Like a lot of people, I don’t know why there’s a Toy Story 5, and honestly, we haven’t needed one since the end of Toy Story 3. While I did enjoy all the shorts and TV specials, I was surprised by Toy Story 4, with the feeling like a coda of the franchise. Knowing the behind-the-scenes on why it doesn’t matter, as there’s never a bad Toy Story. After thirty years of watching the adventures of Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), and the other toys, it is still a delight to watch. Now this film focuses on Jessie and her relationship with Bonnie, and not being the leader of the toys. As many can see from the trailers and posters, the conflict in this adventure is the Toys vs a Tablet. The most visible things with children and parents are kids and their addiction to devices.
Something that’s so relatable and instantly like, oh yeah, this hits, this is a perfect setup. So in the film, we’re back with Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), a sweet kid, and a little bit older than we last saw her. Still playing with toys, but is having trouble making friends. Jessie worried about Bonnie trying to help her make friends when she noticed all the other kids in the neighborhood staring at screens. She’s told by abandoned toys that “tech” has taken over the children and toys are doomed.
Bonnie’s parents, being worried, buy her a Lilypad (Greta Lee). This Leapfrog/iPad mashup completely takes over her every waking minute while connecting with girls in her class who also have these devices. It threatens Jessie, as she gets flashbacks to her original owner, Emily, and how she was given away for donation. You read that, and you’re like, wait, what about Woody? Well, he returns to Bonnie’s house after some miscommunication, after Jessie hits the super secret Woody hotline to share notes with Woody about tech.
This film has many threads that early on make it seem a bit all over the place, but once it gets toward the last act, it all comes together. What stood out to me was just how much Bonnie was a character in this film. She’s much more of a focus from her perspective than we’ve seen before, and more than we ever really got from Andy. For Bonnie, it feels like Pixar’s evolution over the years in their storytelling, particularly the Inside Out films. Those films’ handling of Riley has benefited Bonnie. We get to see more of her internal thoughts and worries as she struggles with friendship dynamics and cyberbullying.
This partners well with Jessie’s worries about losing a kid again. While watching the film, I just remembered all the stuff Jessie has gone through for almost eighty years. Her anxieties are coming to a head as she lashes out at any type of tech toy she sees, especially when she ends up back at her original home. There’s some great stuff with a new toy, Smarty Pants, voiced by Conan O’Brien in the second half of the film. This focus on Jessie really makes this film feel like a true sequel to Toy Story 2, as it makes Jessie the protagonist. I enjoy how, over time, the focus has gone from what boys imagine when playing to just children and showing girls having internal imaginative worlds. The folks at Pixar have done a very good job at this.
So right here I’m going to talk about what feels like the most random part, and it’s the regiment of new Buzz Lightyear figures as they escape a remote island to try and find Star Command. It feels so out of place, and it ties in well to the rest of the film and the themes Toy Story has had since the original. While I loved it as it reminded me of thinking how I’d imagined my G.I. Joes to be doing it, it might feel out of place for some viewers. They have some of the most impressive animated bits. Some of the strongest lighting and textures are in the environments in their quest.
Toy Story 5 doesn’t need to prove why it should exist. Andrew Stanton has made another fantastic film that meets the quality of his previous efforts as a director. Every single person who’s worked on this deserves kudos. While I didn’t talk about the voice cast much, they are so iconic and comfortable in their roles. It adds to a nostalgia that, in some ways, the film is about, but not about things, but feelings of how life used to be and can be again through just human connecting. As I said earlier, there are no bad Toy Story movies, just different types of excellent.
Rating: A
Level of Enthusiasm: 100%
