PLOT: Jessie (Joan Cusack) becomes concerned when Bonnie gets a new tablet, Lily Pad, which makes her addicted to screens, leaving the toys to wonder if their time as beloved playthings might be coming to an end.
REVIEW: I’m with Tarantino when he said that the original Toy Story trilogy was perfect and didn’t need a fourth film. Unlike him, though, I watched Toy Story 4, and while it was okay, it wasn’t up to the standard of the original trilogy and left me feeling that the series had been given an anticlimactic epilogue it didn’t need. So, I went into Toy Story 5 with a lot of trepidation.
The good news is that Toy Story 5 is terrific and, at certain moments, comes close to equaling the original trilogy. In fact, the first half hour of the film may be the strongest in the series to date, even if it begins to spin its wheels a bit later on. Ultimately, the film winds up just a notch below the original trilogy, but well ahead of the fourth movie and easily Pixar’s strongest overall film since its heyday.
While some may find the shift in focus to Joan Cusack’s Jessie a bizarre choice in a series that has always relied on the chemistry between Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen), it turns out to be a smart creative refresh. Woody and Buzz are back, but more as supporting characters, as this is very much Jessie’s story. One of the most affecting moments in the entire franchise remains the Toy Story 2 sequence depicting her friendship with, and abandonment by, Emily. That emotional foundation informs this sequel, with Jessie going through something similar with Bonnie, who, despite being only eight years old, is growing up fast.
What will no doubt make this film resonate strongly with parents—many of whom were around Bonnie’s age when the first movie came out in 1995—is the idea that kids today are growing up much faster thanks to technology. In the film, Bonnie is gifted a tablet called Lily Pad, which plugs her into social media and keeps her glued to screen time.
While early reports pegged Lily Pad as the movie’s villain, that’s not really the case. As voiced by Greta Lee, Lily Pad genuinely wants what’s best for Bonnie. Her reasoning is that if all of Bonnie’s peers are plugged into technology, she risks becoming an outcast or falling behind if she isn’t. That’s likely a legitimate concern for parents, with these devices representing a kind of Pandora’s box. What the movie ultimately emphasizes is that while technology has its place, it needs to be used in moderation. Jessie wants Bonnie to find a real-life friend, not just someone she communicates with through a screen.
Cusack, as always, is terrific as Jessie, delivering another bittersweet performance. No matter what happens, she knows that Bonnie will eventually outgrow her. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are back, but Woody and Buzz don’t have a ton to do this time around, although there’s a nice subplot involving Buzz being in love with Jessie but too afraid to tell her. The voice cast is excellent across the board, with Lee particularly strong as Lily Pad. Conan O’Brien also has a hilarious role as an aging tech toy originally designed for potty training who always sounds drunk whenever his battery runs low. Other fan-favorite characters return as well, including Keanu Reeves as Duke Caboom (from Toy Story 4), although most of them are limited to cameo appearances.
In the end, I had a wonderful time with Toy Story 5, which benefits from having the director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, at the helm. It genuinely feels designed as a full-circle experience for the kids who grew up with the original trilogy and are now in their thirties or forties, facing many of the same issues Jessie is. It’s bittersweet, often moving, and much closer to the brilliance of the original trilogy than you might expect.
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