Pixar Uses Old Apple Watch Animations in Toy Story 5 Teaser

A teaser trailer for the cartoon “Toy Story 5” appeared on the Internet, but attentive viewers noticed that Pixar studio used animation for it, created back in 2017 for the Apple Watch.

Image source: Pixar

The trailer opens with a shot of a toy alien being picked up by a mechanical claw. Next, the movie’s logo appears on a blue background with Woody, Buzz, and Jessie in the background. Woody comes to the foreground and waves, Jessie winks, and Buzz runs off-screen from the left to appear from the right and salutes.

Dylan McDonald, owner of software development company SunApps, noticed that these animations were taken from a set Pixar created for watchOS 4. He posted on X (Twitter) where he compared the teaser with the original animations for the Apple Watch. MacDonald noted that the trailer’s creators simply removed the black background, replacing it with blue. The reuse of animation was also noticed by an Apple intern working on the Maps app.

Image Source: Apple

Users reacted to the news with humor, suggesting that work on the cartoon is still far from complete, since Pixar is using old developments. However, it’s worth noting that there are two clips in the trailer that weren’t taken from the Apple Watch animations. There’s the scene with the alien being picked up by the claw, and the scene where Buzz runs off-screen.

Toy Story 5 is scheduled to premiere in the United States on June 19, 2026. The director and screenwriter will be Andrew Stanton, who participated in writing the script for the first four parts of Toy Story, as well as the cartoons Monsters, Inc. Interestingly, in 2019, a Toy Story poster autographed by Steve Jobs was sold at auction for more than $30,000.