Everything You Need to Know About the Frozen and Toy Story Sequels
Updated: Feb. 14, 2023
Sequels to the modern Disney classics Toy Story and Frozen are on the way—here's what to expect from the new films.
Disney movies have been entertainment staples for several generations of children, ever since the first full-length animated Disney film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, came out in 1937. In fact, since 1945, the company’s film studio has released at least one film every year, in case you want to find out which Disney movie was released in the year you were born.
While Snow White stunned audiences with its unprecedented visuals and technology, movies like Frozen and Toy Story have become classic family movies that are part of our everyday lives thanks to their incredible casts of characters, unforgettable music and infinitely quotable scripts. While a Frozen sequel was released in 2019 and Toy Story has gotten three sequels since the original’s 1995 release, it was just announced that the two blockbuster franchises will each be getting yet another installment soon.
Toy Story and Frozen sequels are in the works
Sequels are a common occurrence in Hollywood; why wouldn’t you want to try and repeat the success of a blockbuster hit? And that’s just what Disney CEO Bob Iger hopes to do with new films that are part of beloved franchises. 2016’s Zootopia will also be getting another installment. “I’m so pleased to announce that we have sequels in the works from our animation studios to some of our most popular franchises, Toy Story, Frozen and Zootopia,” Iger stated last week. Toy Story 5 will be co-produced with Pixar, as all four previous Toy Story films have been, and Frozen 3 and Zootopia 2 are being developed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. There are no release dates set yet for either film.
What can we expect from the Toy Story and Frozen sequels?
No major details about the Toy Story and Frozen sequels were shared, beyond the fact that the films are currently in development, but both film franchises are closely identified with the actors involved and it would be hard to imagine new films that don’t have the participation of most, if not all, of the actors who starred in the originals.
When Toy Story 4 left off, Woody (Tom Hanks) joined Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and a new gang of friends to become a part of a gang of “Lost Toys” without owners, traveling with the carnival featured in the film and finding new owners for carnival toys. Buzz (Tim Allen), Hamm (John Ratzenberger) and the rest of their old gang, having been given to Bonnie by their old owner, Andy, found their way back to Bonnie. It would be hard to imagine a Toy Story sequel that doesn’t feature both Woody and Buzz, but how will Toy Story 5 reunite the two groups of toys? Let’s hope we don’t have to wait a light year to find out. One thing we’re still holding out hope for is finding out what happened to Andy’s dad in Toy Story.
As for our friends in Arendelle, at the end of Frozen II, Elsa (Idina Menzel) learned that she’s no mere ice queen, she actually possesses an elemental spirit that gives her her powers. She and Anna form a bridge between the spirit world and the human world, and Elsa leaves Arendelle, allowing Anna (Kristen Bell) to become Queen of Arendelle and marry Kristof (Jonathan Groff). Elsa, meanwhile, becomes a protector of the Enchanted Forest. We can only assume that the next Frozen sequel will feature even more magical, mystical creatures and powerhouse musical performances from the cast. And speaking of the music, all of the award-winning songs from both previous Frozen films have been written by composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and Anderson-Lopez unofficially confirmed their participation as songwriters for the threequel this week with a tweet that read, “Here we goooo!”
It’s true. Here we gooooo! https://t.co/lPHvgT1LMI
— Kristen Anderson-Lopez (@Lyrikris10) February 9, 2023
As we await more news of both films, we’ll just be over here pondering the many surprising facts about Disney characters–did you know Elsa and Woody were originally supposed to be the villains in their movies? Who knows, with two new sequels on their way, their characters could always go in a new direction.
Originally Published: February 14, 2023
