Disney CEO Bob Iger has just announced Pixar will be moving forward with Toy Story 4 with John Lasseter returning to direct the sequel for a June 16, 2017 release.
With that June 16 date it means it will hit theaters one week after How to Train Your Dragon 3 and two weeks before Despicable Me 3 on June 30. Warner Bros.’ DC Comics feature, Wonder Woman, also arrives that month, dated for June 23.
The announcement came during Disney’s earnings call with Iger saying Toy Story 3 proved “these characters are just as relevant — and beloved — as ever before.”
An official press release was sent out following the call quoting Lasseter saying, “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. Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz’s story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Lee Unkrich and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie — and I wanted to direct it myself.”
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (Celeste and Jesse Forever) have joined the project as screenwriters and Pixar veteran Galyn Susman (ABC’s “Toy Story OF TERROR!” and “Toy Story that Time Forgot”) is producing.
At the very least I expect Tom Hanks and Tim Allen to be back as members of the voice cast with the story will likely follow Andy’s toys on a new adventure, delving into their new lives with Bonnie.
