It's been a while since we've seen Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey, but their return was teased at the end of the exceptional 2022's Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, and we now finally know when we will actually get to see the return of the fantastical friends. It's been nearly a decade-and-a-half since the release of Shrek Forever After, but Shrek 5 is now officially on the way, and it's coming surprisingly soon.
Dreamworks Animation confirmed this afternoon that Shrek 5 is not only in the works, but that that the latest sequel in the Shrek series is bringing back Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz and will be arriving in theaters on July 1, 2026. You can watch the video revealing the news in the Twitter embed below, which features an extremely obvious song choice:
Not too Far, Far Away… @Shrek 5 is coming to theaters on July 1, 2026 with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz. pic.twitter.com/3j6ctXpPGuJuly 9, 2024
If you didn't know that "All Star" by Smash Mouth was about to start blasting through your speakers, that's on you, not me.
What's surprising about the release date is that we're now less than two years away from seeing Shrek 5 in theaters, which is soon when one considers the notorious length of the animation development pipeline. We're left to assume that Dreamworks Animation has been quietly working on this one for a while. There was reboot talk back in 2018 from Illumination Entertainment's Chris Meledandri, who was tapped by Universal at the time to oversee the development of the franchise, but apparently the sequel route was chosen instead.
While Puss In Boots: The Last Wish is the lowest grossing movie in the Shrek canon, it still earned nearly $500 million at the worldwide box office when it was released in late December 2022, and the entire franchise has remained incredibly popular despite the amount of time between films. Ticket sales dropped from Shrek 2 ($935.5 million) to Shrek The Third ($807.3 million) to Shrek Forever After ($756.2 million), but the movies are still loved by the generation that grew up with them.
Per Variety, Shrek 5 will be helmed by Walt Dohrn, who is making his directorial debut with the project. He does have Shrek experience, however, having been a story artist on Shrek 2, Shrek The Third, and Shrek The Halls before being head of story on Shrek Forever After. (He also notably provides the voice for Rumplestiltskin.)
The animated fantasy film is part of a massive summer of blockbusters in 2026. Pixar is set to deliver Toy Story 5 to theaters in mid-June 2026, and it will be followed by the upcoming DC Universe movie Supergirl: Woman Of Tomorrow on June 26, 2026. On the other side of Shrek 5's July 1 release date, Disney is set to roll out the live-action remake of Moana starring Dwayne Johnson on July 10, 2026.
There are still a lot of questions we have about the development of Shrek 5 (Will Antonio Banderas come back as Puss in Boots? What will the story be?), and we will hopefully get answers in due time. Meanwhile, stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest big updates about the project, and start planning your next film watching adventure with our 2024 Movie Release Calendar.
