Pixar’s Toy Story 5 posted the best Thursday preview performance of 2026, earning $17.5 million before its official opening weekend began on June 20. That number places the animated sequel second all-time among Pixar films in preview earnings, trailing only Incredibles 2, which made $18.5 million in 2018.

Opening weekend projections following the preview results range from $145 million to $175 million domestically. If the upper end holds, Toy Story 5 would become the highest-grossing opening of 2026 so far, surpassing The Super Mario Galaxy Movie‘s $131.7 million debut earlier in the year.

Deadline and Variety both noted that critical reception has been unusually strong for a legacy sequel. A high score on review aggregators helped push the upper end of the projection range. Strong early word-of-mouth is typically the clearest indicator of whether an animated film will hold its audience through the second and third weekends, which is where Pixar films traditionally perform best.

Globally, Toy Story 5 is tracking toward a $275 million opening weekend, including roughly $135 million from international markets. That would set a new record for the Toy Story franchise and rank among the largest animated global openings ever recorded.

For context, Toy Story 4 opened to $120 million domestically in 2019 after earning $12 million in previews. The gap between $12 million and $17.5 million in preview performance suggests Toy Story 5 has significantly stronger opening momentum across all demographics.

For Pixar and Disney, the timing matters beyond just the numbers. The studio has had a complicated relationship with theatrical releases since the pandemic, with several streaming-first decisions and some underperforming theatrical runs. A genuine blockbuster weekend for Toy Story 5 would mark a meaningful reset for the studio’s theatrical ambitions heading into the rest of 2026, particularly with Lilo and Stitch 2 and The Incredibles 3 already in development.