Pixar's Pete Docter on The Heart of Toy Story, the Threat of AI and Tech, and Why Now is the Perfect Time for Toy Story 5 - IGN

In celebration of Toy Story’s 30th anniversary, IGN had the chance to speak to Pete Docter, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, and, alongside sharing his thoughts on the true heart of the film, he shared with us why now is the perfect time for Toy Story 5 with the ever-present threat of AI and technology invading our playtime.

I spoke to Docter and others as part of a larger retrospective on Toy Story for this big milestone, and I asked him why Toy Story is still relevant today and why they chose to focus on “Toy Meets Tech” for the upcoming fifth film that is set to be released in theaters on June 19, 2026.

“I think it’s especially relevant today because of the tech and how that’s changed the world,” Docter told me. “I mean, we’re late to the party as it’s been a number of years since technology’s kind of already beat toys. Look around you at a restaurant, kids are looking at their iPhones and not playing with plastic figures anymore. I’ll refrain from commenting on how I feel about that, but it’s definitely out there in the world, and I think it’s disturbing to a lot of people. And even in the last year, AI has brought up those same kind of fears in a maybe even a larger way because it seems to threaten what makes us human.

“And I think that’s ultimately what the Toy Story movies are about. They look like toys, but they’re really stories about us as human beings, what it is to be alive, and the joys, threats, and difficulties of that.”

Docter expanded on that thought elsewhere in our conversation, and he recalled a very pivotal moment when he was working on the original film to help reinforce his point.

“One of the first shots that I animated was when Woody gets shoved off the bed and Buzz Lightyear lands there, and then all the kids run out and Woody crawls out from under the bed, and he’s like, ‘uh.. uh… nothing… it was a mistake. Too much cake and ice cream.’ As I was analyzing it, I was like, ‘What is Woody thinking? What’s he feeling right now?’ And it was jealousy. It was that sense of, I used to take it for granted that I was the top dog, and now there’s some other guy, but I’m not going to show anybody that. And I realized there have been so many times in my life where I’ve felt the same thing.

“And so first of all, I put that into the shot, but I also realized that this is what this movie is about; it’s this emergence of jealousy that this toy feels like he’s the most important thing in the world. But in the long run, the sort of selflessness of that is recognizing that his jealousy is born of love, that his jealousy is born of really caring for this kid, and if that’s really the ultimate goal, then self-sacrifice, whatever it takes…I just feel like that’s a really beautiful arc, and it was very relatable.”

That was the real theme of my conversation with Docter and the others I spoke to for this retrospective, that these films are all about toys and fantastical adventures, but they are ultimately about us. We live in a day and age where AI software can create a film in seconds, but maybe that’s not the reason we as humans are drawn to stories. Perhaps it is something deeper.

“I just want the world to remember it was made by people,” Docter said when I asked him how he wanted people to look back on Toy Story. “Every detail in the film has some meaning for someone, either because that’s what the character’s feeling, or even just personal stuff. Hannah was named after a family friend of ours, or when Buzz is drunk after losing his arm, he’s talking about being Mrs. Nesbit. That was my sister’s second-grade teacher! So, everything is just connected to the people who made it. I think a lot of times people figure these things are,” and he pretends he is a robot typing into a prompt when he says, “Make…film… enter!” It doesn’t work that way. It’s made using a computer, but not by computers.”