Anyone who has seen just about any of the Toy Story films knows this to be true. I was eight years old when the very first one was released in 1995, ushering in an era of computer-generated animation and accelerating the decline of traditional, hand-drawn animation in Hollywood. I can remember feeling like I had to be more careful about how I treated my toys; I didn't want to end up like the malicious Sid dealing with a vengeful uprising. Much has changed since then, yet this franchise remarkably carries on. It's sad that some of the old gang are missing; some—like Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, and Jim Varney—have passed away, while others—like Timothy Dalton—have mysteriously been replaced. (They are replaced by Jeff Bergman, Anna Vocino, Blake Clarke, and John Hopkins, respectively.) But Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz (who were really at the height of their power way back in '95) are still here, though they surprisingly take more of a backseat in the action to Jessie, the cowgirl who joined them in Toy Story 2 in 1999; she's really the heart of this film.
In Toy Story 5, Jessie (Joan Cusack) is still with Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), the adorable little girl who inherited Andy's toys in Toy Story 3 in 2010. She's still joined by companions Rex (Wallace Shaw), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Forky (Tony Hale), and others, putting on elaborate productions that occupy vast space in her imagination. The problem, however, is that Bonnie, now age eight, struggles to make friends and isn't sure why. Neither are her parents. Upon investigating, however, Jessie soon discovers the reason: technology. Every house in the neighborhood is inhabited by children who are glued to screens instead of outside playing. Bonnie has been spared from screen addiction (for now). Her parents are concerned, and they become convinced that the solution can be found in their daughter getting her own device. In this case, it's a frog-themed iPad-style device called Lilypad (or "Lily" and voiced by Greta Lee), a smart device which hosts a cloud-based realm of avatars that Meta could only dream of. Like users of Meta's platforms, children like Bonnie become addicted almost immediately. While the film doesn't dwell on it too much, adults (especially parents) will probably watch what happens to her with complete horror as she becomes moodier and more combative. Lily does nothing to solve her anxiety; it only augments it.
In a surprisingly convoluted plot, Jessie goes on a hero's journey to try and separate Bonnie from these devices while also helping her find a human friend. She'll need the help of her companions Buzz and Woody along the way, who argue a bit (in a subplot that is never fully fleshed out) about who is her true deputy. Things go awry, and the gang gets split up—Jessie ends up at her former home (though her human, Emily, famously lost interest in her) where a new family lives. There, she meets and initially detests a group of retro tech-based toys like Snappy (a toy camera voiced by Shelby Rabara), Atlas (a GPS hippo toy voiced by Craig Robinson), and Smarty Pants (a toilet-training toy voiced by Conan O'Brien). Woody and Buzz remain at Bonnie's, where they try and take care of Lily.
One of my initial reactions was that the film doesn't have the same punch that recent entries have, that, despite its noble intentions, Toy Story 5 doesn't hit as hard as one thinks it would. I may have spoken too soon. By now, there have been numerous articles in everything from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal about the parental fight against omnipresent devices in school settings. Children don't read those newspapers, but they do watch Pixar movies. One parent now claims that her young daughter won't touch her device since seeing it. Just as I and other then-young children were afraid of becoming Sid thirty years ago, now hopefully children of today will be positively impacted by this film. In that respect, you owe it to your children to show them this film.
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