Toy Story 5: Not Woody Or Buzz, But THIS Character Is The True Lead Of Andrew Stanton's Film

After 4 successful chapters, when Disney and Pixar's blockbuster franchise announced Toy Story 5, the question on every fan's mind was simple: where does the story go here? For director and writer Andrew Stanton found his answer not in Woody, not in Buzz, but in the character the franchise has quietly been building toward for twenty-five years.

"That was the only reason I wanted to do it," said Stanton in a recent interview. "I wanted to write whatever I wanted Toy Story 5 to be and see where I wanted to explore. And right away I was like, I want to explore Jessie. I want to put her in the main driver's seat."

It is a creative instinct that co-director and co-writer Mckenna Harris wholeheartedly shares. "I think a lot of us felt it was kind of overdue," she says. "Jessie is just a great character and she deserves the spotlight. It's why she got the badge in Four."

Producer Lindsey Collins points to something the franchise has quietly been sitting on for years. "She has more backstory than any of them. We know the most about her of any of the characters, including Buzz and Woody. She has her own past in a way no other character does and so it felt like it's just sitting there."

Introduced in Toy Story 2 through one of the most emotionally devastating sequences in animated cinema, Jessie has always been the franchise's most layered character, a toy who knows exactly what abandonment feels like. With Toy Story 5, Disney and Pixar is finally placing that story at the centre.

The toys are back in Disney and Pixar's Toy Story 5, and this time it's Toy meets Tech. Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs are challenged when they come face-to-face with Lilypad, a brand-new tablet device that arrives with her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie. Will playtime ever be the same?

Toy Story 5 is directed by Academy Award®️ winner Andrew Stanton ("WALL•E," "Finding Nemo," "Finding Dory"), co-directed by Kenna Harris ("Ciao Alberto"), produced by Lindsey Collins ("Turning Red," "WALL•E," "Finding Dory"), and features an original score by Academy Award®️ winner Randy Newman who returns to score his fifth "Toy Story" feature.

Check out the trailer here:

The film releases exclusively in theatres in India on 19th June 2026 in English and Hindi.