Voices: Toy Story 5? Why didn’t they stop at Toy Story 3?

Why Pixar? Why, why, why?Toy Story is just about the perfect movie trilogy. An animated delight beloved by children and their parents.

These were “family films” you could go and see at a cinema unaccompanied by small people. Plenty did. In my opinion, the second outing was at least as good as the first. The third? At first, like everybody did, I thought it was bound to go wrong. Remember Return of the Jedi and those damn Ewoks?

But the creative geniuses at at Pixar avoided the pitfalls and did it again, delivering a pitch-perfect ending while they were at it. Don’t underrate that. A good ending is something storytellers struggle with. Talk to the people behind Game of Thrones.

Then Toy Story 4 came along. And, sure, the critics voiced their approval and audiences seemed to like it too. But would you watch it again? It’s the only one my family hasn’t bothered to do that with. It’s basically an extended epilogue. Fine, as far as it goes. It didn’t screw up the story. But it wasn’t really necessary.

Except the small matter of it grossing over $1bn. That makes it very necessary indeed, to a studio exec. Which is why, presumably, Disney boss Bob Iger has greenlighted a fifth.

So, here’s my warning: if you loved the thing; if you grew up with it, or your children or grandchildren grew up with it, be afraid. Be very afraid.

The House of Mouse (of which Pixar is part) is going sequel crazy. There’s also a third Frozen coming, and a second Zootopia or Zootropolis (depending on where you live). I guess a second Zoo is OK, from an artistic standpoint. The first involved an impressive feat of world-building. It had an interesting enough premise that it might be fun to dive back in. But for those looking for something new, and original? You’ll need to go elsewhere. Probably art-house.

Otherwise, we’re positively drowning in retreads, reboots and spin offs. The BBC is even bringing back Fawlty Towers, for God’s sake. Auntie throwing a bone to the culture warriors? It’s in a for a shock.

At least the first three Toy Story films were good. Growing up before anyone had heard the word “woke”, I remember people eulogising about Fawlty. I didn’t get it then and I don’t get it now. A tall, posh sounding bloke stomping around alternatively bullying and shouting at people? Where’s the joke?

It’s on us. The Beeb’s motivation is the same as Disney’s. The latter gets paid in cash. Auntie might get to keep the licence fee for a bit longer if it can deliver a hit. Franchises (mostly) guarantee audiences, which is why there are so many of them. Original stories? Why take the risk? Disney has had some struggles lately. Strange World, for example, was a certified bust.

The Pixar unit has produced some very good to great originals; Soul,Luca and the Oscar nominated Turning Red. But they were only seen in a few cinemas, being primarily streaming releases. They weren’t given a full mega-marketing push. The exception was the underwhelming Toy Story spin off Lightyear.

Lightyear hardly set the box office alight because, as it turns out, you can have too much of a good thing.

Who will save us from this corporate sequel hell? If we vote with our feet, we can save ourselves. With Lightyear, we did. And it’s liberating.

In the meantime, Hayao Miyazaki has come out of retirement to wave his Studio Ghibli wand, with the results due later this year. A short follow up to My Neighbour Totoro that you’ll need to go to Japan to see is Ghibli’s only brush with sequel-itis. Yes, the film turned up on stage too, but a retread as good as that is excusable.

I recently finished the wonderful Vesper, on Netflix, a startlingly original French made English language bio-shock piece made for a relative song in Lithuania. There’s a solution until this passes: filmmakers have to dive into low-budget waters to get interesting stories made – and we should jump in with them.