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- Toy Story 5's creators have discussed the futures of Woody, Buzz, and Jessie
- The trio have been the movie series' leads for 25+ years
- There are no current plans to retire them and focus on a new group of toys
The creative team behind Toy Story 5 — and the wider film franchise — say they "don't have any plans" to retire Woody, Buzz, and Jessie as its main characters.
In an exclusive interview with TechRadar, director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins indicated that they weren't actively looking to move on from the movie series' iconic trio. However, the pair also appeared to leave the door open on a potential changing of the guard at some point in the future.
Woody and Buzz have been the faces of Pixar's most beloved and enduring film franchise since the first — and ground-breaking — Toy Story movie was released in 1995. Following her debut in the aforementioned flick's 1999 sequel, Jessie has not only become an integral part of the group, but is also now popular enough to be the lead of a Toy Story, well, story — that being, Toy Story 5.
With Jessie installed as the protagonist of one of 2026's most anticipated new movies, Woody and Buzz find themselves in the unusual position of being the primary supporting characters, rather than the stars, of a Toy Story film.
Are Pixar and parent company Disney testing the waters to see how Toy Story fans react to having a different character — albeit an immediately recognizable face in Jessie — take the spotlight? And, if so, is this our clearest sign yet that the studios might be starting to plan for life without the fan-favorite individuals?
"It's an interesting question," Collins replied when I put similarly-worded queries to her and Stanton. "So far, we've had a philosophy of following the kids — first, Andy, and now Bonnie — and the toys... they've obviously grown and evolved, and some have fallen by the wayside, but each film brings of few new toys.
"So, the kids themselves have been the thing that we've tracked narratively. There are the Andy years, and now Bonnie has a totally different experience with them and different issues she's got to deal with her toys.
"But, it's never been about 'hey, there are no more stories to mine with these characters'," Collins continued. "Also, we don't ever think about the next movie while we're making the current one. So, we don't have any plans [to retire this group of toys]. We just treat each one as their own thing, let these characters rest, and see if a new idea for another story bubbles to the surface."
"Yeah, none of the other sequels were planned," Stanton added. "If we've learned anything from working on these films, it's don't plan ahead. So, as Lindsey says, we'll let them rest and see what happens."
Be that as it may, Pixar is seemingly moving forward with ideas for more sequels. Indeed, chatting to Entertainment Weekly in April, Stanton said that brainstorming sessions for Toy Story 5 means "there would be two movies' worth of Toy Story material to explore next". Whether they're centered around Woody, Buzz, and Jessie, though, remains to be seen.
Toy Story 5 arrives in theaters worldwide on Friday, June 19. Its four predecessors, plus the franchise's many TV spin-offs and miniseries, are available to watch now on Disney+, aka one of the world's best streaming services.
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