Enlarge Disney/Pixar Jessie, Buzz and Woody plot a great escape in Toy Story 3.

Toy Story 3 churned through the competition this weekend, beating Sandler's comedy Grown Ups and the Cruise-Diaz action romance Knight and Day with a second-week haul of $69 million, according to studio estimates.

In 10 days, Story has done $226.6 million. It crossed the $200 million mark in eight days. Finding Nemo, another Pixar animated film, took 20 days.

"It's so gratifying to see this come full circle," Disney distribution chief Chuck Viane says of the final chapter of the talking toys trilogy. "For every installment, the storytelling quality was there, and it's great to see people responding to it. Especially considering the competition we had."

While Toy Story's hold over theaters was expected, analysts were more interested in the showdown between Sandler and Cruise, two stars whose box office clout has waned over the years. Still, industry analysts predicted a close race between the two, as both were back in their elements: Sandler with low-brow comedy, Cruise with wild gunplay and toothpaste commercial grins.

Instead, Sandler coasted to an easy second-place finish. Despite savage reviews — only 10% of the nation's critics recommended it, according to RottenTomatoes.com — Sandler has been virtually critic-proof in his goofball comedies, and this one raked in $41 million, his sixth movie to open north of $40 million.

Cruise and Diaz enjoyed stronger reviews, with critics evenly split over the movie. But audiences were lukewarm, propelling the picture to $20.5 million for the weekend and $27.8 million since its opening Wednesday, a solid if unspectacular bow.

Some analysts had predicted a slightly higher debut, given Cruise's popular comedic turn in Tropic Thunder and the surprisingly strong performance of 2008's Valkyrie, a holiday Holocaust movie that still managed to do $83 million.

Fox executives said they were pleased with Knight's debut, and noted that ticket sales surged 27% on Saturday over Friday.

"That's testament to great word of mouth," says distribution executive Chris Aronson. "People are loving the movie. We view this as a marathon, not a sprint. At the end of the day, Tom Cruise is still the man. We think the movie is going to have great playability."

Knight's competition only gets tougher. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens Wednesday, followed by The Sorcerer's Apprentice two weeks later.

Early indicators weren't good for Knight. Distributor 20th Century Fox held sneak screening across the country last week and reported 85% sellouts. But the movie never tracked consistently among women, Cruise's primary fan base.

Even rival studios were surprised by the film's performance.

"We would have been happy with a something in the mid-30s, with all of the other movies out," says Rory Bruer, distribution chief for Sony Pictures, which released Grown Ups. "But Adam is still the choice for people who want to go to a fun summer movie."

The Jaden Smith-Jackie Chan remake The Karate Kid was fourth with $15.4 million, lifting its three-week total to $135.6 million.

The A-Team rounded out the top 5, taking in $6 million and bringing its overall gross to $62.8 million.

Ticket sales dipped 19% from the same weekend last year, continuing summer's attendance slide. While revenues are up 2% over 2009 thanks to inflation, attendance is down 4%, according to Hollywood.com.

Final figures are due Monday.