Toy Story 5 Review

The Toy Story franchise has been around for 31 years and has been a juggernaut. The fifth film in the series puts Jessie in the spotlight.

Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is now eight years old, but she struggles to make friends. In desperation, Bonnie’s parents get her a Lilypad tablet (Greta Lee) so the child can connect with her peers. Bonnie’s toys fear the new device will replace them, and when Jessie (Joan Cusack) tries to stop Lilypad during a sleepover, the cowgirl ends up getting taken back to her old home.

There’s no denying Toy Story’s popularity. All the films have been box office hits and received near-universal critical praise. Toy Story 3 and 4 are both in the billion-dollar club, and considering Toy Story 5’s opening weekend numbers, it looks set to join them. Disney and Pixar are probably already thinking of ideas for Toy Story 6. The franchise has been a merchandising success: many of the characters in the films have been turned into toys, and I saw many kids in Toy Story costumes for screenings of the film. Toy Story is a cross-generational franchise because people who watched the first film are old enough to be parents themselves.

Even though Toy Story 4 was a hit, it faced backlash. Toy Story 3 was a pitch-perfect ending to the original trilogy, and the fourth film faced accusations that it was a cash grab. I disliked the treatment of Woody (Tom Hanks) because Andy gave his toy an emotional farewell just for Bonnie to leave him in the closet. Toy Story 5 avoided doing anything as controversial, which puts it above its predecessor.

The marketing for Toy Story 5 has been misleading. The trailers made it seem like the toys were doing battle with an arrogant new technology, and Woody needed to come back and save the day. In reality, Jessie was thrust into Woody’s role. She was the leader of the toys, the toy that had a special bond with a child, and she was the one who was separated from her friends. Jessie had an emotional journey since she was forced to confront her past. Toy Story 5 referenced Toy Story 2, particularly the “When She Loved Me” sequence, one of Pixar’s first heartbreaking moments. Jessie had the baggage of having lost two owners, and she feared losing a third.

Toy Story 5’s story had shades of the first Toy Story film. Both saw a new toy threatening the established order. Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) replaced Woody as Andy’s favourite toy, and Bonnie became obsessed with her new tablet. A fear of being replaced has been a long-running threat in the series, so Toy Story 5 was continuing a tradition.

Lilypad was arrogant, smug, and had a superiority complex. She stated she was an improvement over toys because Bonnie could join friend groups and could play games with them. Lilypad felt similar to Diesel in Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends, where a new technology believes it’s better than experienced toys. Lilypad was villainous at the beginning, but she did soften as the film progressed: she wasn’t Lotso. Greta Lee was a great addition to the series: she’s clearly cashing in on her Past Lives success, and I don’t blame her.

The first act was about the growing threat from technology. Many parents can relate to this issue of children spending too much time on their devices and the anxieties it can cause.  Bonnie has also been shown as a shy and introverted child, so she was particularly susceptible to using a device for communication and suffered from peer pressure. However, the film did show some nuance and showed that technology did have a positive in children’s lives. Jessie and Lilypad had character arcs that saw them change. Jessie needed to overcome her prejudice against technology, and Lilypad had to learn humility.

Toy Story 5 was a busy film. The storyline was split into three storylines across three different locations. There was Jessie in her old house trying to get back home; Woody and Buzz were battling Lilypad to stop her from conquering Bonnie’s bedroom; and most oddly, 50 Buzz Lightyear dolls were trying to find their way back to ‘Star Command.’ The film’s opening scene was more like The Wild Robot, where the Buzzes wake up on a small island. There were multiple subplots going across the film, like Jessie thinking she found Bonnie a potential friend, Buzz trying to pluck up the courage to ask Jessie to marry him, Bonnie suffering from being bullied, and the lost Buzzes trying to figure out their purpose. Because of this busyness, Toy Story 5 was fast-paced and never dull, but it seemed like the filmmakers didn’t have enough confidence or material for their central story.

Due to the wide scope, many of the characters were pushed to the sidelines. Fan favourites like Rex, Ham, The Potatoheads, and Slinky Dog didn’t have anything to do. They just followed Jessie and Buzz’s lead. Woody seems like he was brought back because he’s one of the series most recognisable characters and gave Buzz bounce off of. The cowboy was turned into a joke and a reminder to older audiences of the perils of ageing.

On its own merits, Toy Story 5 was a perfectly serviceable Pixar film that kept to the studio’s high technical standards. However, it was a film that was made mainly for commercial reasons and didn’t fully commit to the central thesis.