Bob Iger, Walt Disney’s CEO, confirmed films like Toy Story 5, Zootopia 2 and Frozen 3 are in the works.

Back in November 2022, Iger returned as Disney’s CEO after Bob Chapek’s exit. Since his return, Iger is aiming to return the company’s popularity back to pre-pandemic days. Disney hasn’t been immune to the effects of the pandemic either and during Chapek’s employment from 2020 to 2022, the Disney experienced multiple downturns. Because of these downturns, many employees have been laid off along with several other problems. During the comapny’s Q1 2023 earnings call, Iger hinted at attempts to regain the success he had enjoyed during his previous employment as CEO.

“Today 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 said.

“We’ll have more to share about these productions soon,” Igor continued. “but this is a great example of how we’re leaning into our unrivaled brands and franchises.”

Iger had also commented that Disney has no plans to acquire more assets. This signals that a pivot is being made towards building up their current assets. Likely, Disney will not feel adventurous anytime soon, as the announcements of the sequels mean the studio will be busy, focusing on their reliable franchises with guaranteed returns.

The failure of their original films, such as Strange World, which had failed because of the poor marketing towards the film, also points towards a more stable era for Disney. If that film succeeded, Disney might have been more open to new IPs. But, because of the film’s severe underperformance at the box office, the likelihood of more original films could diminish.

Toy Story, Frozen and Zootopia have proven to be some of Disney’s most popular. Toy Story has expanded to include spin-offs, such as Lightyear, which came out in 2022. Frozen has had unprecedented popularity and has already made its mark on a generation of animation fans. Zootopia has also recently expanded into popularity with the launch of Zootopia+, which was released less than four months ago.

Surprisingly, Toy Story being included in the top list could mean new Pixar movie sequels are on the table. It has already been known that an Inside Out 2 is scheduled for a release in June 2024, but the possibility exists that other Pixar could gain new entries as well. For example, The Incredibles franchise is one of which fans have been begging more of. Not only is this franchise proven to be reliable, but there are still more stories to tell.

With the announcement of these new films, outrage was seen as well. Many Pixar and Disney fans both spoke how Toy Story 5 nor Frozen 3 didn’t seem necessary, as the film franchises seemed to end on a good note with their previous films. The news of more sequels towards other films however, seemed a lot more intriguing as many fans are wanting to know more about the other films. Along with The Incredibles, films like Monsters Inc are in a desperate need for a sequel.

“I don’t want a Toy Story 5!! MONSTERS INC 3 PLEASE,” Jess, @whisper_jess, said on Twitter when responding to the announcement of the fifth film.

“I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED WITH BOO ?!” 

Hopefully, Disney’s return to reliability means the company will lead back to their pre-pandemic success and lead to less unsuccessful originals being made.