Toy Story 5 Earns Its Place in the Toy Box

Toy Story 5

★ ★ ★ ½

Toy Story 5 (did I really just write that?) is the film audiences may not have asked for, and may have questioned at its announcement, but turns out to be a nice surprise.

The first three films formed a near-perfect trilogy about toys trying to stay relevant while Andy, their owner, eventually grows up and moves out. The series might seem like it’s about a bunch of toys trying to stay relevant when the new shiny thing arrives in the toy box. To me, it’s about parenthood, raising a good human and sending them off into the world knowing you did your job. It’s a job that’s exciting, exhilarating, terrifying and completely rewarding.

Bonnie and her new friends
© 2026 Disney / Pixar

Now it seems the franchise itself is trying to stay relevant, showing us there’s still life somewhere deep in the toy box. Though it doesn’t quite capture the magic of when we first met Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the gang of toys that made up Andy’s playtime, it still manages to capture our imagination and give us hope that we can still reach our kids despite the battle of too much screen time.

With Andy all grown up, we focus on Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), a young girl who’s a couple of years away from her tweens. She still plays with her toys, but her friends in dance class have moved on to iPad-like devices. It’s how they play games, stay in touch and make new friends. When Bonnie’s parents get her a Lilypad, a kid’s version of a tablet, she’s hooked right away. Even still, it’s a world Bonnie doesn’t fully understand, and her challenges making friends carry over into technology.

Scarlett Spears as Bonnie
© 2026 Disney / Pixar

There’s a new sheriff in Bonnie’s house, with Woody out in the world trying to help lost toys find relevance again. Jessie (Joan Cusack), a toy cowgirl, leads the toys in the bedroom with a singular focus: make Bonnie happy and protect her however they can. Like other disruptive arrivals in the series, Lilypad (Greta Lee) enters with self-aggrandizing arrogance, captures Bonnie’s attention and makes it clear to the toys that she knows what’s best.

Joan Cusack as Jessie and Greta Lee as Lilypad
© 2026 Disney / Pixar

Also like the other films, this sets off a power struggle among the toys in the toy box, launching another adventure of lost toys, chaos and hijinks.

The movie wisely lets a new leader take over Woody’s role. Jessie steps in seamlessly with her own caring leadership. Like Woody, she just wants what’s best for Bonnie and the fellow toys. It’s a funny, emotional and genuinely entertaining film. It lacks some of the charm that charged the initial trilogy, and to the film’s credit, it doesn’t try to recreate it. It just tells a good, heartfelt story.

Jessie, Smarty Pants, Atlas and Snappy
© 2026 Disney / Pixar

Even though Toy Story 5 treads familiar, albeit entertaining, territory, it’s not a complete “been there, done that.” It finds its own relevance within the franchise, tackling the growing concerns of parents who worry about the amount of their children’s screen time. It doesn’t make technology the villain, but rather something new that, when used properly, can be a positive part of childhood.

There’s a distinct message at the end of the film that should resonate with any parent, and it cements the movie’s place within the franchise. It’s a deep, sincere reassurance that despite an ever-changing world, the kids might be all right after all. And yes, it hit me right in the feels.