One of Pixar’s most respected filmmakers just admitted he didn’t actually want to direct Toy Story 5 until he realized someone else might.
Andrew Stanton is no stranger to this franchise. He co-wrote all four previous Toy Story films, earning Oscar nominations for the original and the third installment. When a fifth film was put into development, most fans assumed Stanton was the obvious choice. The reality, it turns out, was a little more complicated.
Andrew Stanton Explains Why He Took the ‘Toy Story 5’ Director’s Chair
In a new interview with Polygon, Stanton was refreshingly candid about his hesitation.
“There’s no simple answer to this,” he said. “I was asked, and it wasn’t on my radar. And then, if I’m being really frank, I was like, ‘Ugh, somebody might f**k it up,’ and I would hate to see it done wrong. I’ve always been a writer or involved in the writing of the other Toy Story movies. I said, “Let me just write our first draft of what I would like to see.”
“And if we agree that where I’ve pointed to is the same place you’d like to go to, this was to Pete Docter and to Jim Morris to Jonas Rivera and Bob Iger, then maybe we can do this. Because you have to really love the idea to live with it for four years and deal with all the highs and lows.”
That instinct to protect the franchise is something Stanton has spoken about before. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said he owes “everything in my career to the first movie and the skills that I’ve learned,” and has described Toy Story 5 as probably the best way he can leave his stamp at Pixar.
Once he committed, Stanton found a story worth telling. In an interview with Empire, he explained that the rise of kids playing with technology instead of toys is what made the timing feel right. “When tech comes in, it wins,” he said. “It happens to adults and kids. It just wins.”
Stanton has also pushed back against fans who feel the franchise has gone on too long, arguing that Toy Story 1 through 3 were “the Andy years” and that nobody is being robbed of their trilogy. In his view, the world of Toy Story has always been built to evolve with the times, not stay frozen in one era.
The film stars Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack, with Greta Lee, Keanu Reeves, and Conan O’Brien among the new additions to the cast. Randy Newman returns to score the film, marking his tenth collaboration with Pixar.
Toy Story 5 opens exclusively in theaters on June 19, 2026.
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