Toy Story 5 reminds us why growing up never means leaving childhood behind
A heartfelt new chapter puts Jessie center stage as Pixar explores childhood, imagination and a new threat to playtime: the allure of technology.
Official trailer via Pixar
I was 5 years old when Toy Story arrived in theaters in 1995, making me almost the same age as Andy, the young boy at the heart of the story. Like him, I viewed my toys and action figures with a sense of wonder, imagination and adventure. Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang didn't feel like pieces of molded plastic; they felt like trusted companions, capable of coming to life the moment adults left the room.
The enduring magic of the Toy Story franchise, which now returns with Toy Story 5, is its ability to tap into something almost universal: nostalgia. Nearly everyone has an object that symbolizes childhood — a favorite action figure, a beloved stuffed animal, a well-worn blanket. The films remind us not only of those treasured possessions but also of the feelings attached to them.
Toy Story 5 retains the heart and charm of its four predecessors while tackling a distinctly modern challenge. Bonnie, who has been the toys’ owner since the events of Toy Story 3, is growing older, and technology is becoming an increasingly prominent part of her life.
It’s a question many families face today: When should children be introduced to smartphones, tablets and other digital devices, and what effect do those technologies have on imagination and play?
Bonnie still loves her toys and creates elaborate adventures for them, but everything changes when she receives a frog-themed tablet named Lilypad, or “Lily,” designed to help her connect with other children. Before long, Bonnie becomes increasingly absorbed by the device, and her toys begin to worry that they are being left behind.
The franchise has also long been fascinated with the fear of becoming obsolete. In the original film, Woody worries that Buzz Lightyear will replace him as Andy's favorite toy. In Toy Story 3, the stakes become even more profound as the toys confront the possibility of Andy leaving for college and moving on from childhood altogether.
Throughout the series, the characters have grappled with the anxiety of being replaced, outgrown or forgotten. Toy Story 5 revisits that theme through Lily, whose growing importance in Bonnie's life forces the toys to confront a new kind of competitor: technology itself.
While previous installments largely centered on the relationship between Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Toy Story 5 places Jessie (Joan Cusack) firmly at the center of the story.
Now serving as the sheriff and protector of Bonnie’s room following Woody’s departure in Toy Story 4, Jessie finds herself questioning her purpose as Lily becomes the focus of Bonnie’s attention.
Concerned about Bonnie’s growing dependence on screens, Jessie reaches out to Woody, who is traveling with Bo Peep and helping abandoned toys find new homes. Through his travels, Woody has witnessed a broader trend of children spending less time playing with toys and more time staring at screens.
“Toys are for play. Tech is for everything,” Woody tells Jessie.
What follows is an adventure about friendship, belonging and the importance of imaginative play. Alongside new characters — including Smarty Pants, a hilariously overqualified toilet-training tech toy — Jessie embarks on a mission to reconnect Bonnie with the joy of play and help her find friends who value imagination as much as she once did.
The film is also more complicated and convoluted than many of its predecessors, juggling multiple subplots, including one involving an army of newly manufactured Buzz Lightyear toys searching for their place in the world. While some of these detours can occasionally distract from the central story, Toy Story 5 is at its best when it keeps its focus on Jessie and her emotional journey.
The reason the Toy Story franchise continues to resonate after more than three decades is the universality of its themes. As The New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson recently argued, it’s the greatest film franchise ever made because each installment finds a new way to explore growing up, letting go and the passage of time.
“They just keep layering nostalgia gently on top of itself,” Wilkinson said. “There is the nostalgia for toys, for our youth, for ‘Toy Story’ itself.”
Few films capture the bittersweet transition from childhood to adulthood as effectively as Toy Story. The series understands that growing up is both exciting and painful — that every cherished toy eventually becomes a memory.
Perhaps the franchise’s most iconic moment comes at the end of Toy Story 3, when Andy, preparing to leave for college, gives his toys to Bonnie. As he introduces each toy and joins her in one final play session, the scene becomes a moving reflection on change, gratitude and the inevitability of moving forward.
Toy Story 5 delivers a similarly powerful emotional payoff through a touching callback to Emily, Jessie’s original owner. Fans will remember the heartbreaking flashback in Toy Story 2, which revealed how deeply Jessie loved the child who eventually outgrew and abandoned her. Without spoiling details, the new film revisits that relationship in a way that is both beautiful and deeply satisfying.
It is arguably the film’s most emotional moment and ranks among the strongest scenes in the entire series.
At their best, the Toy Story films remind us that while childhood may not last forever, its influence never truly disappears. No matter how old we become, there is still a part of us that remembers what it felt like to bring a toy to life through imagination — and to believe, if only for a moment, that anything was possible.