Light spoilers follow for Toy Story 5.
Toy Story is the franchise that Disney refuses to let go of. That's no surprise, given that the immensely popular movie series has raked in billions of dollars globally since late 1995. However, Toy Story 3 delivered a perfect end to Woody and company's individual and collective stories, so the entertainment giant's commitment to churning out money-spinning but superfluous sequels, such as Toy Story 4, suggests the proverbial cow is being milked for all it's worth.
Toy Story 5 does little to move the needle in that regard. Sure, it's a fun, thematically timely, and ultimately feel-good family-friendly flick that bears all the classic hallmarks of a Pixar movie. But it's also a far-too-familiar re-tread of its predecessors, and will leave some questioning whether it needed to be made.
Toys meet tech
Set a few years after its forebear, Toy Story 5 reunites us with Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and the gang as they face another existential threat: technology.
When their owner Bonnie is given a state-of-the-art electronic tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee) by her parents, the now-eight-year-old becomes obsessed with her frog-like handheld computer, leaving Jessie — who succeeded Woody as the leader of Bonnie's room after his departure at the end of Toy Story 4 — and Bonnie's myriad other toys fearing for their futures.
Toy Story 5... worryingly signals it's simply going to hang its cowboy hat on replaying the franchise's greatest hits
Jessie is arguably the most worried of the group, too. Bonnie's unflinching fixation with her new high-tech toy causes Jessie's deep-seated abandonment issues to resurface, forcing her to take drastic measures that set this film's entire narrative in motion.
If that sounds familiar, it's because it's an eerily similar storytelling approach to Toy Story 1, which sees Woody fearing he's about to be replaced by Buzz. This is one of numerous narrative rehashes in Toy Story 5 that'll evoke a sense of déjà vu and, initially at least, worryingly signals that the film is simply going to hang its cowboy hat on replaying the franchise's greatest hits.
Thankfully, the long-overdue but welcome sight of Jessie taking the reins and being its toy-based protagonist, even if it's just for this film, re-energizes the movie series' traditional formula.
Buzz and Woody are nothing more than Toy Story 5's comic relief
Director Andrew Stanton told me he never planned to make JessieToy Story 5's lead star, but I'm glad he ultimately decided to do so.
Whether it's Jessie's unrelenting and understandably self-preserving quest to reclaim Bonnie's affection in the present, or Toy Story 5's flashback sequences that elaborate on her past — a subject that was only touched upon in Toy Story 2 — putting Jessie front and center of this movie adds a narrative zip to proceedings that sets it apart from the series' other installments.
Inevitably, further examining the emotionally tormented Jessie's backstory, and how it impacts her present-day actions, shifts the focus away from Woody and Buzz.
Sure, the pair are as involved as ever, but their roles are of the main supporting variety, rather than traditional co-starring ones. In fact, save for Buzz's increasingly important role from Toy Story 5's midpoint onwards, I'd say he and Woody are nothing more than this flick's comic relief, especially where the latter's elder-statesman position is concerned. I'd wager that some fans, then, might be disappointed by the lesser roles the iconic duo inhabit this time around.
Band of Buzzers
Original Buzz isn't the only Lightyear that audiences will see in Toy Story 5. In yet another recycled plot thread — this time, from Toy Story 2 — a squad of Buzzes (ones installed with cutting-edge technology) take center stage in a subplot that, for large parts of Toy Story 5, is wholly unnecessary.
Okay, like O.G. Buzz, their importance to the story grows as it progresses, and I'll admit that this side story's examination of modern tech navigating an unpredictable world, rather than the modern world grappling with new and unpredictable tech, is somewhat novel in its approach. Even so, I didn't appreciate the constant check-ins with this squad when the film's runtime would have been better served elsewhere.
The progression and eventual resolution of Lilypad's arc happens too quickly for my liking
One example of where that time could have been better spent is with Lilypad.
Positioned as an antagonistic figure rather than an archetypal villain, she's not underutilized by any means. However, major spoilers notwithstanding, the progression and eventual resolution of her arc happens too quickly for my liking, which makes her role and character development feel slightly undercooked.
The same can be said of the three other tech-based toys — Smarty Pants (Conan O'Brien), a potty-training device, Atlas (Craig Robinson), a hippo GPS handset, and Snappy (Shelby Rabara), a toy camera — that we meet.
I wish we'd seen more of the beautiful and dreamy pastel chalk art style used to depict Bonnie's imagination
All three have vital albeit by-design parts to play following their introductions midway through the plot, which is also around the time that Toy Story 5 starts to telegraph its semblance of a story twist and narrative endgame.
As with Lilypad, though, Pixar's latest feature breezes through these meet-and-greets to maintain its narrative momentum, albeit at the cost of fully examining their pasts with the franchise's newest human character Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris), and how their experiences fundamentally shift Jessie's perspective on her relationship with Bonnie.
Speaking of Bonnie, I wish we'd seen more of the beautiful and dreamy pastel chalk-art style used to depict her imagination.
First glimpsed in Toy Story 5's official trailer, it adds some much-needed visual flair to the movie — and the franchise, for that matter — that helps it stand out from its four siblings. It's an art-form I'd like to see carried into future Toy Story offerings, too; but I suppose that will depend on how old Bonnie will be when Toy Story 6 is inevitably released, and/or if Woody, Buzz, and Jessie are the leads of the next Toy Story adventure.
My verdict
Toy Story 5 is a fairly enjoyable and typically tear-jerking Pixar flick that, from storytelling, visual, and topical viewpoints, does what it needs to in order to entertain the masses, and reminds us of the true value of human connection, especially among kids, in the digital age.
However, like Toy Story 4 and another recently-released Disney movie in The Mandalorian and Grogu, aka the latest Star Wars film to land in theaters, it left me wanting more.
That's not to say it's a bad movie — as the 3-star rating at the top of this review indicates, I thought it was pretty good. Five movies into this franchise, though, I think Toy Story films — and, really, all future Pixar projects — need to do more than simply relying on high-quality visuals and checking the 'emotional resonance' box. Sure, that's fine for a movie that's aimed squarely at kids and families; but for those of us who've grown up on and continue to watch Toy Story films, something more is needed. Otherwise, just like the tidied-away toys that inhabit the films, it might be best to leave the Toy Story franchise in storage.
