Lightyear’s predicted success in theaters hints that
Toy Story will break a massive box office record for animated movie franchises. As far as animated movie franchises go,
Toy Story is not only one of the oldest and highest acclaimed, but also one that continues to bring in an incredible amount of money at the box office. Among its many other accomplishments, 
Toy Story (1995) was the very first Pixar-Disney collaboration and full-feature movie that was entirely computer-animated, managing to launch an incredibly popular trend in filmmaking that will continue far past the franchise’s upcoming installment,
Lightyear.,While
Toy Story’s main storyline ended after the successful 2019 movie
Toy Story 4, the franchise is still expanding with standalone movies like
Lightyear. Although
Lightyear won’t have the benefit of Andy’s group of toys as a familiar basis, the 2022 movie is the
Toy Story franchise’s very first full-feature origin story venture, with the iconic character Buzz Lightyear being explored in his sci-fi glory. Even without Tom Hanks’ Woody and Tim Allen’s Buzz,
Lightyear’s appeal is expected to make it a massive hit at the 2022 box office, which can help launch
Toy Story as the biggest animated movie series in history.,Related: Lightyear’s Confusion Proves Woody’s Roundup Would’ve Been Pixar’s Best Spinoff,Toy Story now stands as the fourth-highest-grossing animated film franchise of all time, falling behind only
Ice Age,
Shrek, and
Despicable Me. As the number of audience members willing to return to theaters grows, the prospects for
Lightyear’s financial success at the peak summer 2022 box office increases as well, which can finally revive the popularity of animated movies in cinemas. While recent animated movies like
Encanto,
Sing 2, and
The Bad Guys haven’t reflected the box office numbers of pre-pandemic hits like
Frozen 2 or
The Incredibles 2, Disney seems to be confident in the strength of
Lightyear, especially since it’s one of the studio’s only new animated movies to not debut on Disney+. With
Lightyear predicted as one of the highest-grossing films of 2022,
Toy Story is on the path to overtaking 
Despicable Me as the biggest animated franchise in history.,Since 1995,
Toy Story has never failed to sell tickets at the box office.
Toy Story’s first movie surpassed expectations and brought in $373 million, becoming the second-highest-grossing movie of 1995 and, at the time, the third-highest-grossing animated movie ever after
The Lion King (1994) and
Aladdin (1992).
Toy Story 2 was released in 1999 as an even bigger hit, earning $497.4 million at the box office against a budget of $90 million. When
Toy Story 3 arrived in 2010, the sequel doubled its predecessor’s earnings and became the highest-grossing animated movie ever, earning $1.067 billion. Not only was it a commercial success, but
Toy Story 3 then became the third animated movie to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, thus cementing the franchise as one of the greatest of all time. The main storyline for the series came to an end in 2019’s
Toy Story 4, which impressively earned even more than its predecessor with a $1.073 billion box office haul. When including the
Toy Story and
Toy Story 2 3D re-releases in 2009, the franchise’s box office performance amounts to $3.044 billion.,Since only major franchises have managed to bring in a significant box office haul since the start of the pandemic,
Lightyear can benefit from having the
Toy Story name as a boost for its commercial performance. The spinoff is also debuting early in the 2022 summer movie box office season on June 17, which will catch many families at a point when school is letting out and they can use a familiar animated sci-fi blockbuster to kick off vacation.
Lightyear is one of the few 2022 movies expected to make $1 billion at the box office, with lowball predictions even putting its box office earnings at about $700 million.
Lightyear has perhaps received the most promotion of any 2022 animated movie so far, which suggests it’s already on the minds of young families, Pixar animation fans, and those loyal to
Toy Story as a beloved franchise.,The Chris Evans-led movie also has very little competition at the box office for its opening weekend, which suggests its debut will be massively successful.
Lightyear is the only major film being released on June 17, with its significant competition coming from second-weekend viewings of
Jurassic World Dominion‘s reportedly franchise-ending movie or the adult-oriented films 
Elvis and
The Black Phone on June 24. However, these features shouldn’t be enough to keep audiences away from seeing
Lightyear during its opening weekend. As such,
Lightyear is in a very comfortable position to reach its $1 billion box office estimates.,Related: Recasting Woody For A Toy Story Origin Movie,While
Toy Story is currently the fourth-highest-grossing animated franchise of all time,
Lightyear can launch it into becoming the biggest series ahead of
Despicable Me, which now holds the number one spot.
Toy Story ($3.044 billion) isn’t too far behind
Ice Age ($3.217 billion) or
Shrek ($3.534 billion), and needs fewer than $700 million to surpass
Despicable Me ($3.708 million) as the biggest animated franchise ever. Since Disney-Pixar’s 
Lightyear is expected to make anywhere between $700 million and $1.2 billion, the 2022 movie is almost guaranteed to beat
Despicable Me to break the box office record for the highest-grossing animated franchise in history. As one of the first and most-beloved full-feature animated movie franchises, it seems like a much-deserved feat for
Toy Story to break this massive box office record 27 years after its debut. However, even if the odds of
Lightyear achieving this accomplishment are high,
Toy Story may not hold the title for very long.,Toy Story’s biggest competition at the box office for animated franchises is
Despicable Me, which has produced four films since 2010 with its highest-grossing installment earning $1.159 billion at the box office. While 
Lightyear presents the 
Toy Story movies’ greatest opportunity to wear the animated series box office crown,
Despicable Me can just as easily reclaim its title when the
Minions: The Rise of Gru prequel releases on July 1, 2022. Premiering just two weeks after
Lightyear, the
Minions prequel is apt to take away many of the
Toy Story spinoff’s later audience members while decreasing the gap between the two franchises’ total box office earnings.,However much
Toy Story surpasses
Descipable Me after
Lightyear’s debut, the
Minions prequel will quickly recoup such losses. While
Lightyear is still expected to be a bigger hit than the
Minions movie, the box office total of both franchises is apt to become more equal, or
Despicable Me could surpass
Toy Story again by a smaller margin. Even if
Despicable Me manages to regain the title of the highest-grossing animated franchise shortly after
Lightyear’s premiere,
Toy Story’s box office accumulation will still keep it at the second-highest spot. Not to mention,
Lightyear could blast
Toy Story into another major box office record by being the first animated franchise ever to reach $4 billion, given the movie brings in its predicted $1 billion earnings. While
Despicable Me’s
Minions prequel presents a problem for
Toy Story to maintain the highest-grossing franchise record,
Lightyear’s prospects at the box office hint at the movies at least briefly holding the massive achievement.,Next: Will Any 2022 Movie Make A Billion Dollars? Which Are The Contenders