Jessie and the gang of Bonnie’s toys face a new challenge in a Lilypad tablet in Pixar’s Toy Story 5, written and directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris.
It’s going to be a common thread in reviews, as it was within Toy Story 4: we didn’t really need or call for another Toy Story. The films reached a perfect closing point in the 2010 threequel. However, Toy Story 4 was able to open it up again in 2019 to explore a new story about moving on and finding purpose late in life. It won me over. And I’m glad to say the same for Toy Story 5, winning me over despite myself. While it lacks a little of the weight of the earlier entries, Toy Story 5 is a big, highly entertaining film that still pulls the string on my back to elicit smiles and cries.
Toy Story 5 is Jessie the Cowgirl’s story. It’s wonderful to put the Joan Cusack-voiced doll into the limelight. In many ways, Toy Story 5, written and directed by Andrew Stanton of just about everything Pixar in some way or another and McKenna Harris, repeats some of the beats of the original film from 1995. Except instead of the simply designed Woody dealing with the threat of a technology shift and a new toy in Buzz’s flashy spaceman, it’s Jessie’s simplicity against the complex, flashy Lilypad tablet. Even with the plot similarities, it’s not a retread. Woody, now happily living in the park with Bo, and Jessie, leading the toys in Bonnie’s home, have different goals, outside of the shared avoiding obsolescence. Jessie is focused more on “still play with me, I need you, and you need me, dammit.” She gets a solid character growth, and closure she’s been chasing since Toy Story 2. I’m not sure if it’s backing down from 4, where Woody learned to be his own toy, to have a continued external validation fully works. But we all work in our own ways, and that’s Jessie’s determination after her long-ago abandonment, but like the others, Toy Story 5 works with finding a new purpose in a new age.
And a new age, it truly is. Whether a parent or not, one can’t help but see the changes in how kids play. Yes, screens aren’t new. Video games or other screens have caused grumbles from my parents and yours, and now I complain about it for my kid and others. I’m glad we’ve avoided as much as we can with my own 5-year-old, but I know it’s coming. I get what Bonnie’s parents are going through, trying to keep her techless and active against a more sedentary pastime. I share their worries about Vincent being behind in that manner when he starts Kindergarten in the fall. Heck, his favorite show is the original Rocky & Bullwinkle. But so many other kids are “iPad Kids” (and it makes me sad seeing that out and about). Thus, it’s no surprise that the addition to an all-encompassing tablet is the focus of the plotting; how do Jessie, Buzz, and the rest deal with this threat?
As to be expected from Pixar, the villainy of the Lillypad, and even the overall messaging of how kids play, or don’t, today, is more nuanced than a clear-cut “tech bad” outlook, finding a nice balance. It’s still pretty damning about screen time and modern kids’ heads in their tech, without fully discounting the positives of modern methods (and Disney can have its cake and eat it, too, with their own e-games). Today’s kids (AND adults) are on screens far too often. I see it. I’m in classrooms every day, and people are addicted, running to a screen in their downtime. However, kids dDO want to play with physical toys and get out. It’s not as all-encompassing tech as the film makes, but Toy Story 5 needs to go wide to make the salient point, presenting a world of an apocalyptic vision for standard toys. (If your kid is like mine, unaware that the thing that occasionally plays videos and songs can play games, you might want to avoid it for now.)
Overall, the script is a little unfocused, but that looseness also allows the various toys to interact, such as the new trio of early/outdated tech, when not wholly out of the story like many of the favorites of Toy Story’s past pushed to the side. The focus is on Jessie, the new toys in the home of new human, horse girl Blaze, and the Buzz & Woody adventure to connect the stories. Also including what may be the best part: an updated army of lost Buzzes roaming and seeking StarCommand. They’re essentially a short film, but we know they’ll serve a purpose. Stanton and McKenna seem not sure what they want to do with Lilypad outside of the original concept. Compared to other Pixar films, especially in the series, it’s a bit thinly sketched, lacking the oomph, and getting lost in exploring the messages. But, it’s hilarious from start to finish (when not making us cry with sentimentality, of course), perhaps pushing more adult humor than normal. 
On a technical end, Pixar delivers the goods as always. Toy Story 5 does not push the boundaries of the format to the edges, but dammit, it’s pretty with incredible detail, with its textures. Perhaps the most notable is how lifelike the real animals look. A few imagination sequences slide into a mix of Pixar and Spider-Verse art in a nice touch. Stanton and Harris keep the film moving at a great clip, and the action-based sequences are incredibly well designed, fun, and thrilling. The voice cast is fully up as always, with people who, yes, are celebrities, but fit to their characters. Joan Cusack continues a fantastic run as Jessie, as do Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz. Greta Lee voices Lillypad with a soft menace of the type of person who thinks they are being a right and kind person, yet still holding a barely hidden disdain under the surface. Other new characters voiced by Conan O’Brien (nice to see him and Andy Richter with box office success, with Richter in Obsession), Shelby Rabara, and Craig Robinson mix in well. As a Ghostbusters person, I have to point out Ernie Hudson takes over for the late Carl Weathers and Annie Potts returns for Bo, although each only has about two lines.
Toy Story 5 is a damned fine film. While it lacks the wow-factor of the first two or the emotional closings of the back two, it’s a solid picture. Having Jessie as a protagonist is a strong choice, giving her closure, and she’s a wonderful lead. Ultimately, I laughed hard, and I cried hard. It hit all its points and did so well. True, compared to the others, maybe a slight step down, but Pixar delivers (usually), and Toy Story 5, directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris, is a great time at the pictures. Of the 2026 Pixar films, Hoppers is the champion, but you can’t go wrong here either.