EXCLUSIVE: We’re hearing from box office sources that Disney/Pixar‘s Toy Story 5 is in play for a franchise record tonight when it comes to previews, around $13M-$14M, maybe more. Anything higher than $12M is a record preview night for the franchise. That’s what Toy Story 4 posted back in 2019 off previews that begin in select theaters at 5PM followed by a 6PM wide break.
If that $13M-$14M+ figure holds, that would rep the best previews 2026 has seen so far, higher than Lionsgate’s Michael ($12.6M), Amazon MGM Studios’ Project Hail Mary ($12M) and Disney/Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu ($12M). A reminder that Illumination/Universal didn’t hold previews for Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which currently owns the best 3-day opening at the domestic box office YTD with $131.7M.
All good vibes for Toy Story 5 heading into the weekend with a 94% certified fresh critical score. No audience score yet. We heard heading into the weekend that the Andrew Stanton directed fifthquel had $25M in advance ticket sales, ahead of Super Mario Galaxy Movie. Domestic outlook is $140M+ at 4,425 locations with more than enough battery life from PLF and Imax screens. Global forecast is $275M, $135M expected from an 87% footprint abroad including China.
Biggest previews ever for a Pixar movie in U.S./Canada belongs to 2018’s Incredibles 2 ($18.5M), which also owns the weekend record for the Emeryville, CA studio ($182.6M).
2010’s Toy Story 3 posted previews of $4M, back when showtimes began at midnight.
We’ll have more updates in the AM.