Toy Story 5 Director Explains the Unexpected Game of Thrones Connection

Toy Story and Game of Thrones do not belong in the same sentence, and yet here we are. Andrew Stanton, who has been in the Toy Story trenches since day one, says they actually share one big thing in common. And no, it is not swords or dragons.

Andrew Stanton's very specific Toy Story/Thrones comparison

Stanton is back for Toy Story 5, which lands in summer 2026, and this time he is directing a Toy Story movie for the first time. He has history with this series: he co-wrote all the Toy Story films except Toy Story 3, for which he crafted the story himself.

Asked by DiscussingFilm what has him excited about returning to this world, Stanton pointed to how the franchise uses time as a storytelling engine. Here is the key bit from him:

'People think of it like we're doing sequels with another number, and I know what they are on the title. But to me, it's no different than Game of Thrones or something. It's always been a series [where] the world keeps on going, and time has always been the most advantage about that storyline. So we let time happen. We let kids grow up, we let Andy go to college, we let Bonnie grow up, we let these things happen as they do in our real life. And some of these toys age out and some of these toys go somewhere else. So we can just keep continuing with what would happen. That's very exciting for me.'

Putting Toy Story and Thrones in the same thought still feels weird, but his point tracks: the toys and their owners actually age and move on. This is not The Simpsons, where everyone stays locked in amber forever. In Toy Story, Andy went to college, Bonnie got older, and some toys retired out of the rotation. It is the rare long-running animated series that embraces time passing, even if the comparison to Westeros only works in the loosest way possible.

So what is Toy Story 5 actually doing?

Stanton says the team keeps asking what would realistically happen next if time kept moving, and the new movie leans into that.

• Bonnie is now eight and glued to a frog-like tablet called Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee.
• Newcomers include Craig Robinson as Atlas and Conan O'Brien as Smarty Pants.
• The story finds a way to reunite Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of the gang with Woody, despite Woody leaving at the end of Toy Story 4.
• Toy Story 5 opens in theaters June 19, 2026.

A prequel? Honestly, I would watch that

If you want Toy Story to feel even more like Thrones structurally, there is an obvious move: a prequel. House of the Dragon jumped back nearly two centuries from Game of Thrones. What does a Toy Story set in, say, the 1940s or 1950s look like? Different kinds of toys, different playrooms, a totally different cultural backdrop. I would absolutely check that out.

While we are here: a couple quick notes

Tim Allen has already wrapped his work on Toy Story 5 and marked the moment with a heartfelt message. And in the 'how the sausage gets made' category, Tom Hanks once explained that about 80 minutes of the original Toy Story had to be tossed and rebuilt. Long-running franchises do not stay sharp by accident.