Toy Story 5 (2026) Disney/Comedy-Adventure RT: 102 minutes Rated PG (some thematic elements and rude humor) Director: Andrew Stanton Screenplay: Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris Music: Randy Newman Cinematography: Matt Aspbury and JC Kalache Release date: June 19, 2026 (US) Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Scarlett Spears, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Shelby Rabara, Craig Robinson, Tony Hale, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, Jeff Bergman, Annie Potts, Bonnie Hunt, Kristen Schaal, Melissa Villasenor, Keanu Reeves, Ernie Hudson, John Hopkins, Jeff Pidgeon, Anna Vocino, Krys Marshall, Alan Cumming, Matty Matheson, Tyla, Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio [Bad Bunny], Lori Allen, Jay Hernandez.
Rating: *** ½
I was worried that Toy Story 5 would be just another Pixar cash-grab sequel. It seems to be a thing for the computer-animation studio. Also, it’s the one movie series where every entry has been consistently excellent. Their luck has to run out sometime. Luckily, this isn’t that time. Despite a few minor flaws, Toy Story 5 carries on the series’ tradition of delivering a funny and touching story that pays tribute to the power of imagination, this time in a world ruled by technology.
I figured tech would have to be introduced into the Toy Story universe at some point. It’s the way of the world now. Play time has turned into screen time. Kids are more disconnected than ever thanks to devices meant to connect them. That’s not to say technology is a bad thing, not entirely. Like most things, it’s fine if done in moderation. But even then, it can still be harmful for more sensitive types like Bonnie, the little girl at the center of the Toy Story films.
I realize this might not be the popular opinion, but I find Bonnie (Spears, Wicked: For Good) more interesting than Andy, the original owner of the toys led by Woody (Hanks, Forrest Gump) and Buzz Lightyear (Allen, The Santa Clause). The 8YO suffers from severe social anxiety, a condition with which I’m intimately familiar. I could see it when she hid behind her mom when Andy gave her his old toys in the third movie. I saw it even more on her first day of kindergarten in the fourth movie. She’s still dealing with it in Toy Story 5. She can’t seem to make any real friends. Nobody understands her. The kids laugh at her. A group of mean girls cyberbully her for her love of toys. It’s sad what she goes through. I sympathize with her. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.
To help her make friends, Bonnie’s well-meaning parents buy her a Lilypad, a frog-shaped tablet who goes by Lily (Lee, The Morning Show). They hope it will help their social outcast daughter make friends. The other toys don’t like it. They’ve seen the effects of technology on their toy brothers and sisters. They get abandoned in favor of glowing screens that lull them into lethargy. Jessie (Cusack, Grosse Point Blank), the most vocal opponent of tech, warns Lily to back off. She already knows what it’s like to be abandoned by her kid; she doesn’t want to go through it again with Bonnie.
Lily, in an act of defiance, sends friend requests to some girls Bonnie knows from dance class. They initially accept her and invite her to a sleepover. Jessie and her trusty horse Bullseye stow away in her suitcase to watch over her. When the other girls see Bonnie’s toys, they make her feel self-conscious about still playing with toys. She puts them in the car to go back home with her dad.
That’s when it happens. Jessie and Bullseye get separated from Bonnie after jumping out of the car. An elderly couple finds them and drops them off at the house where Jessie’s original owner used to live as a girl. Another girl lives there now. Her name is Blaze (Harris, Raven’s Home), she’s 8 and also loves playing with toys, especially horses. She’s a lot like Bonnie. Jessie comes up with the idea of connecting the two girls. But first, she has to let Bonnie know where she is so she can come get her. To do that, she will need the help of a few outdated tech toys Blaze doesn’t touch anymore.
You may have noticed I haven’t mentioned Woody and Buzz a lot. That’s because they’re not at the center of Toy Story 5. They’re still very much a part of things. They set to find Jessie and bring her home. Buzz is especially invested in this since he plans to ask the cowgirl for her hand in marriage. Woody, as you may remember, left the fold to help lost toys at the end of 4. He returns home after Jessie calls him to help deal with the Lily situation. He’s gotten older, sporting a shiny bald spot and a pot belly. This is prime material for the franchise, but director Andrew Stanton (Finding Dory) doesn’t delve into it too much.
ANYWAY, Jessie is the center of attention this time. Toy Story 5 deals with her lingering feelings of abandonment and her distrust of technology. She needs to learn to reconcile these feelings if she’s going to achieve her objective of getting back with Bonnie and finding her a true friend. It’s an interesting direction for this entry. It’s about time the girls get to play too.
The whole gang is back including Rex (Shawn, The Princess Bride), Slinky Dog (Clark, The Waterboy), Hamm (Pixar mainstay Ratzenberger), Bo Peep (Potts, Young Sheldon), Forky (Hale, Arrested Development) and the Potato Heads (now voiced by Jeff Bergman and Anna Vocino). New additions include toilet training gadget Smarty Pants (funnyman O’Brien), GPS hippo toy Atlas (Robinson, The Bad Guys 1 & 2) and toy camera Snappy (Rabara, Steven Universe). Daredevil Duke Kaboom (Reeves, John Wick) also returns. Will somebody PLEASE give him his own spin-off film? The voice talents, as always, are right on point, Cusack in particular. She brings a tough, feisty quality to Jessie, an independent cowgirl who figures out she needs friends to help her through the tougher times.
Also on point is the computer animation. Pixar consistently attains a level of excellence no other studio has matched. This time, they take things to another level with hand-drawn animated sequences depicting Bonnie’s wildly imaginative scenarios with her toys. I’m telling you, this kid has a brilliant future as a screenwriter. Her imagination doesn’t merely flow; it bursts forth like a geyser. I’m glad to see her flights of fancy finally brought to life (so to speak).
I love Toy Story 5, but it’s starting to show slight signs of wear and tear. The screenplay is somewhat jointed in the first half with a subplot about an army of Buzz Lightyear action figures looking for their leader. They’re eventually tied into the main plot, but it’s distracting until that point. That’s really the only problem with Toy Story 5 and it’s just a little one. The rest is great! Once again, I was brought to tears by the just-right ending. The franchise is good with that. So yes, this fifth Toy Story is a prize.
