The first generation of children raised alongside tablets are now old enough to have their own nostalgia. That reality makes Toy Story 5 feel less like an unnecessary sequel and more like a franchise finally catching up to the world around it.
For years, Pixar’s beloved toys have wrestled with obsolescence. They survived the arrival of newer toys, confronted abandonment, and ultimately accepted that childhood itself is fleeting. This time, however, the threat isn’t another toy. It’s an entire culture shift.
Set several years after Toy Story 4, Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears) is now eight years old and struggling to connect with the children around her. While she still finds comfort and joy in imaginative play, many of her peers are glued to their Lilypads, a child-friendly tablet designed to help young people socialise and interact. Concerned about her isolation, Bonnie’s parents introduce one into her life (Greta Lee), creating an unexpected rival for Jessie (Joan Cusack), who has become the emotional centre of Bonnie’s toy collection.
It’s a clever premise, and one that feels long overdue. Sixteen years after the release of Toy Story 3 and the arrival of the first iPad, Pixar finally asks what happens when toys are no longer competing with one another for a child’s attention, but with technology itself.
Thankfully, Toy Story 5 avoids becoming a simplistic “technology bad” morality tale. Director Andrew Stanton and co-director Kenna Harris understand that digital devices are neither heroes nor villains. The film acknowledges the benefits of technology while questioning the ways it can sometimes replace rather than facilitate genuine human connection. In doing so, it crafts one of the franchise’s most contemporary themes without losing sight of what Toy Story has always been about: helping children navigate the challenges of growing up.
What truly elevates the film is its decision to place Jessie at the forefront.
While Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen) have long been the faces of the franchise, Jessie has quietly carried some of its richest emotional baggage ever since Toy Story 2 delivered the devastating “When She Loved Me” sequence. Toy Story 5 builds upon that history, sending her on a deeply personal journey that forces her to confront lingering questions of purpose, self-worth and belonging.
Cusack once again proves why Jessie remains one of Pixar’s most emotionally resonant creations. Her performance is funny, vulnerable and quietly heartbreaking, allowing the film’s biggest emotional moments to land with genuine force. This is Jessie’s story in a way previous films belonged to Woody or Buzz, and the decision pays dividends.
That emotional core is balanced by some of the funniest material the franchise has delivered in years. An initially bizarre subplot involving a group of misplaced Buzz Lightyears searching for Star Command repeatedly threatens to steal the film outright. What begins as an amusing diversion gradually evolves into one of the movie’s most inspired running gags, culminating in a payoff that justifies every detour.
The film isn’t without its shortcomings though. In trying to juggle Bonnie’s social struggles, Jessie’s personal journey, the Lilypad conflict and the Buzz Lightyear subplot, the middle section occasionally feels overstuffed. Several returning favourites are largely sidelined, and the pacing can become surprisingly frantic for a franchise that has historically excelled at allowing emotional moments room to breathe.
There is also a lingering sense that the screenplay occasionally pulls its punches. While the film raises intriguing questions about children’s relationship with technology, it rarely digs as deeply into those concerns as it could. Some viewers may leave wishing Pixar had been a little more daring in its critique.
Even so, Toy Story 5 succeeds where it matters most. It understands that the franchise has never really been about toys. It’s about childhood. It’s about friendship. It’s about feeling left behind. And it’s about discovering your value when the world seems determined to move on without you.
No, this sequel isn’t as emotionally devastating as Toy Story 3, nor does it quite recapture the near-perfect magic of Toy Story 2. Yet it doesn’t need to. By allowing Jessie to step into the spotlight and examining what childhood looks like in a digital age, Toy Story 5 finds something meaningful to say that feels distinctly its own.
Against all odds, thirty years later, these toys still have plenty of life left in them.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Toy Story 5 is screening in Australian theatres from June 18th, 2026, before opening in the United States on June 19th.
