By Movieguide® Staff
Woody and Buzz are back — and this time, the enemy isn’t Lotso or the Cleaner. The world premiere of TOY STORY 5 hit Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on Monday night, bringing out a crowd that included Taylor Swift, the full returning cast, and the two voices at the franchise’s heart for thirty years: Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.
“We’re like two older women, but I like that,” Allen, 72, told E! News exclusively on the red carpet, describing the friendship he and Hanks have built since they first recorded their lines for the original TOY STORY in 1994. “We bring little gifts to each other. We’ve been doing this for years. Little special pens or staplers. He likes typewriters. I like techy stuff.”
Thirty years is a long time to share a creative life with someone, and Allen didn’t try to tidy it up into something quotable. When asked to explain what that partnership means to him now, he came up short in the best way.
“I can’t describe what 30 years have done,” Allen said. “This is what we’ve done and now we’ve become these two guys.” He paused, then added with a grin: “This is kind of creepy.”
For Hanks, the night came with its own revelation — and he didn’t know it was coming until hours before. When Disney and Pixar quietly announced that Taylor Swift had recorded an original end-titles track for the movie, the cast was the last to know.
“It was top secret,” Hanks told Variety on the red carpet. “We did not know until, literally, when the moment came. They ushered us into a soundproof room and said, ‘Tonight at 9 p.m., the true end titles song is going to drop, and it’s by Taylor Swift.’ And I was like, ‘You guys kept this from us all?'”
Swift’s song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” dropped the night of the premiere. Hanks, who tends to reach for historical context when something genuinely surprises him, had a ready comparison.
“That’s like saying, ‘By the way, Judy Garland is singing Over the Rainbow at the beginning of this,'” he said. “That kind of thing.”
Related: TOY STORY 5 Director Got Family Approval Before Recasting These Roles
The film itself follows Woody, Buzz, and Jessie as they navigate what happens when a child’s attention migrates from toys to a screen. Bonnie, their kid, gets a tablet — and the toys must figure out how to compete with something they can’t wrestle from her hands. It’s a premise that practically writes itself for a generation of parents watching their own children disappear into devices.
Movieguide® has covered the TOY STORY franchise since the original movie landed in theaters in 1995, and the series has consistently delivered on what families are looking for: stories about loyalty, belonging, and what it means to be loved. TOY STORY 2 remains the franchise’s only entry to earn a +4 content rating from Movieguide® — meaning no questionable elements whatsoever.
Early signs suggest this fifth installment is aiming at something real. The movie’s message, according to Allen, isn’t just about nostalgia for physical toys. It’s about what children lose when play is replaced by passive consumption.
Joan Cusack, who voices Jessie, also walked the carpet and praised Pixar’s willingness to take the theme seriously. Returning cast members Wallace Shawn (Rex) and John Ratzenberger (Hamm) were also on hand, along with newcomers Greta Lee, Keanu Reeves, Craig Robinson, Conan O’Brien, and Bad Bunny.
As for Woody’s current condition — Hanks revealed the cowboy has acquired a bald spot under his hat from the wear of years of adventures. He was philosophical about it.
“A little of the right color Sharpie will make that bald spot go away,” Hanks said with a laugh. “And the stuffing seems to need to be pushed up every now and again, but it is an organic material in there. It’s physics, man, it’s physics.”
TOY STORY 5 opens in theaters June 19.
Read Next: Box Office Predicts TOY STORY 5 Will Be the Biggest Movie of the Year
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