Tom Hanks teases 'most heartbreaking' scene in Toy Story 5 that will make adults sob

When Pixar announced a fifth and final Toy Story movie over three years ago, fans knew it was bound to be a heartbreaker.

The four films that came before it all struck a deep emotional chord for viewers, serving as cartoon metaphors for grief, abandonment and the painful reality of growing up.

By the sounds of things, however, nothing could have prepared even the most hard-faced of Toy Story lovers for the latest storyline, which apparently cranked the devastation to unprecedented new levels, and has already reduced millions of viewers to tears.

The franchise, which began with the first film's release back in 1995, the Pixar-Disney, animated-comedy follows a cowboy doll named Sheriff Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), the favourite toy of his owner, Andy.

Along with Andy's other playthings - including cadet action figure Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) - he comes to life when humans aren’t around, often landing the horde in some pretty tricky situations.

The trailer for the latest instalment, set to be released on 19 June, landed back in February, showing Woody and the gang grapple with a whole new challenge - technology. Buzz and Jessie's owner, Bonnie, is gifted a Lilypad tablet, which her toys worry will prevent her from getting stuck into the real world and making friends, aside from abandoning them.

It wasn't until actor Hanks recently sat down to chat about the upcoming flick that fans gained a deeper insight into the storyline planned, which the 69-year-old would also feature the theme of cyberbullying.

Hanks gave fans an insight into the storyline (Kate Green/Getty Images for The Walt Disney Company Limited)

"These movies, they end up speaking [to] and putting in words [and] stuff that everybody is thinking anyway," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

"There’s one of the most heartbreaking scenes I’ve ever seen in any of the Toy Story movies — when that little girl is getting her feelings hurt by what other people are texting about her, and she doesn’t understand why."

Hanks added: "She doesn’t know what she did wrong, but it hurts, and that is a very prescient thing to have in a motion picture today about little kids and toys, don’t you think?"

Unsurprisingly, the gut-wrenching subject matter set to feature in the fifth film isn't something that fans feel prepared for yet - many having been children themselves when the first movie came out over 30 years ago.

Hanks revealed that the film would touch on cyberbullying (Disney-Pixar)

One X user begged in response to the news: "Tom Hanks, please spare us. I am literally begging. Toy Story 3 and 4 already ripped my heart out and threw it in the trash, now they're adding a plotline about a kid dealing with group chat cyberbullying?"

Another predicted: "Toy Story is really going from childhood comfort to emotional damage every movie."

"Pixar about to make grown adults cry over push notifications," a third teased.

"Grew up with Toy Story, so this is already destroying me before I even buy the ticket," a fourth wrote.

Toy Story 5 opens in cinemas on 19 June.