Pixar is giving its old-school toys a decidedly modern antagonist: a tablet.
During the studio’s Friday showcase at Annecy’s International Animation Film Festival in France, Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter revealed that Toy Story 5’s villain is Lily Pad, a “sneaky” and “prickly” tablet that convinces 8-year-old Bonnie Anderson that friends and games on a device beat dusty ol’ toys in the closet.
The first concept art shows the frog-faced tablet looming over Buzz, Jessie and Bullseye like a touchscreen tyrant of the toy box. As you can probably foresee, this is a battle between analog toys and always-on tech. (You can stream Toy Story movies one through four on Disney Plus.)
The Lily Pad reveal topped a jam-packed Walt Disney Animation and Pixar showcase, where the company rolled out updated release dates, never-before-seen footage and a couple of all-new original films.
Toy Story 5: The enemy is tech
The premise of Toy Story 5 is that Anderson gets a Lily Pad for school chat and online games. But the tablet decides that Anderson’s toys, including Woody, Buzz and Jessie, are holding her back. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack are all returning, while Ernie Hudson steps in as Combat Carl, honoring the late Carl Weathers.
Docter shared the opening scene of Toy Story 5, which shows a crate full of stranded Buzz Lightyears trying to escape a desert island. Toy Story 5 is set for release on June 19, 2026.
Toy Story 5 starts off with Buzz Lightyear action figures, stuck in toy mode, searching for Star Command.
Pixar announced two new original films
Daniel Chong’s Hoppers, scheduled for March 6, 2026, turns an eco-heist into a critter-powered caper: 14-year-old Mabel uploads her mind into a robotic beaver to save her local pond from a highway project.
Gatto, slated for summer 2027, centers on Nero, a black cat in Venice who’s burned through most of his nine lives doing jobs for a feline mob boss. Now, questioning whether he’s wasted those lives, Nero stumbles into an unexpected friendship that could finally give him purpose. The film will be shot in a “living storybook” style, which is new to Pixar.
And we got to see new footage from Zootopia 2 and Elio
Jared Bush, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ chief creative officer and director-writer of Zootopia 2, showed some new footage and images from the anticipated sequel, which should come out in November. The audience also got to watch a 27-minute sizzle reel from Elio, the cosmic coming-of-age adventure, which opens June 20.
