'Toy Story 4' Will Officially Arrive On June 16, 2017

It's back to infinity and beyond for Woody and the gang, who will officially return to the big screen for "Toy Story 4."

Disney CEO Bob Iger announced plans for another sequel on Thursday. John Lasseter, who directed the first two "Toy Story" movies, will hold the reins for the newest entry in Pixar's franchise as well. The movie is set for release on June 16, 2017.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Lasseter and "Finding Nemo" director Andrew Stanton (himself working on a sequel to that film, "Finding Dory") worked on the idea for "Toy Story 4" over the last two years. The Pixar duo also enlisted help from actress Rashida Jones and her writing partner, Will McCormack, following the success of their 2012 romantic comedy, "Celeste and Jesse Forever." (Lasseter told the Times he wanted the film to have a "strong female voice.")

Though this makes "Toy Story 4" an official project, it's not the first time the film has been discussed since "Toy Story 3" raked in more than $1 billion at the global box office. TheWrap reported in 2010 that Tim Allen, who voices Buzz Lightyear, hadcommitted to a fourth movie regardless of whether it actually came to fruition. Tom Hanks also expressed interest in reprising his role as Woody, and one year later hetold the BBC that Disney was in the process of "work[ing] on" the movie. But Disney continued to curb the speculation, denying Hanks' claims and in 2013 refuting more rumors that the movie had entered development. At that time, BuzzFeed even published a piece headlined 4 Reasons Why The “Toy Story 4” Rumor Is Just Silly.

The franchise has earned nearly $2 billion at the worldwide box office since debuting in 1997. Along the way, Pixar has extended its shelf life by airing "Toy Story of Terror" Halloween specials on ABC. The first one, in 2013, beat "Survivor" and "Criminal Minds" in the overnight Nielsen ratings.

Arriving on the same afternoon that we learned "Star Wars: Episode VII" will be titled "The Force Awakens" (both Pixar and Lucasfilm are owned by Disney), it's been a big five hours for popular film franchises.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Toy Story 4" is expected to pick up after the events of "Toy Story 3." You can watch the ending of that film here. Bring some tissues.