The animated sequel hits theaters on June 19.

Here’s how Woody reunites with Buzz and the gang in Toy Story 5

The animated sequel hits theaters on June 19.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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April 16, 2026 8:24 p.m. ET

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Buzz and Woody in 'Toy Story 5'. Credit:

- Tom Hanks and Tim Allen appeared at CinemaCon to introduce a clip from *Toy Story 5*.

- The clip showed how Woody reunites with Buzz and the rest of Bonnie's toys.

- *Toy Story 5* hits theaters on June 19.

We finally know how Woody returns to the main toy gang in *Toy Story 5*.

Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz) appeared at Disney's CinemaCon presentation in Las Vegas on Thursday to share a scene from the animated sequel that clarifies a key plot point.

Directed by longtime Pixar alum Andrew Stanton (*Finding Nemo*, *WALL-E*), the fifth film in the franchise sees Woody and Buzz combat an existential threat: technology. In the clip, we saw how the toys' struggle against Bonnie's new tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee) brings Woody back into the fold after he left Buzz and the gang at the conclusion of 2019's *Toy Story 4* to live with Bo Peep and her crew of wayward toys.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in Los Angeles on June 11, 2019.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty

The clip begins with Woody standing triumphantly as he's backlit by a sunset, and Bo Peep climbs up from outside to join him on the windowsill.

Woody then comes down to floor level and looks a little less impressive: he's wearing a human-sized bandana as a poncho, prompting Forky to ask him why he's wearing a dress. He also has a protruding belly and a bald spot so shiny that it reflects light onto his old friends when he turns his head.

After greeting the gang, Woody is approached by a skeptical Buzz, who points his laser at him. The space ranger then drops the act and embraces Woody.

"It's been too long, cowboy. How have you been?" he asks.

"Busy," Woody responds. "Came here as fast as I could after Jessie called for help."

"She called you?" Buzz asks.

Both Buzz and Woody then simultaneously say, "I'm her deputy."

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This confuses Buzz, who says Jessie "literally deputized me" and gave him a star (a cheap-looking glittery sticker) as a badge. Woody then distracts Buzz for a moment to steal an identical star sticker from Forky's knife wife so he can *also* have a badge.

Woody then meets the antagonist Lilypad (Greta Lee), who asks, "What are you? Some sort of old man toy?"

Before the clip, Hanks and Allen took the stage to joke about how much they've aged since making the original *Toy Story *in the early 1990s — an unfortunate reality they contended with after seeing footage of themselves recording dialogue for the 1995 film.

"We look like our grandchildren," Allen said.

"Did I make the first one when I was in junior high school?" Hanks joked.

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*Toy Story 5* will release in theaters on June 19. For more on the biggest revelations from CinemaCon, read our recaps of day 1, day 2, and day 3 here.

- Animated Movies

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Source: “EW Animated”