‘Toy Story 5’ Dominates Box Office With Massive Opening, Beats ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’

Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie are proving that audiences still love their favorite toys. Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 has opened with a huge $160 million weekend in North America, becoming the biggest domestic debut of the year.

According to box office estimates, the animated sequel earned the massive opening from 4,425 theaters across the US and Canada. The result puts it ahead of Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which opened with $131.7 million, and makes Toy Story 5 the top movie debut of the year so far.

The latest Pixar film also broke records inside its own franchise. It now holds the biggest opening weekend for a Toy Story movie, beating Toy Story 4’s previous record of $120 million from 2019.

The film also scored the second-biggest animated opening weekend ever, only behind Disney and Pixar’s Incredibles 2, which earned $182.7 million in 2018.

The success was not limited to North America. Overseas markets added another $152 million, bringing the movie’s worldwide opening total to $312 million. The film reportedly carries a production budget of around $250 million before marketing costs.

Directed by Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton, Toy Story 5 brings back some of the franchise’s most famous characters. Tom Hanks returns as Woody, Tim Allen voices Buzz Lightyear and Joan Cusack returns as Jessie.

The story follows the toys as they deal with a new challenge. Their owner Bonnie becomes attached to a new smart device called Lilypad, forcing Woody, Buzz and the rest of the group to compete with technology for attention.

The movie has also received strong reactions from audiences and critics. Toy Story 5 currently holds a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes, while CinemaScore audiences gave it an “A” grade.

The film’s strong performance continues a trend of successful family movies at the box office. Recent animated sequels like Inside Out 2 and Zootopia 2 became huge worldwide hits, earning $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion respectively.

Box office analyst David A. Gross, who runs the newsletter FranchiseRe, said family films have been a major part of the industry’s recovery.

“Family moviegoing has been leading the industry since it came roaring back from the pandemic in 2023. A lot of the genre’s success is coming from sequels and live-action remakes,” Gross said. “Pixar and Disney are particularly good at growing their series from episode to episode. It’s extremely impressive.”

While Toy Story 5 dominated the weekend, other films had very different results. Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi movie Disclosure Day earned $17 million in its second weekend, dropping 62% from its opening. The film has now made $160 million worldwide but faces pressure due to its $115 million budget.

Meanwhile, horror films continued to perform well. Obsession earned $14.2 million in its sixth weekend and has become a major success with $333 million worldwide. Backrooms also remained strong, adding $7.3 million and reaching $300 million globally.

New releases had a tougher time. A24’s The Death of Robin Hood, starring Hugh Jackman, opened with only $2.65 million, while Neon’s Leviticus debuted with $2.74 million.

The strong performance of Toy Story 5 comes during a busy summer movie season that is expected to become one of the biggest since the pandemic. According to Rentrak data, the summer box office is currently ahead of last year and close to 2019 levels.

David A. Gross believes the industry is in a strong position again.

“After last week’s breather, the box office is back to running ahead of the pre-pandemic average,” Gross said. “Business is excellent.”

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