Released: 18th June
Seen: 19th June
The Toy Story franchise feels like a miracle at this point, it’s certainly a franchise that goes past any reasonable explanation in terms of quality. The first film was basically a test to see if you could even make a full-length feature film using CGI characters and make it interesting, it went on to be the second-highest-grossing film of 1995 (I know, I feel old too just realising it’s been 31 years) and effectively killed the hand-drawn animation genre. Toy Story 2 was almost deleted by accident and intended to go straight to DVD, it ended up as the third highest-grossing film of 1999 and is widely considered as good as, or better than the original. Toy Story 3 came out nearly a decade later in 2010, had a six-year production period and seemingly closed the story out. It would go on to make a billion dollars, be the highest-grossing film of that year and finally win this franchise the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Then in 2019 came Toy Story 4, a film that many people doubted because the story was finished pretty perfectly in part three but it proved us wrong, creating another nearly perfect movie that again made a billion dollars and won this franchise its second Best Animated Feature Oscar. It’s kind of wild just realizing that this franchise has somehow produced four absolute classics of the genre and keeps finding new ways to delight young audiences with its story about a bunch of toys that come to life whenever you aren’t looking… Well, looks like we’re gonna have to make that five absolute classics because the bastards did it again.
Toy Story 5 picks up with the gang of toys at Bonnie’s (Scarlett Spears) house, now led by Jessie (Joan Cusack) after the previous film sent Woody (Tom Hanks) off to go rescue more abandoned toys. Things are going pretty well, Jessie is making sure to keep morale up and also having a cute little relationship with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), when suddenly one day Bonnie tries to make some new friends with the kids in her neighbourhood, but nowadays kids don’t play with toys. Kids today socialise via their tablets and so Bonnie’s parents get her a Lilypad (Greta Lee), a tablet that she can use to interact with other kids. The toys naturally don’t trust this technology at all since they’re used to helping their kids play using their imagination, but Lilypad is sure that she knows best and so she tries to make sure that Bonnie will get new friends no matter what it takes… in this case it’ll create a series of events that leads to Jessie going back to the home that first abandoned her to try and deal with the pain of being left behind by kids who would rather play about on a Lilypad than with a cowgirl doll.
Toy Story 5 really seems to have its finger on the pulse of what’s going on with kids today regarding how they play, leaning in to how technology has replaced the simple act of imagination and turned kids into screen-obsessed zombies… hell, it’s not just kids. Chances are good you’re reading this on a portable screen in between games of Candy Crush or some Bluesky argument that you want to get back to, none of us are immune to the power of the glowing screen and Toy Story 5 really seems to understand that. It shows a lot of the impact that technology has through Bonnie, watching her go from this sweet energetic kid to a constantly exhausted emotionless husk is kind of heartbreaking. It doesn’t play it as completely evil, it seems all animated films have moved past just straight up villains and instead it explores the complicated issue of the utility of the technology and its effects on young minds. Sure, this stuff is genuinely a great way to connect with people and makes organising hangouts a breeze but it also can amplify anxieties and make things like bullying very easy to hide.
This film continues Toy Story’s grand tradition of emotionally devastating the audience every single chance it can get. You might recall the second movie has one of the saddest moments in a Pixar film when we see Jessie’s abandonment and the song When She Loved Me plays to great effect… Toy Story 5 certainly remembers it and uses that pain as the foundation the entire film is built on. This film largely belongs to Jessie having to unpack her complicated feelings around being abandoned by a kid again, having now been through several of them she worries that she’s not having any actual impact and will just be forgotten in favour of the new shiny tech. Hell, a solid half of the film involves her at the house her original owner lived in, thus forcing her to confront it head on and the film doesn’t shy away from how devastating it all is. Once again, Pixar took a small toy and gave it some of the most emotional scenes in cinema today and used them to make the audience cry. If you don’t at least get a little teary eyed during this movie, seek help.
It’s not all sadness though, this film is also funny as ever but most of the humour is provided by Woody and Buzz who basically take up the B plot of the entire film. They’re side characters now, there because you really can’t do a Toy Story without them but they’re no longer the main focus of the narrative. The jokes range from super obvious to subtle and witty, from classy wordplay to great character moments and, thanks to new character Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien) even some poop jokes. It’s all well done, often catching you off guard with where the joke is going to come from. It’s probably not gonna be quite as quotable as previous entries but it’s still funny enough that it’ll work for both kids and adults, which is usually the best thing about this franchise (cos god knows parents don’t want to be bored out of their brains taking their kid to a movie).
Once again Pixar have leveled up their animation, while there’s nothing that hits the level of pure realism as the cat from Toy Story 4 it’s still just an undeniably beautiful film. It feels trite to even say it, but god it’s nice seeing a film with bold colours, dramatic lighting, interesting framing and more than a few really fun visual references thrown in. A particular highlight is how the film turns into, essentially, crayon drawings anytime we see Bonnie playing with the toys, it’s presented like we’re in her imagination and it has such a specific childlike quality that it is truly captivating. There are many shots in this film that are just staggeringly beautiful, you can definitely feel that they were pushing everything to the limit to just show off what could be done.
Now obviously there are some things that aren’t quite perfect, a few voice performances are a little off (but hey, that’s what happens when you have to replace a couple of dead people with sound alikes) and some of the structure around the middle feels a little bit jumbled up. There are also some elements that they really don’t explore as much as they could, like Lily’s voice-activated mode somehow only working for Buzz which is really barely used in any interesting way, or just what the rest of Woody’s new outside gang were doing throughout the film. Nitpicks that do certainly lessen the film compared to the first three, but it’s still better than the last movie (and that movie was damn near perfect itself).
Toy Story 5 pulls off something remarkable, it shows that this franchise still has some life in it and hasn’t yet just turned into a soulless cash cow. It has something important to say about kids today and hopefully that message will come across to the kids who go to see it, but it’s also just a really great film with a lot of that special charm that has carried this franchise for over 30 years. It’s just an absolute delight, a joyful time from start to finish with occasional moments of emotional devastation sprinkled in for character. There is no telling if this film’s success will mean we get a 6th film, I’m not sure it’s needed at this point but I also wouldn’t have said a 5th film was needed so who knows, let’s just enjoy this miraculous series while it’s here.
Movie Meister Reviews 