Pixar has finally announced and confirmed a 2019 release date for Toy Story 4, as Collider points out. Talk surrounding this sequel began way back in 2014, with John Lasseter directing and Rashida Jones and Will McCormack writing the screenplay based on a story from original Toy Story creators Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Lee Unkrich. Originally, the project was slated for a June 2017 release, but that clearly didn’t happen due to a number of development and pre-production hiccups.
In October of 2015, Toy Story 4 was pushed back to 2018 after issues with the script arose. Then, development on the highly anticipated The Incredibles 2 started to move very quickly and Pixar decided to switch their release dates. In July of 2017, Lasseter stepped down from directing, forcing co-director Josh Cooley to take up the director’s chair and enlisting Coco co-director Jonas Rivera as Toy Story 4’s co-director. Just this past November, Lasseter took a “sabbatical” after it was revealed that he “mistreated” his employees, and it was also revealed that original writers Jones and McCormack both left the project in light of Lasseter’s actions.
That brings us up to now: Cooley took to Twitter on Sunday to announce that Toy Story 4’s release is set for June 21, 2019. Stephany Folsom of Thor: Ragnarok will write the film’s new screenplay. The team seems confident in their ability to deliver the project by its release date, so it looks like we can expect a new adventure with Woody, Buzz and the gang next summer. Of course, we all may want to take a trip to Disney World’s Hollywood Studios this summer to visit Toy Story Land first and get even more excited.
JUNE 21 2019 pic.twitter.com/LiJhHNTOoo
— Josh Cooley (@CooleyUrFaceOff) April 8, 2018