‘Toy Story 5’ Earned a Staggering Sum Globally Before Opening Day Even Began

Woody, Buzz, and the gang are back, and the box office is already feeling it. ‘Toy Story 5′ has stormed into theaters with one of the most impressive pre-opening performances in recent memory, pulling in a massive 43.5 million dollars globally before a single Friday ticket was even scanned.

The film hauled in 17.5 million dollars from Thursday night previews in the United States alone, the highest preview performance of the year, while simultaneously opening in 28 international markets to push its combined global total to 43.5 million dollars going into Friday. That number puts it on course for what industry observers are calling the biggest global opening day of the year.

The 17.5 million dollar preview figure is the second best ever recorded for an animated film, surpassed only by ‘Incredibles 2,’ which earned 18.5 million dollars in previews before going on to open to 182.7 million dollars domestically. By comparison, ‘Toy Story 4’ made 12 million dollars in previews before opening to 120 million dollars in its debut frame, a record this new entry is almost certain to shatter.

Updated projections following the preview haul placed the domestic three-day opening between 160 and 170 million dollars, a figure that would represent not only the biggest debut in the franchise’s history but potentially the largest domestic opening weekend seen in the past two years. Internationally, the film is on course for approximately 135 million dollars, pointing toward a combined global opening weekend north of 275 million dollars.

The film carries a production budget of 250 million dollars plus marketing costs, but with numbers at this scale the return on investment for Disney looks substantial. For context, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ became Hollywood’s first billion-dollar film of the year after opening to 131.7 million dollars domestically, a figure now firmly within the lower range of projections for ‘Toy Story 5.’

The Juneteenth holiday falling on a Friday gave the film an additional boost, with parents having the day off and Father’s Day arriving Sunday to create back-to-back family moviegoing incentives. Pixar has historically benefited from this particular stretch of the calendar, making the timing an intentional and effective strategic choice.

Across all five films the ‘Toy Story’ franchise has now generated over three billion dollars at the global box office, and the series ranks as the most watched film property on Disney Plus with over two billion hours streamed worldwide.

With early audience scores sitting at 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a strong A CinemaScore already secured, ‘Toy Story 5’ is not just performing like a hit, it is performing like a landmark moment for Pixar’s theatrical comeback.

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