Toy Story 3 Did WHAT 15 Years Ago?! You Won’t Believe It!

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It’s no wonder that Pixar Animation Studios has an impressive collection of box office triumphs spanning several decades in the realm of cinema. Films like “Up,” “Coco,” and “Incredibles 2” (to name a few) have solidified the Pixar brand as synonymous with box office victories. Despite Disney’s decision to release critically acclaimed Pixar films such as “Soul” and “Turning Red” directly on Disney+ during the early 2020s, “Inside Out 2” proved to be a giant in summer 2024, grossing $1.69 billion worldwide. This surpassed the global box office record set by “The Lion King” from 2019 until “Ne Zha 2” took the crown.

Among all Pixar’s remarkable successes, one film, “Toy Story 3,” particularly stands out as a groundbreaking achievement across multiple dimensions. In June 2010, this film made its grand entrance onto theater screens and immediately became an unprecedented box office sensation, leaving a lasting impact on the cinematic panorama.

Toy Story 3’s Global Box Office Achievements

More than a decade after the release of Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3 made its way to cinemas on June 18, 2010. Since Finding Nemo in 2003, Pixar Animation Studios consistently produced blockbuster films during summer months. However, Toy Story 3 exceeded even these high standards. In its first weekend at the domestic box office, it earned $110.3 million, surpassing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s opening weekend record of $108.96 million as the highest June launch in North American history. Additionally, Toy Story 3 was the first Pixar film to earn over $100 million domestically on its opening weekend, a feat achieved by Lee Unkrich’s directional effort.

In the meantime, “Toy Story 3” outperformed “Shrek 2” to rank as the second-largest domestic opening for an animated movie, trailing only “Shrek the Third’s” $121 million debut. However, “Shrek the Third” was more of a one-weekend sensation, earning just 2.68 times its initial weekend revenue throughout its entire domestic run. In contrast, “Toy Story 3” continued to shine in its second week, setting the record for the seventh-largest 10-day gross for any film at that time.

Ultimately, “Toy Story 3” earned an impressive $415 million in North America, making it the second-highest grossing animated movie at the time, surpassed only by “Shrek 2.” It significantly outperformed its predecessor, “Toy Story 2,” which made $244 million. This increase showed how popular these films had grown over the years. However, it was abroad where “Toy Story 3” truly shone, setting records that would become standard in today’s movie market.

The Global Box Office Highs of Toy Story 3

Currently, a total of 56 films have surpassed the billion-dollar mark globally. A milestone once exclusive to James Cameron’s directorial ventures has now become an achievable box office goal for numerous movies each year. As recently as June 2010, only six films had ever managed this feat. However, in August of the same year, “Toy Story 3” became the seventh film to achieve this, making it the first animated feature to surpass a billion dollars worldwide. Movies like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Ne Zha 2,” which are expected to join the billion-dollar club in the future, are following the trail blazed by “Toy Story 3.

In a short span following Alice in Wonderland’s billion-dollar milestone in 2010, Toy Story 3 managed to surpass that figure as well, making Disney the pioneer of having multiple movies generate over $1 billion worldwide in a single year. This trend continued, and by 2019, films like The Lion King, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, and Avengers: Endgame (along with several other 2019 Disney productions) all joined the billion-dollar club, making it a common occurrence for the studio.

In 2010, the success of Toy Story 3 at the box office marked a new era of dominance for Disney, with the studio going on to rule the box office for the next ten years. To this day, when accounting for inflation, Toy Story 3’s domestic earnings remain the 65th highest grossing movie of all time. This impressive achievement reflects the film’s groundbreaking performance at the global and domestic box office during the summer of 2010, which significantly exceeded expectations for what animated films could achieve financially. Although Toy Story 3 has since been surpassed as Pixar’s highest-grossing movie domestically and worldwide, its box office achievements continue to be remarkably impressive.

Toy Story 3 is now streaming on Disney+.

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2025-06-15 15:40