(USA TODAY) The toys are back in town.
Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang from the beloved Pixar/Disney Toy Story franchise will be back on the big screen for a fourth animated installment, slated to open in theaters June 16, 2017.
Toy Story 4 also sees the return of director John Lasseter, who oversaw the first film in 1995. Lee Unkrich directed 2010's Toy Story 3, which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide and was the last cinematic adventure starring the voices of Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear.
The two actors reprised their roles for the TV special Toy Story of Terror in 2013 and will again for Toy Story That Time Forgot, which airs Dec. 2 on ABC.
The brain trust behind the Toy Story films over the years — Lasseter, Unkrich, Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter — hatched the new chapter in the characters' lives. The writing team on the movie is Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.
"We love these characters so much; they are like family to us," Lasseter said in a statement. "We don't want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what's gone before. Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz's story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew, Pete, Lee and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie—and I wanted to direct it myself."
Official casting info for Toy Story 4 is still to be announced.
