‘Toy Story 5’ Earned $43.5 Million Globally Before Opening Day

Woody, Buzz, and the gang are back, and the box office is already feeling the impact. ‘Toy Story 5’ has made a remarkable entrance into theaters, achieving one of the most impressive pre-opening performances in recent memory by raking in a staggering $43.5 million globally before a single Friday ticket was even scanned.

The film garnered $17.5 million from Thursday night previews in the United States alone, marking the highest preview performance of the year. Simultaneously, it opened in 28 international markets, pushing its combined global total to $43.5 million going into Friday. This impressive figure positions it for what industry experts are predicting will be the biggest global opening day of the year.

The $17.5 million preview figure is the second-best ever recorded for an animated film, only surpassed by ‘Incredibles 2,’ which earned $18.5 million in previews before going on to open to $182.7 million domestically. In comparison, ‘Toy Story 4’ made $12 million in previews before debuting to $120 million, a record that this new installment is likely to break.

Updated projections following the preview haul estimate the domestic three-day opening to be between $160 million and $170 million. This would not only represent the largest debut in the franchise’s history but could also mark the biggest domestic opening weekend in the past two years. Internationally, the film is projected to earn around $135 million, indicating a combined global opening weekend exceeding $275 million.

With a production budget of $250 million plus marketing costs, the return on investment for Disney appears substantial given these figures. For context, ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ became Hollywood’s first billion-dollar film of the year after opening to $131.7 million domestically, a figure that now seems firmly within the lower range of projections for ‘Toy Story 5.’

The Juneteenth holiday falling on a Friday has provided an additional boost, with parents having the day off and Father’s Day arriving on Sunday, creating back-to-back family moviegoing incentives. Pixar has historically benefited from this particular stretch of the calendar, making the timing a strategic choice.

Across all five films, the ‘Toy Story’ franchise has now generated over $3 billion at the global box office, and the series ranks as the most-watched film property on Disney Plus, with over 2 billion hours streamed worldwide.

With early audience scores sitting at 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a strong A CinemaScore already secured, ‘Toy Story 5’ is not just performing like a hit; it is shaping up to be a landmark moment for Pixar’s theatrical comeback.

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