It’s true. The increasingly sequel-happy Pixar (despite what Pixar president Ed Catmull said) are bringing back our favorite gang of anthropomorphic toys. It isn’t as another animated short or straight-to-DVD release, either – I see you, Toy Story of TERROR! and Toy Story That Time Forgot. This is Toy Story 4.

Sure, we’d heard rumors of this sequel last year. Yes, a sequel to a movie that made one billion dollars at the box office and amassed five Oscar nominations (Toy Story 3) is more inevitability than pleasant surprise. Now we have confirmation, though, along with a good amount of details. Now we can get excited.

Per D23, Disney Chariman and CEO Bob Iger made the announcement earlier today. The same team behind the first three films – John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Lee Unkrich – dreamt up the idea for the fourth installment. Lasseter, director of the first two installments, returns to direct the fourth film. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (Celeste and Jesse Forever) are attached to write. It seems likely much of the cast, most notably Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, will reprise their roles.

The release date is currently scheduled for June 16, 2017. Until then, we’ll have Inside Out (June 19, 2015), Finding Dory (Nov. 25, 2015), The Good Dinosaur (June 17, 2016), and, someday, that long-awaited Incredibles sequel. And maybe Rata2lle? Please?

Lasseter also addressed how they dare to tinker with the neat and tidy ending of Toy Story 3.

“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 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.”

Begin steeling your hearts now for the inevitable avalanche of feelings that awaits us in 2017. It’s not often we get a sequel behind which we can place whole-hearted confidence; for many, this is that rare example.

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Tyler Hanan

Tyler raves about movies on the Let The Right Films In podcast. Listen to him make jokes over his beleaguered cohost Kayla St. Onge and their more qualified guests who deserve so much better at soundcloud.com/ltrfipod. Find him on Twitter @tylerhanan.

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