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(Bloomberg) — Toy Story 5, the latest film from Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation Studios, debuted as the highest-grossing movie in US and Canadian theaters this weekend, delivering $160 million in ticket sales.
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The haul surpassed that of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures in April as the best debut of 2026. Boxoffice Pro, an industry tracker, had forecast sales of at least $160 million.
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It’s also the most successful opening weekend performance in the Toy Story franchise that started in 1995, and Pixar’s second-best opening weekend in its history after Incredibles 2 in 2018.
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Toy Story 5 received strong reviews heading into a long Juneteenth holiday weekend that ended with Father’s Day on Sunday. In addition to the legacy of one of the most enduring animated franchises, the film was bolstered by a chart-topping hit from Taylor Swift — I Knew It, I Knew You — in the soundtrack.
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The enthusiastic reception accelerates the turnaround of Pixar, led by President Jim Morris and Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter, that began with Inside Out 2 in 2024. Before that film, Pixar suffered through a period in which some movies went straight to the Disney+ streaming service and others struggled to connect with audiences. Inside Out 2 became the highest grossing Hollywood film of 2024 with $1.7 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
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Earlier this year, Hoppers, an original Pixar film, generated $388.9 million at the box office worldwide, an improvement on Elio, the studio’s previous non-franchise bet that only took in $154 million after its release last year.
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Toy Story 5 is one of the most highly anticipated pictures on the movie calendar this summer, alongside Spider-Man: Brand New Day from Sony Group Corp.’s film studio and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, a Universal picture.
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Those three are expected to help drive summer ticket sales to between $4.1 billion and $4.3 billion in the US and Canada, according to estimates from analysts at Rentrak and Bloomberg Intelligence, putting the season on a par with prepandemic levels.
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