Toy Story 5 has grossed more than $764 million in its first three weeks and is predicted to reach $1.2 billion by industry experts, smashing multiple box office records. Taylor Swift co-wrote an original song, I Knew It, I Knew It, with Jack Antonoff for the film, inspired by the character Jessie. She performed the song on piano at the premiere and later dueted You’ve Got a Friend in Me with Randy Newman.
Director Andrew Stanton's Journey
The movie's success is a triumph for director Andrew Stanton, who was turned down for a job by Disney executives three times. Hired instead by Pixar, which Disney bought in 2006, Stanton has since won Oscars for Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008). His acceptance speech for Finding Nemo went viral after he thanked his high school drama teacher, Phil Perry, and professed his love for his wife, Julie.
Stanton, 60, co-wrote the first four Toy Story films but directs this one for the first time. As Pixar's second animator after John Lasseter, he is making a splash 30 years after the franchise launched.
Star-Studded Cast and New Tech Character
The film features Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Bullseye (Alan Cumming), Lilypad (Greta Lee), Smarty Pants (Conan O'Brien), Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), and Snappy (Shelby Rabara). Stanton told The Arts Hour on BBC World Service: "There's usually an eagerness to come back. If we've done our job right, they've had a good time and they've been very happy with the results."
Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee, is the first tech device in Toy Story—an electronic tablet that disrupts the toys' world. Lee said: "She's not quite a villain, but she is the new threat to the toys. They start off with a very funny antagonistic relationship, but they all want what's best for Bonnie."
Tech in Children's Lives
The introduction of Lilypad reflects how modern children's worlds have changed with affordable tech. Stanton compared it to the arrival of television: "The jury's out on what that is going to do over time. But it was clearly never going to go away. And I think tech's the same way."
Diagnosed with ADHD in 2012, Stanton lives in Mill Valley, California, with his wife Julie and two children. A massive Arsenal fan, he included a scene mimicking the club's offside trap in his 2012 film John Carter.
Creative Process
Stanton said: "My strategy has always been: be wrong as fast as we can... which basically means, we’re gonna screw up, let’s just admit that." He studied character animation at California Institute of Arts and joined Pixar in 1990. On creating Toy Story films, he noted: "I've never really worried about who the audience is. It's always been about trying to please myself."
He added: "There is a mad science to planning what is spontaneous and seems natural in life. You have to work at adding imperfection. The computer wants to do things perfectly, but it's the imperfections of life that make it interesting."
