Disney+ now hosts Toy Story 5, which returns the toy saga to its central theme: what becomes of you when children no longer play with you. This latest installment presses hard upon the franchise’s favored subject — existential dread, abandonment, and the gradual descent into obsolescence — even as it introduces a brand-new antagonist in the shape of a glowing, screen-filled tablet. It is a film about toys being supplanted by technology, and it devotes most of its running time to attempting to hold both positions at once.
A cracked shipping container marks the opening scene, followed by a Chekhov’s Legion of new Buzz Lightyears and a joke about wifi-connected toys that pays off down the road. This setup establishes the film’s central menace: Lilypad, a device that transforms children into screen-locked zombies. The toys regard this as horrorshow city, yet another existential crisis for them to confront. The movie is correct in its assessment — it is indeed a crisis for them.
Jessie Takes the Lead
The adventure centers on Jessie, the cowgirl toy voiced by Joan Cusack. She is the lead in this new chapter of anthropomorphism from Pixar, which made the movie after Disney spent a cool $250 million to produce it. The film earned $1.1 billion worldwide, so the investment paid off. But the question remains: will this movie make you cry, and how much?
Jessie’s role is central. Her arc involves coming to terms with her place in Bonnie’s life, or in any child’s life, really. Bonnie, played by Scarlett Spears, is a girl who plays with Jessie and her loyal steed Bullseye. The OG Buzz, voiced by Tim Allen, gets a subplot where he summons the courage to propose marriage to Jessie. That is a funny premise, and the movie leans into it.
Eventually, Bonnie’s parents relent. An iPad is placed in her hands, and Lilypad arrives on the scene. The device turns kids into zombies, keeping them motionless inside rooms bathed in the distinctive glow of Screen Time. To the toys, this is terrifying. They are accustomed to facing abandonment, but being supplanted by a glowing screen represents a new and frightening level of existential dread.
The Plot Blasts Off
Jessie is prepared to take on Lilypad in the octagon, wanting to lock her in an armbar even though Lilypad has no arms. Meanwhile, Bonnie is pulled into a world of physical stagnancy and cyberbullying. The story then takes off with Bonnie’s grim IRL sleepover at her new friends’ place, setting off a series of events that leaves both Jessie and Bullseye lost on the very property where she was once deserted.
Blaze, a horse aficionado voiced by Mykal-Michelle Harris, now lives there with her collection of Chekhov’s Horse Figurines. The movie gasps at the thought of Jessie’s retraumatization. Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, drops in to help Buzz find Jessie. Meanwhile, Jessie uneasily gets help from an electronic toilet-training toy voiced by Conan O’Brien. The rescue attempt dovetails with Bonnie’s need for a true friend instead of the mean girls in the chat app.
The Big Dumb Theme
The movie’s theme is the prevailing notion that Screen Time is an unholy abomination that needs to be obliterated for the sake of children’s brain health. It sets up a symbolic clash between a 1950s-coded cowgirl ragdoll and a newfangled plastic everything-tech device. That setup will disappoint some viewers who want a simple good-vs-evil dynamic. Instead, Toy Story 5 posits prejudice against anthropomorphic tech toys as toxic, and argues that technology is only as bad as the individual wielding it.
The film returns to the classic Toy Story warning that the relentless passage of time will grind us all down. Fortunately, there is still the trick of sticking your device in a bowl of rice after you have soaked it with tears.
Script Issues and Padding
Decider’s review points to certain problems with the screenplay. It notes an unnecessary Woody inserted into the plot solely out of duty. It also raises puzzlement over the smitten-Buzz material and the release of neo-Buzzes purely as devices for moving the plot along. All of it reads as padding for the central story about Jessie working through her part in Bonnie’s life.
This film delivers a sense of resolution for Jessie concerning her McLachlan-scored heart-crushing departure. That feels out of step with a franchise that previously spent time considering some of the unanswerable existential questions about existence in general. Still, the movie remains frequently funny, which helps mask the structural rough patches.
Comparing the Villains
| Movie | Main Focus | Villain |
|---|---|---|
| Toy Story 2 | Abandonment by Andy | Al |
| Toy Story 3 | Abandonment by Andy | Sunnyside Daycare |
| Toy Story 4 | Abandonment by Bonnie | Gabby |
| Toy Story 5 | Abandonment by Bonnie | Lilypad |
Toy Story 5 is the most structurally ramshackle of the franchise so far. It is also the least focused. But it is still as charming, sweet, and funny as ever.
The Verdict
The humor stays sharp throughout Toy Story 5, even as the film’s shape grows loose and padded in places. It is a sincere picture about toys being pushed aside by technology, yet it is also the least focused entry in the series. Its tone is uneven, but it remains an entertaining, if disorganized, watch.
The review’s closing line is a joke about the movie’s own themes. It is a funny way of saying that the movie is sincere about its message. It is a good thing you can just stick your device in a bowl of rice after you soak it with tears.
STREAM IT.
A freelance film critic hailing from Grand Rapids, Michigan, John Serba, had a noteworthy encounter with Werner Herzog. Herzog hugged him.
Source material: “Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Toy Story 5’ on Disney+, the Continually Endearing Saga of Sentient Toys’ Tearjerking Existential Crises,” Decider.
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