen wisely acknowledges while trying to assure everyone that the new film will be good and respectful and have meaning beyond making Disney some money. There’s no way to know if that will be the case, as Allen doesn’t even name the writer, which he’s probably not allowed to do. But at least some of the people involved recognize that this one has to be good to get people to see it. I hope the fans are pleased with it when it comes out, but I don’t blame them for maintaining a healthy amount of doubt till they see it for themselves.