Toy Story 4 is coming in 2017, even though Toy Story 3 ended perfectly

Despite the fact that Toy Story 3 — which was already an iffy proposition to begin with — ended perfectly and the fact that a Toy Story film is bound to disappoint sooner or later, Disney/Pixar is plunging forward with Toy Story 4, out in 2017 and directed by John Lasseter.

Lasseter was the director of the first two Toy Story films, but has been busy as the chief creative officer for essentially all Disney/Pixar animation since the two companies merged and, thus, did not direct the third film. The last film he directed was 2011's Cars 2.

The news was first tweeted out by the Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz, off an earnings call Disney president Robert Iger was holding with investors.

John Lasseter will direct a fourth "Toy Story" film, in theaters June 2017 (Iger just announced on earnings call)

— Ben Fritz (@benfritz) November 6, 2014

The first three Toy Story films comprise one of the most perfect film trilogies of all time. This seems like taking a huge risk for no real reason. We'd say "never doubt Pixar," but the company's recent track record is spottier than usual, with Cars 2, Brave, and Monsters University all meeting with their share of detractors (though the latter two are both very good, haters be damned). The film The Good Dinosaur bumped from 2014 to 2015, and the upcoming Finding Dory suggests to some that Pixar is leaning too heavily on sequels.

Oh well. At least it's not Cars 3.

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