Toy Story Franchise Ranked

Toy Story Franchise Ranked

It has been seven years since the last Toy Story film, but Toy Story 5 has finally dropped in theaters. That means we now have five Toy Story films plus Lightyear to rank and talk about. Here is my ranking of the franchise!

6. Lightyear: This is not necessarily a “Toy Story” movie, but you know why Lightyear is included. I have always found Lightyear to be Pixar’s most disappointing and frustrating movie. The idea of Pixar doing a sci-fi film that puts Buzz Lightyear front and center sounds awesome. There’s so much fun potential to be had because Buzz is a fun character the sci-fi genre can allow them to do very cool and exciting things. There is no shortage of funny moments and cute characters that put a smile on your face and keep you entertained from beginning to end. Unfortunately, I think the basic setup and premise for the film is very faulty and not good. This movie is built around the idea that in 1995 Andy saw a Buzz movie that urged him to get the toy for Christmas. This is that movie that Andy saw back in 1995. The problem is the movie does not feel like a movie that a 9-year-old kid would watch and love. It is about an older Buzz that is reflecting on his past and his mistakes. It has a lot in common thematically with The Dark Knight Rises, and that is not the right comparison for what this movie could be. The planets they visit are dark and moody, and once again are not locations that would attract a young kid’s imagination. As much as I love Chris Evans as an actor, I think not having Tim Allen here was a bit of a mistake and was very weird casting. Overall, it is not a bad movie by any means. I know a lot of people treat this as one of the worst animated movies of the decade. I do not think it is that bad, but it is not a top tier Pixar film like it easily could’ve and should have been. 

NOTE: There is a big gap in quality going from #6 on the list to #5. Lightyear, I thought was a bit of a miss. The rest of the films on the list I thought are great and I thoroughly enjoyed those movies. 

5. Toy Story 5: To be clear, while this is the weakest film of the main line Toy Story films, this is still a great movie. And if this is the low point for the franchise then this franchise is fantastic. What I love about this film is that they found a clever and interesting way to continue the Toy Story franchise without having the franchise feel stale. This film is all about a kid’s relationship with technology as well as their toys’ relationship with technology, and how technology is consuming kids. That idea and plot feel so relevant in 2026 where iPads and technology are so relevant in today’s culture. I think because this film is tackling such relevant ideas, I think this film will be a great conversation starter for adults that have kids that are obsessed with iPads. The other thing that makes the film stand out from the rest if you have the focus of the film on Jessie. This is the first film where Woody is not the main character. With where they ended with Toy Story 4 and Woody’s arc, it would not have made sense to have him be the lead of the film. It makes sense that this will be Jessie’s adventure, and they tie it back to Jessie’s origins and backstory that I thought made sense. There are a few scenes with Jessie in the middle of the film that are some of the most emotional scenes of the Toy Story franchise. I would imagine a lot of people are going to be getting emotional about watching this film. I also love what they do with Buzz in terms of the actual Buzz Lightyear as well as the 50 other Buzz toys that play a role in the film, especially in the third act. I will say, I do think this is the messiest script for a Toy Story film. It feels like more times than they did in past films, they must cut certain corners to make things happen that do not really make sense. There are a few laps in the logic of things as to how the third act unfolds and what happens, that I just do not think worked and makes you scratch your head. It is not that these are big issues, but it is frustrating because none of the past Toy Story films have these issues. I also do not think Woody was necessary in the film. It is fun to see him, I love him and I love Tom Hanks as Woody. It feels like he was taking up screen time and he felt more like a requirement for the film more than anything else. Overall, I really dug Toy Story 5, it may be the weakest film of the franchise, but it is still great and a film that I had an enjoyable time with. 

4. Toy Story 4: This is another interesting one that I get far more hate than it deserves. There is a large group of people on the internet that do not like this movie and think it totally ruins the earlier three films as well as Woody. For me, I have always seen a different movie from the harsh critics of the film. What I think this movie did well was they did not try to tell another adventure with the toys, but rather they told a story about Woody. It is a story that is about changing, and the different directions life can take you. Woody did not abandon his friends at the end of the film; he went down a different life path. There is something so relatable and human about Woody’s character arc in the film. The film also delivers all the Pixar fun and charm that you would expect, where it is filled with laughs and funny moments that consistently put a smile on your face. It helps that. They created a fun new set of characters to join along on the adventure, where you have Key & Peele voicing new characters, Ducky and Bunny. Keanu Reeves as Duke Kaboom is one of the most fun castings that the Toy Story franchise has given us. There’s constant entertainment to be had from the very start of this film to the very end of the film. As it is a Pixar film, that production of it is great where it is the best animated and best looking of the Pixar films. Where there is so many gorgeous shots and how they use color is incredible. I do think the film has a few issues; I think some plot elements of this film feel very reminiscent of Toy Story 3. In terms of there being a place that seems lovely and nice at first, but we quickly discover it is not and it is filled with evil toys, which causes multiple rescue missions to take place. The movies are quite different and the outcome of them are different. But there are some plot similarities that I did notice upon watching which I think means the film does not have the originality and creativity of some of the past Toy Story films. But overall, I love this movie and it gets too much hate. 

3. Toy Story 2: Upon rewatching the film, this was always my least favorite of the Toy Story films. To be clear, I still thought it was fantastic, but I did not connect with it as much as the other ones. Rewatching it, it stays fantastic and a fantastic sequel that honors the original well. What is crazy about this film turning out as well as it does is that it has one of the most interesting productions of all time. If you did not know this film was originally developed as a direct-to-video sequel but late into the production they saw the early drafts of the film and thought it was good, so they transitioned to a theatrically released sequel. I am so glad they did that because, if this were a direct-to-video sequel then who knows where the franchise would be. Rewatching the film, the thing that stood out to me about this film was how they switched up the dynamics of the original, without rehashing the plot of the first film. In the original, Woody must teach Buzz the purpose of being a toy and being there for his kid. With this film, Buzz is having to teach Woody that lesson and leaving who you think you are behind you. There is something potent about that, that makes you care about these characters on a deeper level as you see how much they care about each other despite driving the other ones crazy. While this is not my favorite film of the franchise, this has the most consistent string of iconic and memorable scenes. There are so many great bits in here that are parodies of other movies from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Jurassic Park to Empire Strikes Back that are hilarious but fit in with the movie perfectly and the story they are telling. Overall, I absolutely love this movie, and I hate that it is only number 3 on this list, and I wish it could be higher up on the list. 

2. Toy Story (1995): This is one of the most groundbreaking and important animated movie of all time, where it was the original computer animated movie and it used technology that we hadn’t seen before and despite having some animation that hasn’t aged the best, it’s still a charming adventure that has the heart, humor, and fun characters that has made the Toy Story franchise one of the best franchises of all time. At the center of this movie is the dynamic between Woody and Buzz, who are one of the best movie duos of all time. Their dynamic is so much fun and going back and rewatching this film after seeing where their dynamic goes in later installments makes their dynamic in this film so much better. They drive each other crazy, but they learn to be equals throughout the course of the film so both have character arcs in the film. It works because Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are just fantastic together, they have such a fun dynamic and play off each other so well. It helps if you watch behind the scenes of them returning, that is so much fun and always puts a smile on my face watching them. One of the things that works so well about the film is you have a fantastic screenplay that can mix these lofty ideas about a mid-life crisis and incorporate it into a screenplay that is also funny but not overly long. If you did not know the film was co-written by Joss Whedon who is great at writing funny and snappy dialogue, as you see in The Avengers and it is easy to forget that he wrote this film. Because the film is dealing with so relatable ideas about nostalgia and finding purpose, it is a film that’s so timeless no matter when you watch it. This film is not just one of the best Pixar films, it is also one of the best animated movies, and one of the best movies of all time. I have loved it for years and will continue to love it for years. 

1. Toy Story 3: Making my ranking of the Toy Story franchise was difficult because there are all fantastic movies. But I knew that before putting the ranking together that Toy Story 3 was going to be #1. This film is simply the best of what the Toy Story franchise has to offer, as it is the most well rounded of the bunch that tells the best story with the biggest emotions. Since this film came out 11 years after Toy Story 2, they wisely decided to age up Andy as the audience themselves grew up. Because of that, this film is all about growing up and childhood nostalgia and the toys learning to find their place when their kid is growing up and moving on but still having this need to be there for their kid. Early in the film they put this idea in the audience’s head that these toys are trash, and nobody wants to play with them anymore. And you have a third act that acts like a metaphor to what was set up earlier on where it takes place at a dump, leading to this moment where the toys are heading towards the incinerator accepting their fate. It is such a powerful moment that works so well, that even though this is a kid's movie, they had the audience believing that our toys were going to die. The third act of this movie is truly one of the best third acts ever put to screen as it constantly builds conflict on top of conflict, it has the victorious moments and here comes the Calvary scene that they set up nicely with the aliens. But as I said earlier, how they tie it back to the themes and ideas set up earlier on was done very well. This film also has one of the best animated movie villains of all time with Lotso. Lotso is such a tragic character with a tragic backstory, who was hurt in his past, so he wants to make everybody hurt because of it. Since this film is acting as a prison escape film, he is the evil warden that you hate, and you want to see defeated. I also find the Spanish Buzz stuff to be some of the funniest and most underrated stuff that Pixar has done. In a franchise that has a lot of competition with multiple fantastic movies. Toy Story 3 is the best of the bunch as it brings the Andy trilogy together so well in such a satisfying manner that is also just as fun and charming as you expect.