Did Disney’s “Toy Story 5” Announcement Break Twitter?

Twitter experienced a brief outage just after Disney announced its continuation of three major film franchises: “Toy Story 5”, “Frozen 3” and “Zootopia 2”. The announcements come just months after Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO. Fans had no ability to immediately react to the news, as Twitter experienced a brief outage.

While fans were excited for the return of their favorite franchises, others criticized the return of the Toy Story series. The first installment was released in 1995, and the most recent in 2019. After a heartfelt ending in the third film, in which the toy’s owner Andy grows up, many felt that it was just the closure they needed. The fourth film was met with mixed reviews, but was a critical success.

Some felt that the endings of each movie were too powerful to continue the franchise.

Fans were more excited about the return of the newer Frozen franchise. At the end of the last film, Anna (Kristen Bell) accepts Kristoff’s (Jonathan Groff) marriage proposal, and Elsa (Idina Menzel) goes to fulfill her destiny, but is still single. Some fans are hoping that the third film includes some romance for Elsa.

As for Zootopia, fans already began to cast their votes about who the potential musical guest could be. The first film features Shakira as Gazelle.

Aside from the more well known film franchise sequels, Disney also announced nine unnamed films on their slate for the year.

Elder Gen Z and Millennial fans who were children when the original films in the franchises were released cracked jokes about being the oldest ones in the theater (and with no regrets).

Disney also announced today that approximately 7,000 employees would be laid off due to budget cuts and restructuring within the company. One Twitter user pointed out that perhaps today’s film announcements were strategic and intended to serve as a distraction.

The cuts come after Disney+ has faced losing thousands of subscribers. The streaming platform was launched in 2019. The layoffs are only the latest in a major media company. Vox Media laid off thousands ahead of a merger with Penske Media, and Google and Microsoft led the layoff totals in the tech world.

The layoffs are likely due to a combination of factors. Twitter took to theorizing about why 7,000 will be left jobless this week.

Conservative media personalities politicized the budget and layoffs issue. After former CEO Bob Chapek came under fire in 2022 for continuing to donate to Florida’s elected officials who supported the Don’t Say Gay Bill, attention has turned to Bob Iger’s previous political remarks regarding his votes for the Democratic party.

All of this comes as millionaire investor and Republican activist Nelson Peltz is making a play for a seat at the table at Disney.  Major shakeups are to be expected with Disney’s streaming platforms, and potentially its leadership. While fans rejoice at the announcement at some of their nostalgic childhood favorites, they continue to be met with the ethical dilemma of supporting a company that has repeatedly attempted to distract from company-wide layoffs.

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