Toy Story 5 Opened to $160 Million, and Taylor Swift Fans Had a Lot to Do With It
Toy Story 5 opened on June 19, 2026, and in its first weekend it made $160 million domestically and $312 million worldwide. That’s the biggest domestic opening of 2026, the second-biggest animated opening in history, and a reminder that the franchise still hits differently than anything else Pixar has made.
It also had some help from Taylor Swift.
The numbers
$160 million domestic. $312 million worldwide. Second only to Incredibles 2’s $182.7 million domestic opening among animated films all-time.
Preview night alone pulled $17.5 million, the second-biggest animated preview night in box office history. The film has an “A” CinemaScore, 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 95% audience score that sets a new franchise record.
Per Deadline, the result came from multiple overlapping audiences: parents bringing kids, adults who grew up with the original trilogy, and, notably, a younger female demographic that skewed younger than typical Pixar releases.
That last group had a specific reason to show up.
The Taylor Swift effect
Taylor Swift recorded an original song for Toy Story 5 called “I Knew It, I Know You.” The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 before the movie opened. Per Showbiz411, 26% of the film’s opening weekend audience was women under 25, and analysts attribute a significant portion of that to Swifties who came specifically because of the song.
Swift performed the song at the Hollywood premiere, and the moment circulated widely on social media in the days before the film opened.
This is not the first time a major song has driven movie attendance (Celine Dion and Titanic, Elton John and The Lion King), but it’s the first time the Swift effect has been documented in an animated blockbuster in this direct a way.
The cast
Tom Hanks returns as Woody. Tim Allen is back as Buzz Lightyear. Joan Cusack reprises Jessie. The returning core cast is intact, which matters, Pixar sequels have historically run into trouble when the voices change.
The new additions are wild in the best way:
- Greta Lee voices Lilypad, the main villain and a sentient tech tablet. It’s a sharp, modern concept for a franchise that has always been about what happens when toys are forgotten.
- Conan O’Brien voices a character called Smarty Pants
- Bad Bunny voices Pizza with Sunglasses, which is a sentence that exists now
- Craig Robinson also has a role in the new cast
The antagonist being a tablet, a piece of tech that actively replaces the physical toys that are Woody and Buzz’s world, suggests Pixar found an interesting thematic direction for the fifth film.
What people are saying
“Toy Story 5 got me in my feelings in a movie theater with 200 strangers. The Pixar gut-punch is real and it’s back.”, r/movies
“Bad Bunny as ‘Pizza with Sunglasses’ is the most unhinged casting choice in Pixar history and I am fully here for it.”, X thread going viral
“Taylor Swift’s song hit number one before the movie came out. Swifties watched a Pixar movie. This is the timeline we’re living in.”, pop culture roundup post
“Tom Hanks as Woody makes me cry every single time. I don’t know what it is. I’ve seen every movie. I know what’s coming. Still cried.”, Letterboxd review
What it means for Pixar
Toy Story 4 (2019) was divisive. Many fans felt it ended in the wrong place. The announcement of Toy Story 5 was greeted with skepticism from a portion of the fanbase who thought the story was done.
$312 million in an opening weekend suggests the audience was willing to give the franchise another shot, and the 95% audience score suggests they weren’t disappointed.
Per NBC News, it’s the biggest opening of 2026 for any studio. For Pixar, which had a rough stretch in the streaming-release era, it’s a statement: when they put a major Toy Story film in theaters, people show up.
The question now is whether Toy Story 5 sticks, or whether the opening weekend enthusiasm fades fast. At $312 million worldwide after three days, it has significant runway ahead of it.
