Andrew Stanton isn’t quite ready to retire, but Toy Story 5 may be the last animated film he directs.

Andrew Stanton and Toy Story

Stanton told Entertainment Weekly, “This is probably the last one I’m gonna do.” He was Pixar’s ninth employee and second animator. He’s been with the studio for 36 years — since he was 24. He’s 60 now and told EW that the time commitment for creating one movie is equivalent to earning a college degree.

“Four years goes so much faster the older you get, and I want my four years to last so long,” he explained. “I don’t wanna blink one more movie and be close to 70. So for me, personally, it’s just about my desire to milk the most out of a day and out of a week and out of a month. I need to go back to real time instead of what I call ‘rock time,’ where the rock’s still there, and the cities rise and fall, forests cut down and rise up. You’re on rock time when you work in animation. I’ve been on rock time for most of my career.”

Stanton admitted he thought Finding Dory (2016) would be his last directing gig. “So I’ve got a lot of egg on my face,” he said. “I’m not saying never, but the math doesn’t add up.”

Stanton is still VP of creative for Pixar and says he isn’t lacking in creative energy. “I still talk too fast. My brain goes faster,” he said.

Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, said of Stanton potentially stepping back, “I don’t like that. Now you’ve depressed me.”

Tom Hanks, who voices Woody, said, “I remember on the first [Toy Story], in the closing title crawl, they put ‘production babies.’ It takes so long to make these things. Some people get married, have babies, and by the time the movie comes out, the babies are 3-and-a-half years old. So I can understand that it takes quite a bite out of somebody’s… not life, time-wise, but also the creative energy that must go into keeping all of these things together.”

“He’s been there from the beginning,” said Joan Cusack (Jessie). “You can’t be more passionate about what you’re doing than Andrew Stanton.”

Toy Story 5 is actually the only Toy Story film Stanton has directed, but he’s co-written every movie in the franchise. Alongside the first film’s other co-writers, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.

He earned his first Academy Award for Finding Nemo, which he directed. The 2003 film won Best Animated Feature.

Stanton picked up the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature again for WALL-E (2008). Both Finding Nemo and WALL-E were also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

His other directing credits include A Bug’s Life (co-director), John Carter, In the Blink of an Eye, Stranger Things, and Better Call Saul.

Although he doesn’t intend to take the helm of another Pixar film, Stanton thinks that with just two months of brainstorming about the “mundane” elements of a toy’s life, Pixar could easily come up with two more movies’ worth of Toy Story material, potentially with different characters at the center.

Tom Hanks, who voices Woody, said that the unique aspect of the franchise’s storytelling is why “I feel like it can keep going.”

Toy Story 5 will be in theaters on June 19, 2026. It will be the first Toy Story film rated PG.

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