Toy Story 5 is as charming as ever, and offers something of a roadmap for the future of Pixar’s beloved flagship franchise.
Following the events of Toy Story 4, most of the gang are now ensconced in the bedroom of young Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), their OG Andy having grown up and headed off the college back in the third film (don’t waste time wondering how old he’d be now, you’ll just get depressed). With talking cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks) now off in the real world with Bo Peep (Annie Potts) to help lost toys find new homes, cowgirl doll Jessie (Joan Cusack) is now the toys’ leader, being Bonnie’s fave.
That cherished status takes a hit when Bonnie is gifted with a new toy, the allegedly kid-safe tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee). Bonnie is soon getting a hell of a lot of screentime, plus being subjected to some light cyberbullying from her new online friends. Can the toys save the day? And what’s with the army of Buzz Lightyears (Tim Allen) that have been shipwrecked on a remote island?
The original Toy Story quite literally changed cinema, but it’s a franchise now – Pixar’s ever-reliable tentpole, more susceptible to the winds of box office potential than creative drive. That’s just the way of things; we’re unlikely to get anything as downright charming, as downright moving, as the first three films ever again. But viewed as the latest instalment in what is clearly an ongoing franchise, Toy Story 5 offers plenty of joys.
It’s as sprightly and witty as ever, and it looks better than ever, Pixar in general and this series in particular, always being at the vanguard of the CGI state of the art. The voice cast is stellar; in addition to the usual headliners, plus recent additions like Keanu Reeves’ Duke Caboom, Conan O’Brien heads an impressive roster of newcomers, including Craig Robinson, Ernie Hudson, Shelby Rabara, Matty Matheson, and Mykal-Michelle Harris. We get the now mandatory climactic chase sequence, the heartstring-tugging emotional moments – everything you know and love from Toy Story is present and correct.
But what’s new?
Well, wrestling with digital toys and the thorny subject of children’s screentime is fresh territory, and definitely an area that a series about the inner life of children had to broach sooner or later. The film takes a fairly even-handed view of the whole phenomenon, landing on “All things in balance, but monitor your kids”. That’s a perfectly sensible position that’s bound to annoy parents on both sides of the overall argument, so top marks there.
More importantly for the overall series, Toy Story 5 manages a gentle pivot away from the central Buzz and Woody onscreen duo, which is a problem they were going to have to address sooner or later. Tom Hanks was pretty adamant that Toy Story 4 was going to be his last rodeo, though obviously that turned out to not be the case, but even here the screenplay, by co-directors Andrew Stanton and Kenn Harris, struggles to justify his inclusion a little bit. It’s not hard to picture a Woody-free future film at this point; what’s surprising is that it doesn’t seem like such a terrible move.
Toy Story 5 is in cinemas now.
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