Toy Story 5
- 8 hours ago
- 3 min read
Every parent battling over screen time with their kids should get them in front of the big screen this weekend to see TOY STORY 5. Pixar's gift for entertaining kids (and adults) of all ages remains intact with this sweet, funny and heartfelt new adventure.
Halfway through the film, I was ready to open this review by settling with "even lesser Disney/Pixar is better than any other animated choice" and then the final 25 minutes came together with a perfect bow, delivering huge laughs, big action and the patented HEART that we've come to expect from this blockbuster film series.
It's been 31 years since the first film broke the mold for what was possible in onscreen animation, so it's only fitting in 2026 that this installment faces the fact that toys are truly becoming obsolete due to all-knowing screens, pads and devices in our kids hands from an early age.
It's a message that Writer/Directors Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) and McKenna Harris deliver with humor and surprising power in several shots of our beloved characters looking across a neighborhood with every little face glowing from the light of their devices.
All those beloved characters are back and are joined by some great new ones as well.
Tim Allen's Buzz Lightyear is holding down the toy fort at young Bonnie's house. He spends most of his time rehearsing for how to propose to his love Jessie, beautifully voiced by Joan Cusack.
Bonnie is at the age where all the neighborhood and school kids are playing on their ipads and she's the only one still playing with her toys. When her parents break down and buy her first device, a Lilypad voiced by Greta Lee (Past Lives) Bonnie is immediately sucked into everything the device offers.
Our gang of toys are horrified. Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), Forky (Tony Hale) and Rex (Wallace Shawn, still proclaiming extinction every chance he gets) don't know how they are going to stay relevant.
Jessie reaches out to Woody (Tom Hanks) who soon arrives looking just the same, except for a bit of a gut and a shiny bald patch. Hanks and Allen still conjure up the same magic that they have exuded for the entire series, but Jessie serves as the center of the story this time out and Cusack delivers in a big way.
Several new characters are standouts among the first generation of electronic toys that have already been discarded in the toy box, led by Conan O'Brien nailing every line as Smarty Pants, a toilet training device for kids who supplies enough poop and fart jokes to satisfy any boy (or Dad!) in the audience. Those jokes probably are the reason for the very mild PG rating, the first non-G dubbed entry in the series.
I loved the way that Bonnie's fantasy sequences with her toys devolve from crisp computer animation to a more traditional looking painted style. The film looks spectacular from start to finish.
A subplot about a shipping container of Buzz Lightyears washed up on a deserted island Tom Hanks "Castaway" style is a lot of fun and plays out well from start to finish.
For those of you who care, Taylor Swift wrote a nice new theme song for the film, "I Knew It, I Knew You". It's okay, but it doesn't hold a candle to past songs like "When She Loved Me" or "I've Got a Friend In You" by Randy Newman. I stand by my stance that every Taylor Swift song sounds exactly like every other Taylor Swift song. I personally miss having a Newman song, but his new score is beautiful, with thematic notes you'll recognize effortlessly.
The final 25 minutes came together so perfectly that I felt like Stanton & Harris were just playing with me until then, suddenly dropping a perfect final act into the audience's lap.
Funny, action-packed and sweet, it delivers everything you want in a Toy Story film and leaves you feeling great walking out of the theater. I'm not the lone voice thinking that "Toy Story 3" was one of the best concluding acts of a trilogy in film history. It was a masterpiece.
TOY STORY 5 doesn't rise to that level, but it's a perfectly enjoyable entry that is going to deservedly pack families into theaters this weekend.
My box office prediction: To Infinity and Beyond!
It gets an appreciative B+ from this seat in our sold out showing.
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