Pixar’s ‘Toy Story 5’ lassos biggest opening weekend in franchise history with $160 million haul

Disney’s Toy Story franchise still has some buzz.

The fifth installment in the Pixar film series tallied $160 million during its opening weekend, the highest in franchise history. Internationally, “Toy Story 5” snared $152 million, bringing its estimated global haul for the three-day period to $312 million.

“Toy Story 4” was the previous record holder for the franchise, generating $120.9 million at its opening in 2019, according to Rentrak data. In total, the film series has collected more than $3 billion at the global box office since the first film debuted in 1995, with two of its installments surpassing $1 billion each worldwide.

“Toy Story 5” had the second-highest opening for an animated feature, just behind “Incredibles 2,” which secured $182.7 million domestically in 2018.

Around 11.5 million moviegoers headed out to see “Toy Story 5” during Father’s Day weekend, according to data from EntTelligence. And more than a fourth of audiences opted for pricier premium large-format screenings. IMAX reported $11.5 million in domestic ticket sales and $18.4 million globally.

“Toy Story 5” continues the trend of strong theatrical showings for family-friendly titles, as nearly 70% of ticket buyers were part of family groups.

“Another incredible summer weekend is on the books as powered by the massive debut of ‘Toy Story 5,’ a movie that had appeal across every imaginable audience demographic and thus became the ultimate four-quadrant movie,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak.

In the last two years, family-friendly fare with a PG rating has won at the box office, outperforming PG-13 and R-rated films, Rentrak data shows.

Additionally, animated features are not usually front-loaded at the box office, meaning they steadily generate ticket sales over the course of their run in theaters, gaining word of mouth.

“Disney and Pixar orchestrated a perfectly timed, flawlessly marketed film that charmed audiences and critics alike that is now set up for weeks of solid playability in movie theaters as it powers toward $1 billion and beyond at the worldwide box office,” Dergarabedian said.