Disney's Toy Story 5 Rating Officially Breaks 31-Year Franchise Streak - MCE Notices | California State Portal

The Toy Story movies, especially the later ones, have always dealt with change. The plastic personalities at the forefront of Pixar’s most prolific property have faced adversities galore. They’ve fallen into the wrong hands, watched their owners pick new favorites, seen their children grow up and leave them to a new generation of playmates, and come to terms with getting older and possibly obsolete. Now, after 31 years of maintaining a family-friendly tradition, the Toy Story franchise is going through yet another stark change with Toy Story 5.

With the release of the fifth Toy Story feature, Pixar’s first-ever film series will surprisingly break away from a 30-plus-year tradition. Toy Story 5 is now officially the first Toy Story movie to have a PG rating, setting it apart from the series’ exclusively G-rated films to this point. Children have always had a friend in these Disney-produced movies; everyone in the family enjoys them. But now, parental guidance is suggested.

Pixar’s Toy Story 5 Ends the Franchise’s G-Rated Era

Credit: Pixar

In late April, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) announced that Toy Story 5 would differentiate itself from the four previous Toy Story films by being rated PG instead of G. The description for this unexpected new rating claimed that the animated film would feature “some thematic elements and rude humor,” which could be inappropriate for little kids without a parental figure or guardian present.

When one considers the generally vague and seemingly mild reasoning, Toy Story 5, despite its slightly more mature rating, will likely not stray too far from the content of the previous four films. However, it does mean that strange things are now happening for Toy Story‘s legacy. The Toy Story 5 rating marks a major first for the franchise, and could set a new path for the typically G-rated series of films.

If one were to make an educated guess, Toy Story 5‘s PG rating likely has less to do with the film itself and more to do with how these Pixar movies are viewed in a modern context. Certainly, all the past Toy Story adventures, despite their G ratings, have delved into some heavy thematic material. Sid’s unsettling mutant body horror in the first Toy Story, for instance, has surely frightened children over the last three decades. And the famous (or maybe infamous) incinerator scene in Toy Story 3 almost certainly did some emotional damage to even the adults in the audience.

These films have always dived into thematic material that could be considered, well, a bit dicey. Perhaps this is simply the first time the MPA has recognized potentially challenging content in one of these movies? Maybe some things that got a blind eye in the past are being more scrutinized now?

It is hard to know for sure until the sequel is screened. But it is pretty impressive that Pixar has maintained G ratings for Toy Story for as long as it has. Pixar’s seminal PG-rated movie was The Incredibles in 2004, which earned that rating. (It could arguably be PG-13 worthy in some parts.) And it wouldn’t be until 2009 that Pixar could earn another PG rating for Up, which isn’t a shock either. That acclaimed movie leaves emotional scars.

Sometime after that, Pixar movies waffled between G and PG ratings. The Cars sequels, Monsters University, and, of course, Toy Story 3 and 4 received the former; Brave, The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out, Incredibles 2, Coco, and Finding Dory (which was a notable and intriguing change from Finding Nemo‘s G rating) garnered the latter. However, ever since 2020’s Onward, every successive Pixar movie has been rated PG without fail. Elio, in fact, pushed itself near PG-13, according to one of its directors. Toy Story 5 isn’t an exception, much to the surprise of some Pixar fans. One could reasonably argue that the influx of PG movies is a sign of the times.

The MPA Isn’t Kidding Around With Toy Story Anymore

Woody Is Back in the Saddle with Pixar's Toy Story 5 — Woody Is Back in the Saddle with Pixar’s *Toy Story 5*.

Nowadays, G-rated movies are becoming increasingly rare. Family films were once generally assigned this general audience-friendly label with the assumption that they were appropriate for family audiences. PG was reserved for movies with some more adult or suggestive content.

However, there became a point, perhaps around the 2000s, when G became synonymous with being “babyish.” As a result, movie studios would incorporate intentionally mildly inappropriate content into their otherwise G-rated movies. Some brief language, cheeky humor, or elements of peril were thrown in to give their family films a “cooler,” more approachable PG rating. It’s hard to know for sure if this evolution befell Pixar as well.

Regardless, the CG animation house matured with at least some of its audience, making more movies that pushed the envelope and included elements that ultimately wouldn’t fly in a G-rated film. But Toy Story, especially with Toy Story 3 and 4 being G-rated like the first two installments, was one of the last bastions of G-rated family movies. Now, Toy Story will succumb to PG-ifcation.

Until the movie is seen by audiences worldwide, one can only speculate on what caused Toy Story 5 to earn this (slightly) more mature rating. The movie may contain material that is simply unacceptable for a G rating. Maybe the rude humor listed in the MPA description is about as ribald as Pixar gets. Regardless of the reasoning, the Toy Story franchise, like many modern family movies, becomes another example of how Hollywood likes to maintain viewers’ interest, even if it means losing some consistency with Pixar’s hit series.

In recent years, G-rated movies have become nearly extinct. Last year’s Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie was among the very few recent examples. And Toy Story 5 isn’t the only recent example of a previously G-rated film franchise transitioning to PG.

2021’s PAW Patrol: The Movie was possibly the last notable G-rated movie in American cinema. Its sequels, 2023’s PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and the upcoming PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, opted for a PG rating. Now that Toy Story 5 broke the PG barrier, it’s possible that G-rated films will become even more antiquated than before, much like some of the forgotten toys found throughout this long-standing franchise. Toy Story 4 may, likewise, be Pixar’s last G-rated film.

Toy Story 5 Is Set To Break the Piggy Bank

MPA’s rating switch for Toy Story 5 might officially end a 31-year ratings streak for the time-honored franchise, but make no mistake: it certainly won’t hurt its box office prospects. Early predictions suggest that the newest Pixar sequel will not only break the series’ record but also become the highest-grossing opening weekend of the year. Right now, Toy Story 5 is tracking to make between $150 and $175 million, which is quite a pretty penny.

As Toy Story impressively remains one of Pixar’s most financially secure IPs, it’s a given that the studio might feel emboldened to change things a little bit without losing its core audience. While an older rating for a sequel would normally prove fatal to a movie’s box office returns, that’s not the case here. Toy Story lost its general audience rating, but nobody will be excluded when the film premieres on June 19th.