Having been born in the late ’90s, the Toy Story films were a big part of my life growing up, and the franchise is set to explore a new generation of childhood with its fifth movie. Directed and written by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), Toy Story 5 follows Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and Bonnie’s (Scarlett Spears) other toys when their owner receives the sinister smart tablet, Lilypad (Greta Lee). As Bonnie becomes engrossed with her new gadget, her old pal Woody (Tom Hanks) returns to help his friends stop Lilypad from replacing them.
Some audiences, including myself, have argued that the franchise should’ve ended with Toy Story 3, as the film wrapped up everything on a tight, emotional knot. Though Toy Story 4 featured top-notch animation and a humorous, heartfelt story, it didn’t turn out to be the best way to cap off Woody and co.’s adventures together. Toy Story 5, on the other hand, tells a much-needed story in this modern age, where children play with phones and tablets rather than dolls or action figures.
Now that the first trailer for Toy Story 5 has been released, it looks like the franchise is back on the right track. The video shows legacy characters reuniting to face a new generation of high-tech toys. With its beloved brand of witty, tender storytelling, Pixar has brought us a sequel that will appeal to young and old audiences alike.
Toy Story 5 goes back to basics
Though the Toy Story franchise has always put Woody, Buzz, and Jessie at the forefront, it has often balanced their narratives with those of the supporting characters. We’ve seen toys like Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Rex (Wallace Shawn), Slinky (Blake Clark), and Hamm (John Ratzenberger) bring their own charm and energy to the films as they support the main characters, making them beloved mainstays of Toy Story.
However, Toy Story 4 focused so heavily on Woody, Forky (Tony Hale), and Bo Peep (Annie Potts), with newer side characters taking up much of the film’s runtime. As a result, all the other returning characters seemed to fade into the background in Toy Story 4, making the film a lackluster conclusion to the franchise as a whole.
Thankfully, Toy Story 5 gives Pixar another chance to stick the landing. This sequel will naturally feature some new toy characters, including Atlas (Craig Robinson), Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), Snappy (Shelby Rabara), and Dr. Nutcase (Matty Matheson). However, rather than follow Woody outside of Bonnie’s orbit, it seems like the upcoming sequel will have a greater focus on him, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of Bonnie’s toys.
Like in Toy Story 3, all of Bonnie’s toys seem to share their struggle as they fight against Lilypad, who threatens to take everyone’s place in Bonnie’s life. However, we can see the struggle is especially heavy on Jessie, who took Woody’s place as leader of Bonnie’s toys in Toy Story 4.
With Lilypad in the picture, Jessie says that she is “losing Bonnie to this device.” We see Jessie feeling the same kind of rejection that Old Western Woody experienced when the space-age Buzz won over Andy as his favorite toy in the first Toy Story film. Both protagonists share the same pain of being replaced by someone new.
This makes Woody’s return in Toy Story 5 natural and fitting. Hearing Jessie’s plea, he has come back to help her through the struggle he faced when the franchise began, bringing Toy Story’s emotional arc full circle.
Toy Story 5 is a timely, meta tale
The idea of Bonnie’s toys clashing with smart devices was an easy, natural way for Pixar writers to modernize the decades-old Toy Story franchise. This sequel tells a relevant story about how technology, social media, and AI are consuming people’s time and attention, leaving toys like Woody, Buzz, and Jessie appearing old-fashioned and obsolete. This is best encapsulated by Lilypad calling the bald-spotted Woody an “old man toy” in Toy Story 5.
However, Toy Story 5 isn’t a mere cash grab. Pixar has already been careful about how it handles sequels, taking years or even decades to develop these stories until they think they’re ready to animate. Tim Allen said in an interview that they weren’t making Toy Story 5 for the money and that the fifth film has a “very, very clever story.”
In an interview with Empire Magazine, director Andrew Stanton showed the care and thought he put into exploring toys, technology, and modern-day childhood in Toy Story 5. He said, “[Toy Story 5]’s not even about a battle so much as the realization of an existential problem: that nobody’s really playing with toys anymore. Technology has changed everybody’s lives, but we’re asking what that means for us – and to our kids. We can’t just get away with making tech the villain.”
Toy Story 5’s narrative hits especially hard as it reflects Pixar’s role in present-day Hollywood. Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down cinemas, recent Pixar movies like Luca, Turning Red, Onward, and Soul haven’t performed as well at the box office. After the film industry recovered, Pixar originals like Elemental and Elio still had their fair share of struggles in theaters. Even the Toy Story spinoff Lightyear bombed in theaters, making around $218 million against a $200 million budget, according to The Numbers.
Just as the toys clash with Lilypad in Toy Story 5, Pixar has struggled to compete with other big-budget films for viewers’ attention in theaters. Like Woody and his gang, we feel a sense of nostalgia and longing for the younger days of Pixar’s golden years, which brought original classics like Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Up. But when we see Woody’s bald spot, we’re reminded of the harsh reality that not all good things last forever, which makes us want to cherish our experiences with Toy Story even more.
In the end, Toy Story 5 is all but guaranteed to attract a massive audience this summer. Toy Story has always been one of Pixar’s most successful IPs, with all of its main installments being massive critical and commercial hits. But with a fresh story and plenty of beloved characters at the forefront, the franchise’s fifth film could be what revitalizes Toy Story and Pixar.
Watch Toy Story 5 in theaters on June 19, 2026.
