Years of rumors have come to this: Disney is officially working on Toy Story 4, and John Lasseter is set to direct.

Disney announced the news on an earnings calling Thursday afternoon.

Toy Story 4 will hit theaters June 16, 2017. The last film in the series, Toy Story 3, opened in theaters in 2010 and marked the end of Woody and Buzz’s time with Andy.

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Update: Disney has announced that Andrew Stanton (Wall-E, Finding Nemo), Pete Docter (The Incredibles) and Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) dreamed up the idea for Toy Story 4, which they describe as a “new chapter.” In addition, Lasseter has issued a statement about today’s news.

“We love these characters so much; they are like family to us. We don’t want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what’s gone before,” he said. “Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz’s story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew, Pete, Lee and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie—and I wanted to direct it myself.”

And in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lasseter describes Toy Story 4 as a “love story.” He brought Rashida Jones and Will McCormack on to the writing team after seeing their film Celeste and Jesse Forever.

Said Lasseter about Jones and McCormack, “They have such a great sense of character and originality. And I wanted to get a strong female voice in the writing of this.”

In a photo released by Disney you can see Jones and McCormack sitting in on a Toy Story 4 meeting led by Lasseter:

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Disney didn’t offer any plot details today, but we presume the new film will follow the toys in their new life with Bonnie, the little girl Andy gave his toys to at the end of the third film.

Since Toy Story 3 entered theaters — and was widely believed to be the final film in the franchise — Disney has kept the story alive with several short films. For example, a new Christmas special will be airing on ABC early next month.

Lasseter directed the original Toy Story and co-directed the sequel, so the fact that he’s directing the new film is pretty big. As the studio’s creative head, he primarily spends his time these days producing every Pixar and Disney Animated film. For example, he produced Big Hero 6, which hits theaters tomorrow, November 7.

Lee Unkrich directed the third film in the series. He’s not attached to the new film at this time, but we do know he’s working on a movie themed around Dia de los Muertos for Pixar.

When rumors popped up about Toy Story 4 in the past couple years, many fans were upset since the third film ended on such a nice note. Pixar will have to make absolutely sure that the new film can live up to the farewell set by the third.

Pixar’s release slate looks like this over the next few years:

– June 2015: Inside Out
– November 2015: The Good Dinosaur
– June 2016: Finding Dory
– June 2017: Toy Story 4

Pixar announced earlier this year that they are working on new films in the Incredibles and Cars franchises, but those movies don’t have release dates yet.

How can you see the ‘Toy Story’ franchise moving forward?

In other words, what do you think Woody, Buzz, and Jessie will be up to this time?

The short films have been self-contained stories. In other words, they aren’t advancing in a direction that would lead to a plot for Toy Story 4. If there’s one thing that could carry over from the short films it would be some of the new characters that have been introduced.

In hindsight, it seemed inevitable. The short films and attractions at Disney Parks have been keeping the toys fresh in everyone’s minds as Lasseter worked to create a story that would be worthy of the Toy Story franchise. And that $1.063 billion box office for Toy Story 3 must’ve been a tempting reason for Disney, too.

We don’t believe Lasseter and Pixar would move forward with this unless they believed they have a good story on their hands.

Unfortunately, Pixar did not share a synopsis for the new film today, but we hope to see one soon!