Toy Story 5 scores record $312 million global debut

Toy Story 5 blasted out of the gate with an estimated $312 million worldwide, including $160 million domestically and $152 million overseas, giving Disney and Pixar the biggest global opening of 2026 and the largest debut weekend in franchise history. Thirty-one years after the original Toy Story premiered in 1995, the result showed that a legacy animated brand can still behave like one of Hollywood’s safest bets.

The film also cleared a series benchmark that had stood since 2019. It far surpassed Toy Story 4’s $120 million domestic opening and became the second-largest animated domestic debut ever, trailing only Incredibles 2. Before this release, Disney said the first four Toy Story films had already generated more than $3 billion worldwide, while the franchise had driven more than 60 million hours on Disney+ and remained the platform’s most watched film property with over 2 billion hours streamed globally.

The sequel reunites Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie with the rest of the gang, this time facing Lilypad, a new tablet toy voiced by Greta Lee. The film’s commercial launch was matched by strong audience and critical signals, with a 93% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 95% Verified Moviegoers score and an A CinemaScore. Director Andrew Stanton has long built the series around a simple generational premise: the toys stay the same while the children grow up, and the box-office numbers suggest that formula still resonates with parents and their kids at the same time.

The opening arrives in a market that is still rewarding both durable franchises and highly efficient new properties. Curry Barker’s indie horror thriller Obsession, made for about $750,000 and acquired by Focus Features for roughly $15 million at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, crossed $300 million worldwide after opening to $17.1 million domestically and then surging 39% in its second weekend. A24’s Backrooms, co-financed with Chernin Entertainment for about $10 million, opened to $81.4 million domestically and $118 million worldwide, making 20-year-old Kane Parsons the youngest filmmaker ever to direct a No. 1 box-office movie.

Taken together, the results show a bifurcated box office: legacy family titles still deliver the broadest global reach, while internet-born horror and younger audiences are reshaping what counts as a breakout. Toy Story 5 did more than revive a brand, it reinforced the idea that the most valuable franchises are the ones with cross-generational staying power.