Characters from Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 3" (L-R) Jessie, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Lot's-O-Huggin' Bear pose at the UK premiere in Leicester Square
Characters from Disney and Pixar's "Toy Story 3" (L-R) Jessie, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Lot's-O-Huggin' Bear pose at the UK premiere in Leicester Square, London July 18, 2010. Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

Disney has officially announced the return of 'Toy Story' with its upcoming sequel 'Toy Story 4'. The news was announced during a conference call with investors informing them that the movie is set to release on June 16, 2017.

Director of 'Toy Story' and 'Toy Story 2', John Lasseter, will return to make the fourth installment, as told by Reuters. Disney chief Bob Iger announced during the conference that 'Toy Story 3' had been a phenomenal success earning more than $ 1 billion at the box office and $10 billion in retail sales. Hence, the management is keen to continue the legacy of the beloved characters of the movie.

Details and the plot of the movie are still under wraps, but the story will reportedly pick up from where 'Toy Story 3' ended. It has also been revealed that Rashida Jones and her writing partner Will McCormack will join the writing team to come up with a wonderful heartwarming story.

The 2010 released 'Toy Story 3' was a huge success and became the highest grossing animated film of all time before 'Frozen' hit the screens and took over the title. The movie was also awarded two Oscars for being the 'Best Animated Feature of the Year' and 'Best Original Song'.

The news is received with mixed responses among movie lovers and netizens. Some fans excitedly welcomed the news on Twitter and other social media platforms while others are not so pleased. "They should leave it alone, they wrapped it up perfectly at the end of the third one," said BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra's film critic, Rhianna Dhillon, in a report released by BBC.

Some eager fans of the 'Toy Story' series strongly believe that making a fourth installment will only ruin the old characters. Moreover, they think that the franchise should be left as a trilogy. Some of the characters of the film, such as Woody, the toy cowboy, and space ranger Buzz Lightyear, gained important places in pop culture after the first movie came out. These were even introduced as toys later on following the upsurge of their popularity. Some of its iconic characters were already well-known toys, such as the Etch-A-Sketch and Potato Head, and are still adored by kids across the globe.