Toy Story 4

Toy Story 4 coming in 2017, John Lasseter to direct

   IT’S official! Woody, Buzz and the gang are coming back to the big screen.

It’s been four long years since Toy Story 3 hit cinemas, but a fourth instalment has now been confirmed.

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger made the announcement to Wall Street analysts while discussing the company’s fourth quarter and fiscal year results, Variety reports.

The film is slated for release in June 2017 and John Lasseter, who directed the original and Toy Story 2, and who now serves as Chief Creative Officer for all three of Disney’s animation studios, is back in the director’s chair.

“We love these characters so much, they are like family to us,” Lasseter said. “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 talked about doing another Toy Story movie,” he added.

Few details are known yet about the film but it’s thought that Toy Story 4 will feature the return of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack and the rest of the hit franchise’s voice talent.

Writing team Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (Celeste and Jesse Forever) have joined the project, and Pixar veteran Galyn Susman is producing.

Toy Story 3 was released in 2010 and grossed more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the top-grossing animated film of all time until Frozen overtook it earlier this year.