"Toy Story” still has a friend in moviegoers.
The fifth installment in the Pixar series debuted with $160 million in domestic ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, easily setting a new franchise record and notching the biggest opening weekend of the year.
Launching 31 years after the original "Toy Story” first landed in theaters, "Toy Story 5” far surpassed the previous series-best debut: $120 million for "Toy Story 4” in 2019. Internationally, it was just as successful, with $152 million in opening-weekend sales, for a worldwide haul of $312 million.
The "Toy Story” franchise is one of the most profitable for The Walt Disney Co. Before "Toy Story 5” launched, the movies had collectively grossed more than $3 billion, while also pulling in billions from merchandising.
Though the series seemed to reach a conclusion with 2010’s "Toy Story 3,” the decision to revive the franchise almost a decade later - while controversial - has been extremely lucrative. "Toy Story 4” exceeded $1 billion in ticket sales and "Toy Story 5” is all but certain to as well.
