Pixar Animation Studios has easily been able to crown itself as one of the best animation studios around, if not the best. There are other studios constantly trying to take their crown, and while there are some that have been able to reinvent the game, Pixar has enough classics and continues to make movies that stand the test of time, allowing them to be crowned the kings of Western animated cinema. Pixar gave me one of my first experiences with movies, and Toy Story itself as a franchise is something that fills me with nostalgia and has been close to my heart.
If you were to take a survey and ask random people on the street if Toy Story should have ended after Toy Story 3, it’s likely that the survey would favour the franchise ending after the third instalment, and for some, Toy Story 4 wasn’t enough to warrant a continuation, but personally, Toy Story 5 is leagues above its predecessor and showcases why Toy Story still continues over a decade later after Toy Story 3.
Toy Story 5 has Jessie (Joan Cusack) take the lead as the sheriff around town, but she soon begins to struggle when Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) gets a new Lilypad (Greta Lee) which threatens her and the toys’ existence. It’s up to her to help Bonnie make real friends and to steer her away from technology.
Bonnie is one of the last kids in her neighbourhood that plays with toys, and this leads to her struggling to make friends. With her parents having noticed, they purchase her a Lilypad in hopes that she will be able to make new friends, but Jessie quickly learns that this will lead to her and the rest of the gang being forgotten about.
A reoccurring theme in Toy Story has always been about being forgotten and being left behind by your owner, and we’ve witnessed several toys go through this exact story in previous films. This time around, while Jessie fears that she’ll have to relive what she went through with her original owner, Emily, and eventually Andy, the main threat is the rise of technology.
What makes Toy Story such a great franchise is that it always manages to stay relatable and with the current times. As someone who has grown up with the franchise, it has never failed to connect with me on a personal level, and as an uncle, I can also see Bonnie’s behaviour with tech and how technology affects younger people in my own relative.
Andrew Stanton stepping in to direct a Toy Story movie has been a long time coming, and also working with Kenna Harris, a younger person who can look at everything through a different lens, was a smart decision, as it truly helps the movie not only feel more real, but also allows it to have this youthful, relatable, and emotional touch to it. It’s a collaboration that works better for Toy Story 5 and is what Pixar is all about, allowing different voices to express themselves.
With Woody (Tom Hanks) out of the picture (not really), Jessie is leading Bonnie’s room now and is the sherrif around these parts, and I couldn’t think of any better character to lead this film. Unlike the other toys who had most of their start with Andy, Jessie’s backstory runs deep and dates all the way back to her first owner, Emily, and we finally get to see how that story played out and how it connects to Jessie’s fears of being forgotten and the overall idea of something like tech forcing its way in.
Joan Cusack has always shone as Jessie since her appearance in Toy Story 2, but her performance as the cowgirl feels comforting yet refreshing, which helps deliver this profound journey of hers throughout this movie.
There’s no denying that there’s some annoyance with Toy Story 4 for giving a bittersweet emotional ending with Woody’s goodbye, only for him to reappear not soon after in the fifth instalment to aid with Jessie’s mission. The appearance of Woody is always going to put a smile on my face, as it will always offer interactions with the rest of the characters, namely Buzz (Tim Allen), and it also allows for references that are smart callbacks to previous films, but this felt like the sole reason for why he was here.
With how well Jessie carries the film, it felt redundant also bringing back Woody for some laughs, and if there was a need to have another toy assist Buzz in helping Jessie and Bullseye save Bonnie from tech, it would’ve been giving one of Bonnie’s toys the time to shine.
When I first got to watch the first 45 minutes of Toy Story 5 at the UK Launch Event, the subplot which involved the high-tech Buzz Lightyears was something that initially worried me, as I wasn’t sure how their story was going to blend with the overall story of the film, but all worries were lifted once I got to see the full movie.
It’s always a great time getting to see brand new Buzz Lightyear toys not realising that they’re toys and a lot of their scenes were callbacks to the first two Toy Story films, which was just a joy for my younger self. Their subplot smoothly intersects with the overall toys vs. tech theme and even helps to steer the message and story in the right direction.
Unlike previous Toy Story films, Toy Story 5 is the first entry not to have a conventional villain. With the first film, we had Sid; the second delivered us Stinky Pete; Lotso was the iconic villain of the third movie; and Gabby Gabby was the creepy villain of the last film. In Toy Story, Lilypad is never really the villain of the movie, and Andrew Stanton even got to explain this in an earlier interview. She’s brought to the household with the hopes of helping Bonnie make new friends, and even Lilypad herself constantly thinks she’s doing what’s best for Bonnie, which isn’t ever what Jessie or the rest of the toys think is best for Bonnie.
There’s a conflict between the two parties over the movie, and unbeknownst to Bonnie, this creates a rift which only escalates problems. Greta Lee does an insane job of voicing Lilypad by being able to make her sound like this sinister threat from Jessie’s perspective and effortlessly switching to sound like a friend who only wants to help.
There are many other new introductions in Toy Story 5 aside from Lilypad, as we meet Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris), a young girl who now lives in Emily’s old house; Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), an old tech toy used to potty train; Snappy (Shelby Rabara), a toy camera; Atlas (Craig Robinson), a joyful GPS hippo toy, and many more. These characters have such a big role in the film and admittedly were better additions to the Toy Story franchise over the forgettable characters of Toy Story 4, aside from Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), who makes a minor return with Keanu Reeves reprising the role.
Toy Story 5 takes full focus onto Jessie’s story and highlights the importance of human connection, especially in a world where we’ve been slowly losing it, which is one of the smartest decisions that Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris could’ve come up with for the franchise. It delivers a nuanced, emotional, humourous, and nostalgic story that warms the heart, solidifying Toy Story as Pixar’s greatest franchise if it already wasn’t. It might not surpass the solid trilogy, but it stands as a worthy sequel that’s easily better than Toy Story 4 and delivers yet another bittersweet ending.
