'Toy Story 4' announced for 2017, John Lasseter to return as director

In what came as a surprise to all, Walt Disney Co. has announced a fourth film in the Toy Story franchise.

The Pixar chief John Lasseter, who changed the animation game with his innovative use of computer technology in 1995’s Toy Story, will return to the directing chair to make a fourth movie about the adventures of Woody, Buzz, and the gang, Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger announced Tuesday.

Iger gave few details of the fourth film in the franchise other than Lasseter’s return to the director’s chair. But Disney followed up the announcement, to add that Rashida Jones and Will McCormack have joined the project as writers, while Pixar vet Galyn Susman will produce the toon.

The toys-come-to-life family film will hit theaters June 16, 2017. Disney says it will open a new chapter in the lives of Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the Toy Story gang. The story was dreamt up by Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Lee Unkrich, the storytellers who have been the driving force behind all three Toy Story films.

“We love these characters so much; they are like family to us,” Lasseter said in a statement. “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, Pete, Lee 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.”

The Toy Story trilogy has earned an enormous $1.94 billion worldwide. Toy Story 3, released in June 2010, earned a franchise high of $1.1 billion worldwide, and won two Academy Awards. It was the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide until Frozen surpassed it in March.