EXCLUSIVE: After successfully launching the Duke Ka-Boom character in the Toy Story franchise, Keanu Reeves and Josh Cooley are looking to reteam on another popular toy franchise. Sources tell Deadline that Keanu Reeves is in negotiations to star in a live-action hybrid Lego pic with Cooley directing.

Universal had no comment. Jill Wilfert and Ryan Christians will produce through The Lego Group. Plot details are under wraps though sources say it will be a mix of live-action and animation.

Since landing the rights in 2020, the studio has been developing a number of scripts to get this property greenlit but nothing has stuck. Insiders close to the project say after a number of runs with writers and directors, the studio took a swing with an A-list star in Reeves, specfically developing the project around the Reeves characer. After weeks of back and forth, Reeves started to engage with the studio. As things progressed, sources say the studio brought in Reeves’ Toy Story 4 director to pitch his vision, which eventually led to Reeves thumbs up to star in the film.

Reeves and Cooley successfully launched the Duke Ka-Boom character in Toy Story 4, which Cooley directed. Reeves recently reprised in Toy Story 5 this past weekend.

The original LEGO films grossed a combined $1.1 billion globally. Those films remain in the Warner Bros library. The offshoot The Lego Ninjago Movie, Will Arnett’s The Lego Batman Movie. The Reeves commitment is a big win for the studio as they were the clock to get a film up in running before the rights lapsed. Insiders say if the studio didn’t have a film close to pre-production in the next six months, there was a strong chance the Lego rights could lapse and head back to market.

Most recently, Reeves reunited with the band Dogstar releasing a new album, All in Now on May 29. Dogstar is currently on their expansive international  All in Now Tour through July 19 and continues in the US August through mid-October. Reeves also reprised his role as “Duke Caboom” in TOY STORY 5, released exclusively in theaters on June 19, 2026. In the fall of 2025, Reeves made his Broadway debut in the revival of Samuel Beckett’s play, Waiting For Godot, opposite Alex Winter and directed by Jamie Lloyd. 

In 2020, Cooley was hired to write and direct the live-action adaptation of the young adult novel Malamander for Sony Pictures. That same year, it was announced that he would write and direct Little Monsters, a live-action/CG hybrid film for Universal Pictures, inspired by the classic Universal Monsters. In 2021, Cooley was brought on to write the live-action Tower of Terror for Disney, with Scarlett Johansson attached to star and produce, based on the iconic Disney theme park attraction. All of three projects are currently in development.

Most recently, he directed the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, Transformers One (TF1), with a star-studded voice cast including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jon Hamm. The film was released by Paramount Pictures on September 20, 2024, and celebrated by critics and fans alike.

Reeves is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham. Cooley is repped by WME, Untitled and Jackoway, Austen, Tyerman, Wertheimer.

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