Tom Hanks thinks Disney could use AI to recreate Woody's voice should Toy Story 6 be made.

The 69-year-old star once again lends his voice to the cowboy in Pixar's animated flick Toy Story 5 - which has enjoyed a strong opening at the box office - and thinks that tech could be used to ensure that his involvement in the beloved franchise goes on.

Hanks told Entertainment Weekly: "Time is undefeated. The question would be whether or not we could cobble together some version of me. Every word we have ever recorded in time on Toy Story is on digital media somewhere, so they could put together anything they would want."

However, the Forrest Gump star claims that Toy Story 6 should only be made if it is "worthwhile".

Hanks said: "If you're gonna do another Toy Story, it better be worthwhile.

"It better be great. You better be examining some theme that is not just dragging it out because people like the title. I mean, it is a huge corporate business without a doubt, I'm not gonna discount that. But unless it's good, new, fresh, there's no reason to do it at all."

This isn't the first time that Hanks has discussed the impact that AI could have on the movie industry, as he explained that the tech means an actor's death may not spell the end of their career.

The two-time Oscar winner said: "Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deep fake technology. I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that's it, but performances can go on and on and on and on.

"Outside the understanding of AI and deepfake, there'll be nothing to tell you that it's not me and me alone. And it's going to have some degree of lifelike quality. That's certainly an artistic challenge but it's also a legal one."

Hanks has voiced Woody in the Toy Story franchise for more than 30 years but confessed previously that he has "experienced the same anxiety" on all five films.

The Saving Private Ryan star said: "Over the course of five movies, we've gone back to the same confines, and it's the same geometry.

"The mic is here, the stand is there, the team is there. They might have some props or what have you, but if you could have taken me at any point in all of the recording of all of these, I experienced the same anxiety, pressure, physical demands of it. So there actually is a familiar sameness."

Despite this, Hanks admits that Woody has evolved during the course of the Toy Story movies.

He said of the cowboy: "He has been played with to excess.

"You put a rubber hat on top of a rubber head again and again and again and again, something's gonna chafe. So, yeah, he does have … let's say a worn area on the back of his head.

"He is not shaped plastic. He is made of stuffing and cloth, and that stuff settles over time."