Toy Story 5 boosts Disney streaming, merchandise and parks revenue

Disney said Toy Story 5 lifted merchandise sales and Disney+ engagement in the June quarter, showing how a single Pixar release can feed several businesses at once. The film’s pull reached beyond ticket sales into consumer products and streaming, a mix that has become central to The Walt Disney Company’s growth strategy. The results landed after a May 6 shareholder letter that said Disney was focused on strengthening streaming through creative storytelling, product and technology innovation, advancing ESPN’s direct-to-consumer future, and growing Disney Experiences.

Disney Experiences generated nearly $10 billion in revenue, up 10% from a year earlier, while attendance at Disney theme parks rose 4%. That matters because parks, merchandise and streaming can all benefit when a franchise gives families a reason to keep spending after the opening weekend. Toy Story remains one of Disney and Pixar’s most recognizable properties, and the fifth film kept Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie in a story that put toys against technology and leaned into the tension between screens and play.

Disney’s U.K. Disney+ page described the movie as a new Toy Story adventure in which the toys meet technology. A June 17 feature on the film said it tackled tech tensions and tween girl trials, widening the appeal beyond longtime fans and giving the franchise fresh material for younger viewers as well as parents who grew up with the earlier films.

Disney has seen that formula before. In 2010, the company hoped Toy Story 3 merchandise would reap $2.4 billion, a reminder that the franchise has long been treated as a consumer-products machine as much as a movie series. The new film’s boost came as the wider U.S. box office was on pace for its best year since before the COVID-19 pandemic, making a proven family brand even more valuable to theaters and to Disney’s own ecosystem.

The quarter underlined how Hollywood’s biggest hits are now judged by their spillover into subscriptions, toys and park traffic. For Disney, the value of Toy Story 5 was not limited to cinemas: it helped sell products, drove engagement on Disney+, and supported a parks-and-experiences business that is increasingly tied to the strength of the company’s intellectual property portfolio.