OVERVIEW
The fear of being replaced remains the central theme in the Toy Story franchise. A newer toy, a daycare, a grown-up kid, and now, appropriately to the 2020s, screens. When the movie opens, Bonnie is one of the few children her age who still plays with toys, spending hours with Jessie, Bullseye, Forky (yes, she inexplicably still loves the plastic spork), and the rest of the gang, minus Woody, who left to join Bo Peep at the end of Toy Story 4. She has a lot of fun with them, but Bonnie struggles to connect with kids her own age, so her parents give her Lilypad (Greta Lee), a smart tablet whose apps and games promise to connect with other children. It works at first, though the connection it offers is not the kind she has with the toys. Led by Jessie, who also calls Woody in, the toys set out to help Bonnie while facing their oldest fear of being replaced. Perhaps this time for good.
BACKGROUND
Considering the money Inside Out 2, The Incredibles 2, and, of course, Toy Story 4 made, especially compared to recent originals like Elemental and Elio, it was a matter of time until the studio returned to its landmark IP for a new adventure. It is Pixar’s second film in 2026, following Hoppers, which, while not a sequel, also felt like a safe bet for the studio, with cute, marketable talking animals. Instead of trusting a first-timer as with Toy Story 4, the studio assigned veteran Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), who wrote all four previous films. Reassembling the voice cast was easy, even if some, like Tim Allen (voice of Buzz), had voiced concern that the franchise was past its natural end before signing on.
THE REVIEW
Fortunately, the answer about whether Toy Story 5 justifies its existence is a resounding ‘yes!’ Far more so than the good but not great fourth entry. The screens-are-taking-over angle, although almost too easy to explore given the state of modern society, is timely, and the franchise is the perfect place for a children’s film to take it on. Much like Devil Wears Prada 2 earlier this year, it walks a fine line, offering a worrying look at where we are and giving viewers, young or not, enough to think about, while fitting it well within the story.
Coming from a major commercial studio that will undoubtedly sell many Lilypad-shaped tablets, the message is more nuanced than negative. There are multiple times when the toys look hopeless at the sight of zombie-like humans, their eyes glued to the screen, but the film finds ways not to keep it all ‘technology bad’. The script does not reach the intelligence of the first trilogy, where the human characters were explored in the background without spelling things out (what the third said about stepping into adulthood, and how it said it, is still a masterclass). Still, it lands some real points about how adults get just as addicted as children, and how easy it is to believe screens are the answer. Through Bonnie and the newly introduced child, Blaze, it shows what that fixation does to kids. A braver angle would have been to sit with the children who seemed perfectly happy with their tablets, like Bonnie’s sleepover friends. What the film does explore, it explores well: how technology isolates children and robs them of their childhood, quietly narrowing the distance between being a kid and being an adult.
Despite what it might seem at first, Toy Story 5 is not a preachy film, and its adventure story captivates. Once again, it relies on toys being misplaced and being taken to places where they are not supposed to be. This time, it focuses on Jessie, exploring new facets of her character. Not keeping it stuck on Woody and Buzz does give the franchise a sense of freshness not present in the previous entry, as the two have been explored to their limits (Buzz arguably had reached that point by the end of number 2). Even in a more supportive part, Woody is the least necessary here, and honestly, could have been in it even less. As for Buzz, there is a new storyline involving multiple advanced Buzzes that plays parallel to the adventure and gets a lot of laughs, while the Buzz we know gets his own finding-himself comic sideplot similar to numbers 3 and 4, but with better character development this time, not dumbed down.
Jessie, however, is a compelling lead. For those worried about it, the film does not repeat at all the ‘girl-boss’ personality it gave Bo in the fourth, her leadership of the toys coming far more naturally. Her determined yet not too stubborn personality makes her the perfect protagonist for this story. The new characters introduced, discarded early tech toys, are a lot of fun, and also get their own arc that complements the film’s themes about how disposable everything is nowadays. The rest of the toy gang all receive one or two funny scenes, but that is about it. The perfect balance of giving each character their dues that was hit in 2 and 3 is impossible to replicate now that the roster is too big.
But the film’s smartest exploration is of Bonnie and her unspoken pain of not being able to connect with other children. Her change in expression when she realizes that the sleepover she was excited for will turn into each child playing on their tablet in their own space is very sad, and so is her parents’ struggle to see what she truly needs. This time, she is the one who gets the arc that will render tears, and yes, they do come.
Animation is expectedly flawless, and Randy Newman’s score might be the best in the franchise, especially in the humorous theme that plays with the multiple Buzz appearances. It has less of the Carl Stalling Mickey-mousing characteristic present in the previous films (where the orchestra mirrors the characters’ movements), and the orchestra sounds more robust, giving the adventure more gravitas. The climax is not the most thrilling, but the conclusion lands very well.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Toy Story 5 justifies itself with a timely subject and a smart shift to Jessie as lead and Bonnie as its heart, both earning compelling arcs. The tech commentary is nuanced but pulls its punches, never sitting with the kids who are perfectly happy on their tablets. It gives you all you can expect out of a Toy Story film: new toys you want to have, new jokes that make you laugh, and, as always, scenes that will make you weep embarrassingly. A clear step above the fourth film, still below the first three.
PS: There is a mid-credit sequence. If Disney truly means the message of the movie, it would be putting it into practice in real life.