Published Aug 30, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT
Liz Declan is a Lead Writer for ScreenRant, primarily covering movies. She is a massive fan of Star Wars, the MCU, and Supernatural. In addition to writing, Liz loves attending and covering conventions and interviewing actors. Find her on TikTok and Instagram @va.va.vera
Disney has been putting out movies for decades, and while some classics were released many years ago, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 and Cinderella in 1950, many of today's most beloved Disney movies were released in the '80s, '90s, and early '00s. In fact, those decades were arguably the golden era of the franchise, which is reflected in the fact that so many of these movies—from Beauty and the Beast in 1991 and The Little Mermaid in 1989 to Lilo & Stitch in 2002 and The Lion King in 1994—have now become live-action remakes.
It's not exactly a secret that these live-action remakes have had varying degrees of success, leading to valid questions about whether the House of Mouse should really continue to make them. As those debates rage on, though, there are some Disney properties dating back to these same decades that haven't gone the live-action remake route but have instead continued to put out new movies throughout the years and have, impressively, done so very successfully.
There are myriad examples, from the Cars franchise, which put out its most recent movie, Cars 3, in 2017, to the Incredibles movies, which are still ongoing with The Incredibles 3 currently in production. However, arguably no Disney property has had a more successful run than Toy Story. In fact, since the Toy Story movies began in 1995 with Toy Story and have continued as recently as this year with Toy Story 5, they have maintained one frankly staggering pattern, and it's not an exaggeration to say that this alone might prove that Toy Story is Disney's best movie series.
Nearly Every Toy Story Movie Has Rotten Tomatoes Scores Higher Than 90%
If the popularity of the Toy Story movies and their box office numbers weren't enough, all that one would need to see to agree that the Toy Story movies have been massively successful are their current Rotten Tomatoes scores. Notably, the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the early movies were done retroactively, but regardless, every Toy Story movie currently has at least a 93% or better as far as critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 sitting at 100%. The audience scores aren't far behind, with all but one movie having 90% or better.
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Toy Story |
100% |
92% |
|
Toy Story 2 |
100% |
87% |
|
Toy Story 3 |
98% |
90% |
|
Toy Story 4 |
96% |
94% |
|
Toy Story 5 |
93% |
94% |
These scores are, frankly, beyond impressive, especially because it's difficult for any franchise to have this much success, much less an animated franchise geared towards kids that has spanned decades and undergone multiple major changes (including a transition from Andy to Bonnie as the toys' kid, which could have been absolutely disastrous in different hands). In fact, it's odd that Toy Story 2 is ranked lowest in terms of audience scores (87%), as that is frequently regarded as one of the best Toy Story movies.
Even that lower anomaly can, therefore, be forgiven—not that an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score is 'bad' by any stretch. Granted, not every movie tied to the Toy Story universe has done well; Lightyear, the prequel spin-off movie that was released in 2022, received a considerably lower 74% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a slightly better audience score of 84%. In terms of the actual Toy Story movies, though, all five have been very well-received, which begs the question: What's next?
What's Next For Toy Story?
Currently, Toy Story 6 is not confirmed, although as long as the main actors sign on (meaning, at the very least, Tom Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, and Joan Cusack as Jessie), it seems all but guaranteed to happen. In fact, Toy Story co-creator Andrew Stanton recently spoke about these intentions directly with ScreenRant, saying:
I always knew that there was a natural possibility to just follow Bonnie, and just follow her life, and just see what happens to the toys if it keeps going. So there was always that seed. It's like a series that doesn't know it's going to get picked up for the next season. We'd always end it like it could end here, but we've passed the badge on from Woody to Jessie at the end of 4, just in case it keeps going. So it's always been that kind of mindset.
Clearly, then, audiences have plenty of reason to hope for another addition to this franchise. And, given Toy Story's incredible success for decades now, this is a potential Disney sequel movie that viewers can safely feel excited about.
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Toy Story 2
10/10
Release Date November 24, 1999
Runtime 92 minutes
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Tim Allen
Buzz Lightyear (voice)
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English (US) ·