This Brief Communication investigates the influence of toroidal effects (due to the coupling of various poloidal harmonics) on the nonlinear saturation of the m = 1 island. Bounds are obtained relating the aspect ratio, the shear at the q= 1 surface, and the saturated island width. Provided these bounds are satisfied, it is then found that the cylindrical m= 1 island theory of Thyagaraja and Haas [Phys. Fluids B 3, 580 (1991)] is valid for toroidal geometry.