Toy Story 5 Review: Friendship, technology, and the art of selling the same toy

The FIFTH (and highly unanticipated) chapter of a Hollywood franchise that, against all market logic, has lost the least amount of quality throughout its extensive lifespan is finally here: Toy Story 5. What this says about the state of Hollywood in 2026 is a subject for collective therapy, but let's leave that for another day.

The film is directed by Andrew Stanton (the man behind WALL-E and Finding Nemo, and writer of the other four Toy Story movies, meaning someone who knows this backyard by heart) alongside McKenna Harris, who makes her feature directorial debut here after years on the storyboard team at Disney and Pixar (with credits including Raya and the Last Dragon and Elemental, as well as directing the short film Ciao Alberto). Together, the duo combines the seasoned expertise of someone who has done this a thousand times with the fresh energy of someone who still believes things can be done differently. The result is, at the very least, intriguing.

But the uncomfortable question remains: can the fifth film in any franchise actually be good?

Warning: this review is completely spoiler-free. Feel free to keep reading because nobody is going to ruin the fun here.

Picking up where the last story left off, the toys are still with Bonnie, who is now eight years old and growing up fast (too fast, as anyone who has ever loved a toy knows all too well). The girl is having trouble making friends, and the toys, led by Sheriff Jessie, put together a plan to solve the issue that is as well-intentioned as it is flawed. While investigating the problem, Jessie discovers the most depressing truth possible: the neighborhood kids simply do not play anymore. They are all hypnotized by screens and devices, and the toys have become museum pieces inside their own homes.

Feeling their daughter is isolated, Bonnie’s parents do what any anxious parent in 2026 would do: they buy her a tablet just like her classmates' in hopes that technology will fix what technology created. However, the tablet, called the Lilypad (which goes by Lily and is shaped like a frog because Pixar never misses an opportunity for a cute design), arrives already acting superior and treating the toys like relics on the verge of retirement.

It is no spoiler to say that Woody and Buzz get caught up in this mess. The veterans also experience firsthand this moment where technology threatens to swallow childhood and the very act of playing. Along the way, new toys show up (a hippo with a built-in GPS, a potty-training doll with a personality matching its name, among others), each bringing a new perspective to the same theme. Everything in the film feels meticulously calculated. Every element that enters the scene, no matter how random it seems at first, ends up serving a purpose. It is admirable and slightly unsettling, like watching a Swiss watch cry.

Strengths

The screenplay is, by far, the film's greatest asset. It opens up several plotlines that at first glance seem loose, almost meaningless, leaving you skeptical and thinking things are going to fall apart. But at the exact right moment, these storylines begin to cross paths, with one character tumbling into another's problem, triggering plot twists or solutions. It might seem pretentious to think so many loose ends could tie together so beautifully in a children's animated film, but it is genuinely explosive when everything converges into a message that truly matters.

And what a message it is. In the beginning, the film flirts with a shallow lecture about the evils of childhood screen time (the kind of rant an uncle gives at Sunday lunch). Fortunately, it does not settle for that. It adds complexity to the idea, opens doors to see the conflict from other angles, and treats the subject with a responsibility that most movies about children and screens completely lack.

Stripping away all those serious layers, Toy Story 5 is still, at the end of the day, a children's animated movie, and it delivers on that front. The direction, voice acting, characters, and plot mechanics have plenty of appeal for kids. The pacing is fast, with things happening all the time, ensuring that no viewer (whether six or thirty-six years old) has time to check their phone mid-screening, which is a comically brilliant irony for a movie about the dangers of screens.

Weaknesses

It is not all fun and games in the backyard. The film still relies heavily on nostalgia to drag the fan base back to theaters. This is not a crime, but it exposes how the franchise remains a hostage to symbols it cannot (or will not) break free from. Woody, whom the fourth film retired with a certain amount of dignity, returns with a central role built purely because the script demanded it and because fans would have rioted if he didn’t show up.

Throughout the plot, the film stumbles into rivalry-turned-friendship clichés and crams in classic characters for no real reason other than to keep the merchandise assembly line spinning. The supporting cast barely gets room to breathe: several of the new toys, who could have brought their own unique worlds and personalities, are squeezed into half a dozen scenes because the film chose to orbit exclusively around the usual protagonists.

And then there is the GPS hippo in the room: the corporate machine behind all of this. Taylor Swift released an original single to boost the premiere, Randy Newman returned to compose his fifth consecutive score for the series (the man must have his own room at Pixar headquarters by now), and Stanton himself has already announced that this is the beginning of a new trilogy featuring Bonnie, meaning Toy Story 6 is on the way before the dust from the fifth one even settles. None of this is a flaw of the film itself, but it is the context that explains why tired tropes keep appearing: we are dealing with an industry that views film not as art, but as a product catalog. The clichés are not laziness; they are strategy.

Toy Story 5 is definitely a pleasant surprise in 2026. At the point where cinema stands today, it is almost a miracle for a franchise to reach a fifth installment while maintaining this level of quality. The credit goes to solid direction and writing, which deserve to be celebrated without irony (and believe me, irony is practically an addiction here).

The outdated symbols and clichés remain visible, and critics abroad have already pointed out the irony of a movie about obsolescence that might be afraid of its own. Even so, the feature positions itself to provoke and build something new, which is beautiful to see in a franchise that is now over twenty-five years old. Pixar found a way to weep over its own mortality and still sell tickets. It is hard to admit, but it works.

Rating: 4 out of 5

What about you? Were you also moved by the movie? Did you enjoy the new toys, or do you think the frog tablet was just made to sell cases?

Over here, we cried somewhere between 0 and 27 times during the screening. We didn't keep an exact count, but it was somewhere around there.

Until next time!