Toy Story
'Toy Story 5', with a $250 million budget, covered its costs in one weekend, boosted by IMAX and premium screenings. YT/ Pixar

Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5 has rewritten the series' record book, opening to $312 million (£236 million) worldwide, the largest debut in the franchise's three-decade history.

The three-day total, made up of $160 million (£121 million) at home and $152 million (£115 million) from overseas markets, is the biggest opening the 31-year-old franchise has ever posted. Variety reported that the film landed at the higher end of forecasts across 4,425 North American cinemas, clearing the previous series high set by Toy Story 4 in 2019.

That earlier benchmark now looks slight. Toy Story 4 opened to $120.9 million domestically, a figure that anchored the franchise for seven years. Its successor beat it by roughly $39 million, a jump of almost a third, and did so on unadjusted figures, before any inflation adjustment in the older film's favour.

The domestic haul matters beyond the franchise. At $160 million, Toy Story 5 owns the second-largest opening weekend ever for an animated film in the United States and Canada, behind only Incredibles 2, the 2018 Pixar title that took $182.7 million (£138 million). It is also the biggest domestic launch of 2026 so far, edging past the $131.7 million (£100 million) start of April's Super Mario Galaxy Movie. EntTelligence counted 11.5 million admissions over the three days, the second-strongest post-pandemic turnout for an animated opening behind Inside Out 2.

How Toy Story 5 Stacks Up Against the Franchise

The size of the weekend sharpens when set against the rest of the series. Figures from Box Office Mojo show the original Toy Story earned a little over $363 million across its entire 1995 theatrical run. The fifth film has matched more than four-fifths of that lifetime total in three days. Spread across its 4,425 cinemas, the domestic opening alone worked out at roughly $36,000 (£27,000) per screen.

Toy Story 2 arrived in 1999 with about $497 million (£377 million) worldwide. The series then moved into another bracket entirely. Toy Story 3 collected $1.067 billion (£808 million) in 2010, and Toy Story 4 reached $1.073 billion (£813 million) in 2019. Two billion-dollar entries, one after the other.

Before this weekend, the four films had grossed more than $3 billion (£2.27 billion) between them, with merchandising bringing in billions more. Toy Story 5 now looks the strongest candidate to become the series' third billion-dollar entry.

Why the $312M Toy Story 5 Opening Matters for Pixar

Carrying a production budget of about $250 million (£189 million) before marketing, Toy Story 5 has already covered its negative cost inside a single weekend. Premium screens helped. IMAX accounted for $11.5 million (£8.7 million) of the domestic figure and $18.4 million (£13.9 million) worldwide, part of a premium-format push that drove about a third of weekend sales.

The overseas picture backs up that pace. Abroad, the film recorded Pixar's second-best debut behind Inside Out 2, the 2024 release that went on to a record animated total of around $1.7 billion (£1.29 billion). Mexico led the foreign markets with $26.6 million (£20 million), while the United Kingdom delivered $20 million (£15 million). China added $18 million (£14 million) and France $7.2 million (£5.5 million).

Precedent sits in the franchise's favour, too. Toy Story 4 turned a $120.9 million start into a $1.073 billion finish. The latest film has begun from a markedly higher base, with an A grade on CinemaScore exit polls and a 'Certified Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes pointing to the word of mouth that keeps family titles in cinemas deep into summer.

Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak's head of marketplace trends, expects the momentum to hold, forecasting a film that powers 'toward $1 billion and beyond at the worldwide box office.'

The weekend also pushed the 2026 summer box office to about $1.85 billion (£1.4 billion), up roughly 16 per cent on the same stage last year, according to Rentrak. With Warner Bros.' Supergirl among the next wide releases, one number still frames the weekend. $312 million in three days, the biggest the toys have ever managed, and the bar every future Pixar sequel will be measured against.

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