One of the top-grossing movies of 2026 was directed by a neighbor.
Andrew Stanton, a Belvedere resident and one of Pixar's original employees, directed "Toy Story 5," which crossed $1 billion at the global box office on its sixth weekend in theaters. The film has earned $448 million domestically and $573 million internationally as of late July, according to Variety, making it one of the top-grossing releases of the year.
Stanton joined Pixar in 1990 as its second animator and ninth employee. He wrote or co-wrote every Toy Story film dating back to the 1995 original, and directed "Finding Nemo" and "WALL-E," both of which won Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature. "Toy Story 5" marks his return to the franchise he helped build three decades ago.
The film opened June 19 to $160 million domestically and $312 million worldwide, one of the biggest debuts of the year. It carries a 92% critics score and 94% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
A Marin story
Stanton's roots in Southern Marin run deep. In a 2009 interview with Marin Magazine, he described how he and his wife Julie, both from Rockport, Massachusetts, landed in the county when he took a job at Pixar, which was originally based in Marin. They started in "a tree house apartment in Fairfax" before settling in Mill Valley to raise their family. He has since moved to Belvedere, where The Ark profiled him on Monday, July 27.
Asked about his favorite Marin hike in that 2009 interview, Stanton offered a one-liner: "I only go up the mountain for pancakes."
What the film is about
"Toy Story 5" follows Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, and the gang as their owner Bonnie becomes absorbed by a kiddie smart tablet called Lilypad. The story taps into anxieties about screens and AI replacing traditional childhood play. Taylor Swift wrote a new song, "I Knew It, I Knew You," for the soundtrack. The song spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the soundtrack debuted atop Billboard's Kid Albums chart.
What's next
Beyond animation, Stanton has directed episodes of "Stranger Things," "Better Call Saul," and "3 Body Problem," and released the live-action sci-fi film "In the Blink of an Eye" on Hulu in February 2026. Pixar's upcoming slate includes "Gatto" and "Incredibles 3," though Stanton's involvement in those projects has not been confirmed.
The success comes amid turbulence at Pixar. Disney laid off roughly 116 Pixar employees in late July, concentrated in production and operations, even as "Toy Story 5" was crossing the billion-dollar mark, the New York Post reported.
The "Toy Story" franchise generates more than $1 billion annually in retail sales across consumer products, games, and publishing, separate from box-office revenue. No upcoming local appearances by Stanton have been announced.
