Toy Story World and Release Window for Kingdom Hearts 3 Announced at D23

During Disney’s D23 Expo Video Games Showcase this weekend, the company revealed that Toy Story would be the newest world to come to Kingdom Hearts 3. 

To introduce this new world, Tetsuya Nomura took the stage and began talking about fans’ positive reactions at the Kingdom Hearts Orchestra world tour. This was followed by a trailer which opened with Sora jumping off some clouds and what looked to be the Olympus Coliseum and Twilight Town. A quote was transposed on the screen in blue text, which read:

“Don’t assume your dreams are just fantasy. If you can imagine a world, believe in it…and dive in.”

This lead into a reveal of the new world — where Sora, Donald, and Goofy appeared as miniature toys underneath Andy’s bed. They are faced with miniature toy enemies, and then bump into Woody, Buzz, Rex, Hamm, the Pizza Planet Aliens, and the toy green soldiers.

These toys explain that Andy and his family had disappeared not long after the Heartless showed up — and they were with a guy in a black hood. Sora suspects that this may be Organization XIII at work. And with the toys’ help, he sets out to Galaxy Toys to investigate further. 

The trailer showcased gameplay outside Andy’s house, where Sora uses a Drill attack and a Draw Punch attack using a powerup. Then we see gameplay inside the Galaxy Toys store, where Sora cimbed into a robot and used laser cannons to deal with the enemies surrounding him — reminiscent of the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast ride at Disney parks.

The release year was then revealed as 2018 — but there is no definitive date yet.

After the trailer, Nomura was joined on stage by Jason Katz and Tasha Sounart from Pixar. Jason has worked at Pixar for the past 23 years and was the Story Supervisor for Toy Story 3. He confirmed that the Kingdom Hearts story relating to the Toy Story franchise is brand new. Tasha Sounart, who is an Associate Creative Director at Pixar and animated for Toy Story 2, confirmed that she had helped to design the toy versions of Sora, Donald and Goofy, and the Keyblade for the Toy Story world.

Nomura added that players of iPhone and Android game Kingdom Hearts: Union Cross will be able to get a special Toy Story medal in-game.

You can watch the trailer above if you haven’t seen it for yourself. And if you want to watch the whole D23 conference to see the interviews with Nomura and Pixar, check out the official D23 YouTube channel.

Stay tuned for more Kingdom Hearts 3 news as we get closer to release!