As the years go on, it’s becoming more and more fitting that Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase is “to infinity and beyond.” Pixar’s extremely popular franchise about toys that come to life when humans aren’t around seems like it may never end. It looked like things were coming to a close after the third installment. Then Toy Story 4 was announced, presumably to wrap up the series. Now, it appears that there may still be more adventures for Woody and Buzz on the horizon.
“Every film we make, we treat it like it’s the first and the last film we’re ever going to make,” producer Mark Nielsen said during Pixar press day for the movie. “So you force yourself to make it hold up. You don’t get in over your skis. Whether there’s another one? I don’t know. If there is, it’s tomorrow’s problem.”
While that certainly doesn’t guarantee anything, it also doesn’t shut the door on yet another potential sequel. Getting the entire cast and crew back together may prove to be a challenge though, especially considering Tom Hanks’ busy career, but it’s not like it hasn’t been done before.
The probability of a fifth installment will likely depend on the success of Toy Story 4. The animated film is expected to perform very well at the box office and presumably end up being one of the summer’s big blockbusters. The expected success of the movie will be the latest in a line of huge triumphs for Disney, too, which owns Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar, and many more moneymakers.
It remains to be seen if the Toy Story franchise, which has become the longest in Pixar’s history, will come back for a fifth. As of now though, the series will end with the fourth movie when Toy Story 4 hits theaters on June 21st, 2019.