I went inside Mattel and saw how Toy Story 5 toys are built — and made interactive

With Toy Story 5 set to hit the big screen on June 19, 2026, it might come as no surprise that there’s a whole bunch of toys — Jessie, Rex, Buzz, Woody, and Slinky, among others — getting ready to hit retailers' shelves.

There are some newcomers as well, including Lillypad — a kid-safe learning tablet that reminds me of LeapFrog or VTech — and SmartyPants, a toy designed to help with potty training, voiced by Conan O’Brien.

Now, while there will undoubtedly be dozens of Woody and Buzz figures, Mattel is the master licensee for Toy Story and a key partner of Disney at large — they’ve been making Toy Story toys since the second film. And ahead of wave one launching, and the film hitting the screen, I traveled to Mattel’s headquarters to get a peek behind the curtain.

Not surprisingly, these toys all start with a sketch, much like an animated film. And it tasks the designers at Mattel with drawing sketch after sketch for product ideas — be it a new play-scale figure of the main characters, a Woody that can run as you pull the string on the back, the impressive Ultimate Action series, or a new adorable mini-series. It all starts with sketches, whether black and white or in color, then moves to modeling courtesy of 3D printers using an array of polymers.

I got to visit Mattel’s 3D lab, and there they have 14 large-scale 3D printers that can turn on and get to work at a moment’s notice. One designer shared that it can be just a few hours after a design is finished before a 3D-printed early-stage model is delivered. There’s also the ability to 3D print with metal, which can be handy for creating a metal mold to then put other textures around, or for seeing the potential shapes in different forms — I saw a metal-made model of Jessie’s head.

It was interesting to see how Mattel — a toy company with an over 80-year legacy — was employing cutting-edge tech in its design process. There are also spots to 3D scan folks for action figures, though some of this can be done digitally as well. I got the sense that the designers are given tools to let them excel at their craft, rather than being forced to use one just for the sake of using it.

Now, the Toy Story 5 lineup from Mattel has a lot of what you’d expect. So if you’re simply after a Woody, Buzz, Jessie, or Forky figure, fear not, as the toy brand has you covered. And while I expected to see some more tech-infused toys, especially on the higher end, there was a big surprise with the new 7-inch PlayScale Interactables figures of the classic characters and newcomers.

Part of Mattel’s Toy Story 5 PlayScale Interactables assortment, these are designed to bring top and new characters to life with sound — not just delivering iconic phrases to relive moments from the films, but also recognizing and talking to each other.

At $21.99, they hit a more accessible price point while still packing in those interactive features. The voice boxes inside not only boast actual lines from the voice actors in the film — aside from Woody, as Tom Hanks gives that role to his brother, Jim Hanks — but also offer interactivity.

Each has 12 phrases — be it Jessie explaining what a sheriff does (remember, Bonnie made her the sheriff), or Forky asking what’s the point — but the figures can also interact with each other. So I heard Jessie explain the role of a sheriff after Forky was placed next to her on a table and asked what a sheriff does. It’s really neat and speaks to the value. Mattel’s able to trickle these experiences down to its more entry-level offerings, and that’s a real win for kids and toy fans. You get a more surprising and fun experience out of a figure.

I’d also call out the painstaking details that Mattel’s design team is integrating here. You might recall that Woody’s voice box is removed in Toy Story 4, so the Woody figure here does have a pull string but has stitches on his rear. He also doesn’t have the sheriff's badge, as that’s now on Jessie. It’s really the little details that show how much care goes into the toys.

The classic Toy Story gang can even interact with newcomer Lillypad — here Mattel’s made a smaller version of the learning tablet, and, ironically enough, it doesn’t boast an actual screen. It does have a speaker so it can chat with the press of a button, or when near another toy.

Another highlight of the line is a new Woody and Bullseye RC that, with a simple controller, lets you drive it forward or backward, or even break out into a sort of shuffle dance. It glides pretty well.

There are, of course, other toys that Mattel is cooking up, but also included in wave one are themed Hot Wheels cars and new mini collectibles. These arrive in a backpack that the core figures can wear — Jessie, Woody, and Buzz included — and are stylized versions of the characters. These look really cute and are definitely Mattel x Toy Story jumping on the mini collectible bandwagon.

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