Movie Review: Toy Story 5

The Toy Story franchise has always been about one thing: the toys. The franchise, which was started over thirty years ago and is now on its fifth installment, has always found Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm, and the whole gang on some adventure to ultimately get back to their owner, Andy, in the first three films, or Bonnie in the last two. Whether it was being held hostage by a psychotic toy-torturer or getting trapped in a preschool, we’ve always watched the toys escape intense situations while also grappling with issues of growing up and finding purpose in the world.

Toy Story 5 takes a different route from the previous four films. Rather than focus solely on the toy, it is equal parts a story about toys and humans. Toy Story 4 ended with Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) leaving Buzz (voiced by Tim Allen), Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack), and the rest of the crew to wander the Earth with Bo Peep (voiced by Annie Potts) and her team, who help lost toys find kids. Buzz and the gang are still with the imaginative Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears), who constantly plays with them.

But she seems to be the only kid still playing with toys. Every other kid her age is glued to a tablet. Struggling to make friends, Bonnie receives a tablet named Lilypad (voiced by Great Lee) from her parents, and Bonnie is immediately hooked, spending every waking moment on her Lilypad, completely ignoring the toys. Lilypad quickly makes Bonnie a few friends and firmly believes she is the solution to all of Bonnie’s problems. This sends the gang into a spiral, particularly Jessie, who cannot fathom another kid leaving her behind.

Toy Story 5’s main focuses are on Jessie and Bonnie. Jessie’s story is a classic Toy Story tale. Her dilemma is simple: why doesn’t anyone want her? We’ve all had moments like this. Why didn’t I get that job? Why do I keep getting dumped? The feeling of not being wanted is something everyone has felt at one point in their lives, and Jessie is feeling this extra hard because of how often her kid has left her. She doesn’t want to be left behind and forgotten again, just for the cycle to repeat itself later on. Jessie’s journey is a beautiful and emotional one, culminating in a heart-tugging finale. Cusack is spectacular voicing Jessie, giving depths of desperation amongst the rootin’-tootin’ attitude we’ve come to know from Jessie.

Bonnie’s story is similar to Jessie’s in the desire to be accepted and wanted. She simply wants to make friends her age. While all the other kids have their faces glued to a screen, Bonnie is using her imagination and coming up with playtime scenarios with her toys, which isn’t exactly “cool” with other kids her age. Bonnie receiving her Lilypad does get her friends, but at what cost? Bonnie learns some harsh but important lessons throughout the movie, and I encourage any parent with a child (or children), particularly between the ages of seven and thirteen, to see this movie with them. Bonnie’s story shows the negatives of too much screen time, the importance of creativity, and how, at the end of the day, being yourself will ultimately make you the happiest- a message everyone needs to be reminded of, child or adult.

While Bonnie’s story has an important message, especially in today’s world, it does come at a cost. The Toy Story franchise has rarely focused on its humans. The human characters are either villains, like Syd in the first film or Al in the second film, or the owners of the toys, like Andy and his family and Bonnie and her family. The humans never had any depth in the previous films, allowing the films to focus solely on the toys and have them convey the messages and themes the filmmakers intended. With Bonnie being a focal point of the story, every toy except for Jessie gets pushed to the side. Woody shows up to help the gang with the Lilypad situation but doesn’t do much to solve the problem. Buzz is reduced to a love-stricken puppy whose only characteristic is that he’s nervous about proposing to Jessie. The Potato Heads, Hamm, Rex, Slinky, Trixie, Mr. Pricklepants, Forky, and the entire rest of the crew are literally put in a box and stored in a garage for basically the entire movie, away from the adventure with nothing to do. The only other toy that gets any depth besides Jessie is Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien, the film’s MVP), an old potty-training toy that acts drunk when it’s running low on batteries. I’m not sure if this is just a personal gripe, but when it comes to the Toy Story franchise, I want to see films revolving around the toys, not the humans.

While it falls short of the greatness of the other films in the franchise, Toy Story 5 is still a very good movie that is essential viewing for preteens and parents dealing with the technology phase of life. It is the funniest film in the franchise, thanks in large part to Smarty Pants, and features the hallmarks we’ve come to expect from these films with great voice work, timely messaging, and beautiful animation.

TL;DR Review of Toy Story 5

• Beautifully animated.
• The funniest Toy Story film and one of the funniest Pixar movies.
• A touching story that puts the spotlight on Jessie and Bonnie.
• Focuses too much on the humans and not enough on the toys.
• Features strong, timely messages about the negatives of too much screen time, the importance of creativity, and how, at the end of the day, being yourself will ultimately make you the happiest.