To the Toy Story premiere and beyond! First day of school picture lands fan on the red carpet with his heroes

Published: 00:24, 30 May 2026 | Updated: 00:24, 30 May 2026 Little Vinny Donnelly went viral when his beloved toys waved him off for his first day at school in an emotive nod to the Toy Story films. Six years on, he's had a night beyond his wildest dreams by joining Woody and Buzz Lightyear on the red carpet. Disney Pixar invited Vinny to be guest of honour at the UK premiere of Toy Story 5, after he melted hearts worldwide in 2020. His father Sean had lined up his collection of Toy Story characters at the front door in homage to the goodbye scene in the third movie as Vinny, then four, set off for school. Mr Donnelly, who with wife Charlotte and his daughter joined Vinny at Thursday's event at the Odeon Luxe in London's Leicester Square, later shared the adorable snap online. Vinny, now ten, got to meet the legendary voices behind the film's stars, including Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz).  Father-of-two Mr Donnelly, 38, from Loughborough, Leicestershire, said: 'We'd kind of forgotten about the photo – it was so long ago. 'At the time it was bonkers, we were getting messages from all over the world.  Little Vinny Donnelly (inside left) and his family on the red carpet at the premiere of Toy Story 5 Tom Hanks and Woody at the Toy Story 5 film premiere in London on 28 May  Sean Donnelly's adorable picture of Vinny waving goodbye to his Toy Story toys as he heads off to start school. The picture went viral and has been liked tens of thousands of times 'A few weeks ago Disney got in contact and invited Vinny to the premiere.' On that viral image, the lorry driver added: 'We decided to recreate the moment where Andy leaves his toys behind when we did the traditional going to school photo.'  Toy Story was released over 30 years ago in 1995, and stars Hollywood legend Tom Hanks as cowboy Woody.  The film series, which currently has four installments, is set to release a fifth film later this year in June.  No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.