It’s official: Disney has announced that Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang will return to the big screen for Toy Story 4 in 2017.
Disney CEO Bob Iger announced plans for a new Toy Story movie on Thursday. John Lasseter, who directed the first two movies, will once more take over the franchise. The movie is set to be released on June 16, 2007, Huffington Post reported.
Lasseter, director Andrew Stanton, “Up” director Pete Docter and “Toy Story 3” director Lee Unkrich came up with the idea for the movie. Stanton, who directed “Finding Nemo,” is also working on a sequel to that movie called “Finding Dory.” The Pixar group also got help from actress Rashida Jones and Will McCormack also assisted.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– John Lasseter” author_title=”Director for upcoming Toy Story 4″]
We love these characters so much; they are like family to us. We don’t want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what’s gone before.
[/quote]
Lasseter told the Los Angeles Times that Toy Story 4 will be a love story, picking up where the last movie left off as Woody, Buzz and the rest of the toys were handed down to a girl named Bonnie.
The first three Toy Story movies grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide and earned widespread positive reviews from critiques and moviegoers. Toy Story 3, directed by Unkrich, won Oscars for original song and animated feature and became just the third animated movie ever to be nominated for best picture.
Along with the three feature movies, the Toy Story characters have been featured in three short films and two TV specials, one of which, “Toy Story That Time Forgot,” will air on ABC next month.
Official casting is not yet announced, USA Today reports.
