Toy Story 5 Drops Major Plot Details as First Photo Reveals an Army of Buzz Lightyears
Toy Story 5 rallies an army of Buzz Lightyears. A new Empire photo reveals the battle-ready Multi-Buzz marching in formation, hinting at chaotic new plot twists ahead.
Pixar just dropped a curveball for Toy Story 5: there might be more Buzz Lightyears than you can count. And no, this isn't a gag cutaway. It ties into a bigger, more modern dilemma the movie is actually interested in tackling.
The image: an army of Buzzes
Empire Magazine shared a new still on November 19, 2025 that shows multiple Buzz Lightyears marching in formation outdoors. The squad has a name: the Multi-Buzz. From the sound of it, this isn't a simple clone joke. The movie is playing with the idea of a whole pack of Buzz units grappling with what they really are, which is a wild visual way to lean into Toy Story's favorite existential crisis: being a toy with awareness.
So what is Toy Story 5 actually about?
Director Andrew Stanton says the movie isn't a good-versus-bad tech brawl. It's more location-of-soul stuff: what happens to toys when kids care more about screens than Slinkys. The idea is less 'phones are evil' and more 'okay, but what does that do to playtime... and to the toys who live for it?'
"Honestly, it's not even really about a battle so much as the realization of an existential problem: that nobody's really playing with toys anymore."
"Technology has changed everybody's lives, but we're asking what that means for us - and to our kids. We can't just get away with making tech the villain."
Pixar's official setup lines up with that: the gang suddenly finds themselves competing with the stuff kids are glued to today... electronics. That's where fresh faces like a frog-shaped tablet come in. Yes, really.
Who's talking and who they're playing
- Tom Hanks as Woody
- Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear
- Joan Cusack as Jessie
- Blake Clark as Slinky Dog
- John Ratzenberger as Hamm
- Ernie Hudson as Combat Carl
- Tony Hale as Forky
- Melissa Villaseñor as Karen Beverly
- Greta Lee as Lilypad, a frog-shaped tablet (new)
- Conan O'Brien as Smarty Pants (new)
- Anna Faris in an undisclosed role (new)
Behind the camera
Andrew Stanton is writing and directing. He's been deep in this world for years, co-writing earlier Toy Story installments and directing Pixar heavyweights like Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and Finding Dory. One big milestone here: this is the first Toy Story feature made without franchise co-creator John Lasseter, who left Pixar in 2018. That's a seismic change for a series this storied.
The date you need
Toy Story 5 hits theaters on June 19, 2026.