Twenty-seven years. That's how long fans have waited to actually see Emily.
If you know, you know. If Toy Story 2 (1999) wrecked you during the “When She Loved Me” sequence — Jessie (Joan Cusack) curled up under the bed, forgotten by the girl who used to love her — then you already understand why this week's trailer drop from Disney Studios Japan hit differently than any other Toy Story 5 promo has.
For the first time in franchise history, Jessie's original owner, Emily, appears fully on screen. The official Disney Studios Japan X account shared a new Japanese trailer for the June 19 release that revisits that iconic sequence and puts a face to a name that has lived in fans' imaginations for nearly three decades. bond between toys and humans that ‘Toy Story‘ has depicted — its answer is here. Shed tears at that answer.”
7/3公開『トイ・ストーリー５』
🌟感動の日本版予告解禁🌟ジェシーの幸せな思い出。
そして訪れる辛い別れと仲間との出会い👢新たな居場所を見つけたジェシーが
ボニーのためにできることとは。「トイ・ストーリー」が描いてきた
おもちゃと人間の絆、その答えがここに💫
その答えに涙する― pic.twitter.com/oDMaNm3a6T— ディズニー・スタジオ（アニメーション）公式 (@DisneyStudioJ_A) June 4, 2026
Pixar wasn't kidding about the tears part.
The Emily reveal isn't the only major news swirling around Toy Story 5 this week. In a move nobody saw coming — or, more accurately, that everybody saw coming and refused to ignore — Taylor Swift has officially joined the film with an original song. “I Knew It, I Knew You” is described as Jessie's signature song for the movie, a moment clearly designed to give the cowgirl her own defining musical identity as she steps into a bigger role with Woody (Tom Hanks) away from the spotlight.
That's the other major narrative thread heading into this film: Toy Story 5 is, in meaningful ways, Jessie's movie. Following Woody's departure at the end of Toy Story 4 (2019), the cowgirl has become Bonnie's most important toy, and the new installment leans into that fully. Joan Cusack, who has voiced Jessie since Toy Story 2, is poised for the most significant showcase the character has ever had.
The story pulling all of this together is one that taps into something every family watching will recognize immediately. Bonnie's attention has drifted away from her toys and toward a new smart device — a tablet-like character named Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee (Past Lives). The rest of the gang, including Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the whole crew, has to figure out what it means to matter in a world where a screen is always more interesting than a toy chest. It's Pixar doing what Pixar does best: taking an abstract emotional truth and turning it into something a six-year-old and a thirty-year-old can both feel at the same time.
Directing the whole thing is Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, who have also written the feature. Lindsey Collins produces. The full returning cast is back, with new additions — including Lee — expanding the world.
Now, about those box office projections. Early tracking reported by Deadline has Toy Story 5 opening to around $150 million domestically. For reference, Toy Story 4 opened to $120.9 million. If the tracking holds — or if the Swift effect and the emotional weight of finally meeting Emily send audiences to theaters in even bigger numbers — this film could challenge Incredibles 2 (2018), which still holds the all-time record for animated domestic openings at $182.6 million.
Pixar has been on a genuine run. Inside Out 2 (2024) crossed a billion globally. Hoppers (2026) impressed critics. And Zootopia 2 (2025), part of the same Bob Iger-era sequel wave that includes Toy Story 5 and upcoming Frozen and Zootopia films, became the highest-grossing Disney animated film ever made.
Whether Toy Story 5 can top that is the big question. But after this week — after Emily, after Taylor Swift, after a trailer that made the internet collectively press a hand to its chest — it's getting harder to bet against it. Toy Story 5 opens in theaters June 19.
How do you feel about the new Toy Story movie? Do you think it will be heartbreaking? Let us know in the comments down below!
