Toy Story 5 (2026)
No franchise has been more important to Pixar than the Toy Story franchise. In 1995, Toy Story was the first film released by the studio, and the series has continued to touch big screens throughout every evolution and era of Pixar. Along the way, Toy Story gained a reputation for being a reliable brand both commercially and critically. Coming 7 years after the last main series Toy Story film, 4 years after the non-canon spinoff Lightyear, Toy Story 5 extends the film's storyline by confronting a new world where technology has started to replace toys. Rather than going outside or having true face-to-face experiences with friends, kids are becoming more and more absorbed into the world of their devices, using the screens to facilitate their social interactions and move on quicker than ever from toys and play. In Toy Story 5, this finally reaches now 8-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), who is gifted a tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee). Rather than trying to integrate with Bonnie's toys, led by Sheriff Jessie (Joan Cusack) after Woody's departure in Toy Story 4, Lily feels the need to work overtime to catch Bonnie up socially, adding her to a group chat with others in her dance class and taking more and more ownership over Bonnie's life. Jessie, who is now experiencing the feeling of losing her third kid, argues that it takes more to support Bonnie socially and sets off to help Bonnie despite frustrations from Lily.
The immediate concern with Toy Story 5 comes from its place as the 5th film in the Toy Story franchise, 6th if you include Lightyear. It is often seen within popular franchises that box office results will drive the decision to greenlight sequels rather than the quality of the story, oftentimes leading to disappointing results. Disney is far from being innocent of this depressing trend, with the last decade seeing multiple unnecessary sequels, with many labeling Toy Story 4 with this flaw and seeing its existence as weakening the universally acclaimed ending of the film before. However, Toy Story 5 bucks this criticism by telling an important and relevant story that is undoubtedly perfect for the Toy Story franchise specifically. At its best, the Toy Story franchise has served as a reflection of audiences and the world at the time of its release. From capturing a changing identity of Americana in the first film to directly speaking to the aging fans who grew up with the series since their childhood in the third film, Toy Story has taken a unique cohort of audience members and continued to relate to them over and over again. Toy Story 5 does just this, both discussing the modern world as a whole while also directly speaking to young parents trying to understand their place as a guide to their children.
Technology is here to stay, and studies have found a wide spread of damaging results access has on children. The Toy Story franchise naturally allows a conversation on technology to be had that showcases the complexity of the topic. At first, technology is portrayed as a dangerous infection spreading across the city. As more and more children shut down, the perspective of the toys allows for both a nostalgic reminisence of what childhood once was while also capturing some of the real dangers of having to try and form connections through online spaces. Rather than organically getting to know friends and building real connections, the online friendships portrayed in the film are forced and limited. Bonnie already has a difficult time socializing with others, and through technology, her only options for friends are snobby classmates who make fun of her for playing with toys and being herself. This experience of discomfort and judgement is one that is sure to speak authentically to many, with the film vocalizing a worthy conversation about how online spaces promote children to change themselves and mature quicker than they might be ready to.
However, the conversation on technology is not entirely demonizing. Lily immediately becomes a great Pixar villain in the sense that her damage is caused through the misguided efforts to do good. The character is layered in her goals, both shutting out those who have more perspective while also trying to do the right thing for Bonnie. Lily does not understand the ramifications of what she is doing, and there is a maturity used to understand the character and the consequences of what she does. The final message of the film is not an outdated and unrealistic "technology is the enemy", but rather a statement on how technology can be abusive and damaging if proper guidance is not used. As Bonnie's parents seem to stand back and let Bonnie have unlimited and unfiltered access to technology, despite empty agreements to limit screen time, Jessie ultimately steps in as the proper parental figure, giving Bonnie support and fighting to help her where she is. The film makes it clear that this is the role parents should be taking, as supervision and support are driving factors in how technology usage can be kept healthy and positive for youth. This is a needed statement for modern parents, and it is hard to argue that there is any better format to deliver the message than in a Toy Story film.
On the sidelines of Bonnie's issues, Jessie is experiencing her own struggles. From her introduction in Toy Story 2, Jessie has been traumatized by the abandonment she suffered from her original owner, Emily. Now, as she begins to feel her third kid slipping away, Jessie begins to blame herself and feels like she is the issue. She calls Woody (Tom Hanks) for advice, but his reassurance isn't enough for her to feel better. Through a chaotic chain of events, Jessie ends up at Emily's old house, where a new girl named Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris) lives. Jessie has to confront her past in one of Toy Story's most emotional arcs, ending with a thought so beautiful that it is hard not to feel tears begin to run as a result.
If Toy Story 5 had simply been these two narratives working together, it would have been the best Toy Story film. Sadly, the film does begin to lose its way at a couple of points, mainly when it tries to expand itself beyond these effective and clean narratives. A throughline of the film follows a group of Buzz Lightyear toys (Tim Allen) who grew sentient when their cargo crate washed up on a deserted island. The toys follow the stars as they navigate to the mainland and try to reach Star Command in segments that feel better suited for a short film than a recurring bit in a feature film. There is a refreshing creativity to how the Toy Story concept is used in these scenes, but it is hard to say that they did not feel distracting when they were forced between such strong emotional arcs. Woody also rejoins the team briefly, but his presence is clearly a requirement felt by the filmmakers, who have nothing of substance for the character to do once he appears. While these segments are quite brief and their presence never directly damages the more effective sides of the film, they do cause the film to feel overstuffed without contributing anything of added substance or gravitas.
The animation in the film is more playful than ever, using various animated styles to great effect to create a line between reality and the world of play. While not as visually stunning as Toy Story 4's photorealistic style, this more experimental style feels far more effective for the soul of what Toy Story is, and is a delight to watch. While the song only appears in the film's end credits, Taylor Swift's "I Knew It, I Knew You" instantly joins the Pixar canon as a masterful emotional punctuation on the film.
Toy Story 5 is one of the rare sequels to totally justify its own existence. While there are areas where the film could be cleaned up, the story being told is both important and emotionally satisfying. The film perfectly evolves its characters from their past, pushing them into new situations that naturally continue their development while also speaking to the modern state of childhood and parenthood.
The immediate concern with Toy Story 5 comes from its place as the 5th film in the Toy Story franchise, 6th if you include Lightyear. It is often seen within popular franchises that box office results will drive the decision to greenlight sequels rather than the quality of the story, oftentimes leading to disappointing results. Disney is far from being innocent of this depressing trend, with the last decade seeing multiple unnecessary sequels, with many labeling Toy Story 4 with this flaw and seeing its existence as weakening the universally acclaimed ending of the film before. However, Toy Story 5 bucks this criticism by telling an important and relevant story that is undoubtedly perfect for the Toy Story franchise specifically. At its best, the Toy Story franchise has served as a reflection of audiences and the world at the time of its release. From capturing a changing identity of Americana in the first film to directly speaking to the aging fans who grew up with the series since their childhood in the third film, Toy Story has taken a unique cohort of audience members and continued to relate to them over and over again. Toy Story 5 does just this, both discussing the modern world as a whole while also directly speaking to young parents trying to understand their place as a guide to their children.
Technology is here to stay, and studies have found a wide spread of damaging results access has on children. The Toy Story franchise naturally allows a conversation on technology to be had that showcases the complexity of the topic. At first, technology is portrayed as a dangerous infection spreading across the city. As more and more children shut down, the perspective of the toys allows for both a nostalgic reminisence of what childhood once was while also capturing some of the real dangers of having to try and form connections through online spaces. Rather than organically getting to know friends and building real connections, the online friendships portrayed in the film are forced and limited. Bonnie already has a difficult time socializing with others, and through technology, her only options for friends are snobby classmates who make fun of her for playing with toys and being herself. This experience of discomfort and judgement is one that is sure to speak authentically to many, with the film vocalizing a worthy conversation about how online spaces promote children to change themselves and mature quicker than they might be ready to.
However, the conversation on technology is not entirely demonizing. Lily immediately becomes a great Pixar villain in the sense that her damage is caused through the misguided efforts to do good. The character is layered in her goals, both shutting out those who have more perspective while also trying to do the right thing for Bonnie. Lily does not understand the ramifications of what she is doing, and there is a maturity used to understand the character and the consequences of what she does. The final message of the film is not an outdated and unrealistic "technology is the enemy", but rather a statement on how technology can be abusive and damaging if proper guidance is not used. As Bonnie's parents seem to stand back and let Bonnie have unlimited and unfiltered access to technology, despite empty agreements to limit screen time, Jessie ultimately steps in as the proper parental figure, giving Bonnie support and fighting to help her where she is. The film makes it clear that this is the role parents should be taking, as supervision and support are driving factors in how technology usage can be kept healthy and positive for youth. This is a needed statement for modern parents, and it is hard to argue that there is any better format to deliver the message than in a Toy Story film.
On the sidelines of Bonnie's issues, Jessie is experiencing her own struggles. From her introduction in Toy Story 2, Jessie has been traumatized by the abandonment she suffered from her original owner, Emily. Now, as she begins to feel her third kid slipping away, Jessie begins to blame herself and feels like she is the issue. She calls Woody (Tom Hanks) for advice, but his reassurance isn't enough for her to feel better. Through a chaotic chain of events, Jessie ends up at Emily's old house, where a new girl named Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris) lives. Jessie has to confront her past in one of Toy Story's most emotional arcs, ending with a thought so beautiful that it is hard not to feel tears begin to run as a result.
If Toy Story 5 had simply been these two narratives working together, it would have been the best Toy Story film. Sadly, the film does begin to lose its way at a couple of points, mainly when it tries to expand itself beyond these effective and clean narratives. A throughline of the film follows a group of Buzz Lightyear toys (Tim Allen) who grew sentient when their cargo crate washed up on a deserted island. The toys follow the stars as they navigate to the mainland and try to reach Star Command in segments that feel better suited for a short film than a recurring bit in a feature film. There is a refreshing creativity to how the Toy Story concept is used in these scenes, but it is hard to say that they did not feel distracting when they were forced between such strong emotional arcs. Woody also rejoins the team briefly, but his presence is clearly a requirement felt by the filmmakers, who have nothing of substance for the character to do once he appears. While these segments are quite brief and their presence never directly damages the more effective sides of the film, they do cause the film to feel overstuffed without contributing anything of added substance or gravitas.
The animation in the film is more playful than ever, using various animated styles to great effect to create a line between reality and the world of play. While not as visually stunning as Toy Story 4's photorealistic style, this more experimental style feels far more effective for the soul of what Toy Story is, and is a delight to watch. While the song only appears in the film's end credits, Taylor Swift's "I Knew It, I Knew You" instantly joins the Pixar canon as a masterful emotional punctuation on the film.
Toy Story 5 is one of the rare sequels to totally justify its own existence. While there are areas where the film could be cleaned up, the story being told is both important and emotionally satisfying. The film perfectly evolves its characters from their past, pushing them into new situations that naturally continue their development while also speaking to the modern state of childhood and parenthood.