Grammy winner Tyla voiced a pink flamingo in Disney and Pixar's 'Toy Story 5', and says she hopes it inspires a generation to dream bigger.
(File photo) South African singer songwriter Tyla attends Billboard Women in Music at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on 29 April 2026. The South African singer known for her amapiano-influenced pop sound and global hits like ‘Water’, has secured multiple wins at the 2026 American Music Awards (AMAs), the world’s largest fan-voted music awards. Picture: Valerie Macon, AFP.
There seems to be no stopping Tyla’s career trajectory, and the singer’s foray into voicing an animated character for the Sub-Saharan African version of Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5 is no small achievement.
The fifth instalment of one of the most beloved animated franchises in cinema history started showing in cinemas last week. The singer plays an inflatable pink flamingo.
The movie sounds like it’s loads of family fun. The story pits the toys that generations grew up with against a very contemporary threat.
Greta Lee joins the voice cast as Lilypad, a high-tech, frog-shaped smart tablet that arrives to make Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie and Forky’s lives considerably more complicated.
Tom Hanks returns as Woody, Tim Allen is back as Buzz, and the film is directed by Academy Award winner Andrew Stanton, the man behind WALL-E and Finding Nemo, alongside co-director Kenna Harris.
Tyla’s connection to the franchise has been lifelong. She grew up watching Woody and Buzz on screen, convinced that her toys came alive the moment she left the room.
She said being asked to join that world stopped her in her tracks.
“I was asking my manager every day, ‘What’s happening with Toy Story?'” she said. “I’m still so excited about it, and I couldn’t wait for it to hit cinemas.”
Excited for the project
The recording process was unlike anything in her music career.
She sat in a studio with headphones and a microphone while someone guided her remotely from Pixar’s California base, watching scenes and voicing lines in real time.
“When I record music, it’s usually dark and more private, but this was bright, and there were a lot more people around,” she said. “I really leaned on the team because they’re the experts, and I enjoyed just letting go and being guided through the process.”
Watch the trailer
What really appealed to Tyla was the permanence of the role because film never dies.
“The fact that my voice is going to be in something that will live on forever, that’s crazy,” she said. “It’s a film that generations have watched, and the idea that even long after me, my voice will still be part of it is just insane.”
Toy Story 5 also comes at a time when children are growing up inside their screens, their imaginations shaped by algorithms and social media feeds.
The new film does not ignore that reality but confronts it, producers said, placing analogue toys in direct conflict with the kind of smart technology that is slowly replacing them.
“With how big technology is right now, it’s exciting to see a story that reminds people, especially kids, about the joy of toys and creativity,” Tyla said.
“I remember growing up and imagining my toys coming to life, and I think it would be really special for a new generation to experience that too.”
‘I imagined my toys coming to life’
Tyla added that she wants audiences who grew up on the same streets she did to take something bigger from the movie.
“To go from being a girl from South Africa to having my voice in a global film like Toy Story, it just shows that anything is possible,” she said. “I hope it inspires people from Africa to dream bigger. I hope they hear a little South African touch in there, too.”
