Toy Story 5 Review: Hilarious, provocative, and destined to go on forever

toy story 5

Directed by Andrew Stanton

Written by Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris

Featuring the voices of Joan Cusack, Tom Hanks, and Tim Allen

Classification G; 102 minutes

Released in theaters on June 19th

critic’s choice

The Toy Story series is Hollywood’s biggest and worst enemy.

On the downside, the way Disney’s production company Pixar continues to rummage through the franchise closet, desperately searching for new ways to keep its properties alive in the face of all narrative and emotional logic, represents the very worst trends in modern studio economics. Dress one of Woody and Buzz’s friends in a cute little hat like Malibu Stacy. Or maybe just add some plastic spokes. You can get someone who will make sure to make money quickly. The financial success of Toy Story 2 through Toy Story 4 is also part of the reason why audiences now have to contend with Disney’s horribly pointless copy-and-paste “live-action” remakes like The Lion King, Snow White, and the upcoming Moana. (When Maui says “You’re welcome!”)

But moviegoers should also be thankful that Pixar’s brain trust has remained Corinthian-like in its stubborn refusal to dismiss the childish thing, despite the sincere wishes of, say, director Quentin Tarantino (who famously refuses to watch any Toy Story movie past the third movie, because he thinks it’s the perfect conclusion to the Toy Story series). Unlike other active series, Disney-owned or not, Toy Story lasts not because it has to, but because it should.

While Toy Story 4 couldn’t match the sheer emotional power of its immediate predecessor (the child psychiatrist has been around for years, thanks to the third film’s Holocaust-themed climax), it was still a deeply sweet and purposeful addition to the Toyverse. It’s not just because it introduced audiences and toy aisle shelves and Amazon wish lists to two perfect new characters: Forky (Tony Hale), a nervous plastic prop, and Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves), a purely hilarious game for Canadian fans.

This movie was so good in 2019 that by the time the producers announced the inevitable fifth installment, even the most cynical moviegoer could accept that there was a reason here beyond mere commodity-centric economics. And, barring one or two small factory-issued design flaws, Toy Story 5 is a summer must-have. A moving, beautiful, imaginative, and extremely fun adventure for anyone who has children or holds some kind of memory of their own youth.

The story picks up right after the end of the fourth film. Most of our favorite toys, Buzz (Tim Allen), Jesse (Joan Cusack), Forky (Hale), and Ham (John Ratzenberger, who remains in the Pixar family despite decades of loyalty to ousted Director John Lasseter), are now in the young hands of Bonnie (Scarlet Spears). Woody (Tom Hanks) and Bo Peep (Annie Potts) join Duke in nature to help discarded toys find new purpose. Whisps from Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” dance along to the score. All is well in the world.

But it’s different when the world starts to change, like when “technology” starts to invade every child’s bedroom through tablets and smartphones. Soon, Bonnie, struggling to find friends willing to play with plastic dinosaurs and astronauts, is given an iPad-like device named Lilypad (Greta Leigh) by her well-meaning parents. Bonnie gets sucked into the anxiety-filled vortex of social media screen time, and her toys are quickly forgotten.

Can toys, especially Jesse, learn to coexist with screens, or are they doomed to irrelevance? More importantly, at least for longtime Pixar director Andrew Stanton and his team, is childhood as we know it being eroded by Big Tech’s false promises of progress for progress’s sake?

The way Toy Story 5 simultaneously explores the complex tensions of modern childhood and unfolds a wild comic adventure simultaneously functions as a grand experiment in brand nostalgia, representing a surprising balancing act between film and commerce. It’s hard to overstate how sharp this whole endeavor is, right down to the filmmakers’ surprising decision to pivot the story around Jesse rather than Buzz or Woody.

The film, which provides a Cowgirl full-circle moment that leaves most audiences in puddles of tears, relies heavily on Cusack’s ability to seamlessly transition from infectious joy to exasperated anger. Even though she hasn’t acted much since Toy Story 4, she must have recognized the power of this material. This is a movie worth coming out of retirement for.

However, the film provides great moments for all of the other characters, as well as some new characters. Best of all is the potty-mouthed (if not quite foul-mouthed) idiot Hickey, voiced by Conan O’Brien, but it’s great fun to meet a long-abandoned action figure named Combat Carl, given some big-shot energy by Ernie Hudson. And then there’s Lilypad herself. A frighteningly efficient slab of artificial intelligence that brings to mind Jessica Rabbit. She’s not bad. She’s just portrayed that way.

A subplot involving a horde of next-generation Buzz Lightyears shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific Ocean initially feels like the result of a memo from a Disney executive requesting more action, but maybe it’s Allen’s desire to outdo co-star Hanks’ true Cast Away , but the filmmakers find a way to gently slip the pieces into a larger puzzle.

By the end of it all, you’ll have cried, laughed, laughed, and, if you’re of a certain age and family position, completely reconsidering your parenting strategies.

It’s no exaggeration to suggest that this movie’s honest portrayal of every mom and dad’s nightmare/godsend: digital babysitting, or “screen time,” could have a major impact on changing the way children are raised in the real world. Again, this movie is so cleverly designed that kids might be able to accept the cognitive dissonance between message and product when they’re mainline watching the movie on their Disney+-enabled iPads.