Toy Story 5 Review: Have the Toys Outlived Their Usefulness?
It’s easy to be cynical about a new Toy Story movie in 2026. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have been with these characters for the last 31 years. Hanks has even stated that Disney could continue making Toy Story movies with his voice forever if they so choose. Beyond that, the last entry in the Toy Story series was easily the worst effort thus far, mainly because it had seven credited writers, which contributed to a very disjointed affair. So, how could a new Toy Story movie attempt to capture what made those first 3 films so special? It turns out that you hand the reins of the story over to Jessie (Joan Cusack).
Toy Story 5 picks up a few years after 4, with Bonnie struggling to make friends. She still loves playing with her toys at eight years old– coming up with fun adventures for them, and recognizing they still hold a valuable place in her life. But other kids her age, have put their toys away, instead opting to spend their time in front of screens. Bonnie’s parents want to help their child so they buy Bonnie a tablet of her own. It’s known simply as the Lilypad (Greta Lee) and comes with multiplayer games and chat rooms. Bonnie is excited about the possibilities of her new tablet and how it will help her connect with other children her age, but what about her toys?
The cowgirl Jessie and spaceman Buzz Lightyear (Allen) have been Bonnie’s favorite toys for the last few years. Still Bonnie loves playing with her toys so often, they haven’t really felt the effects of technology. Other households have toys that were discarded quickly as tech shouldered its way into the home. Jessie isn’t sure how to win Bonnie back from the evils of tech and so she calls on an old friend, the cowboy Woody (Hanks), to help her solve this Lilypad crisis.
By turning the focus on Jessie, the story of Toy Story 5 unfolds in really interesting ways. Mainly there’s a significant callback to Jessie’s time before meeting Woody and Buzz, when she belonged to Emily back in Toy Story 2. There’s also a new location with plenty of new toys for the crew to meet including a goofy toilet training toy (Conan O’Brien) and a hippo GPS toy (Craig Robinson).
Director Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Finding Nemo) is only joined by one other credited writer on Toy Story 5 (Kenna Harris). It really helps the continuity of this film, making it feel a lot more like its predecessors than Toy Story 4. It doesn’t feel as haphazard as having two tonally different locations like an antique shop and carnival. I felt that having Woody return to the fold after what felt like a pretty definite farewell in the last entry was a little lazy (not to mention having Forky still be one of Bonnie’s toys, she definitely would’ve lost that in the years since the last one), but it’s enjoyable seeing Lightyear and Woody partnered up again.
I’ve previously written about the Taylor Swift collaboration in Toy Story 5, but that’s not the only track that shows up. As the movie calls back to Toy Story 2, it also repeats the instrumental of Randy Newman and Sarah McLachlan’s “When She Loved Me.” If you haven’t heard this song in a while, consider yourself lucky, because while I think the song works, it works too well. Hearing that music swell up again is emotional damage and the creators of Toy Story 5 should know about it!
Stanton and Pixar have taken the Toy Story franchise back to the right track. Tech is a real concern of parents everywhere. I knew the movie worked when my child came home and quickly wanted to play with their toys instead of turning on the TV or iPad. Handing the spotlight over to Jessie not only provided a well earned spotlight for her character and Joan Cusack, but also provided some measure of closure for her character that has been a long time coming. I’m not about to assume this is the last Toy Story movie, but if another one doesn’t come to fruition, this is a much better swan song for the franchise. [B]
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