Toy Story 5 Hits Disney+ on September 23 — Woody, Buzz and the War Against Screens

Toy Story 5 Is Finally Coming Home to Disney+

After storming the box office back in June, Toy Story 5 lands on Disney+ on September 23 — and honestly, this is the streaming drop families have been waiting for all summer. Pixar Animation Studios' fifth outing with Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and Bullseye takes on the one villain no toy can punch: technology itself, in the form of a frog-shaped tablet called Lilypad that's stealing eight-year-old Bonnie's attention.

The premise hits different in 2026. Every millennial parent reading this has lived the exact scene Pixar built the movie around: your kid choosing a glowing rectangle over the toy box you carefully curated. Director Andrew Stanton — the man behind Finding Nemo and WALL-E — leans all the way into that generational anxiety, and early reactions say the third act hits parents right in the chest the way Toy Story 3's furnace scene once did.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen Return (And It Still Works)

Tom Hanks is back as Woody and Tim Allen returns as Buzz Lightyear, with Joan Cusack (Jessie), Annie Potts (Bo Peep), and the whole toy box rounding out the gang. New additions to the voice cast include Conan O'Brien as the tech-guru villain Smarty Pants and Greta Lee as Lilypad's eerily cheerful voice assistant. The chemistry between Hanks and Allen remains the franchise's beating heart — thirty years in, their banter still feels effortless.

What's smart about this sequel is that it doesn't just rehash the "toys feel obsolete" beat from Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 4. This time the threat isn't being replaced — it's being ignored. Bonnie doesn't want to give her toys away; she just never looks up from the screen long enough to play. That's a sharper, more modern fear, and Pixar plays it for both laughs and genuine pathos.

Why This One Mattered for Pixar's Comeback

Let's be real: after Lightyear underwhelmed in 2022 and Elemental needed a leggy word-of-mouth comeback in 2023, Toy Story 5 was Pixar's proof it still owns the family crown. The June theatrical run delivered exactly that, outgrossing both Elio and the Zootopia 2 chatter in the animation race and reminding everyone why Pete Docter's studio remains the gold standard.

Now its Disney+ arrival on September 23 pairs perfectly with the rest of the month's slate — The Mandalorian & Grogu on September 2, Dancing with the Stars Season 35 with Julia Stiles and Jenna Dewan, Chad Powers Season 2 starring Glen Powell, and the Countdown to Avengers: Doomsday podcast hosted by Iman Vellani. September might be Disney+'s strongest month of the entire year.

Bottom line: gather the kids, charge the popcorn maker, hide the iPads for two hours, and prepare to side-eye your own screen time on the drive home. To infinity — and the streaming queue.