Released in 1995, the original Toy Story proved to be both a technological leap forward in the history of cinema on the level of 2001 in terms of its then-groundbreaking use of CGI animation and an enormously entertaining and inspired work that may have been ostensibly aimed at younger viewers but which was immediately beloved by both kids, who adored the bright colors, fast action and cheerful humor, and adults, who liked all off that stuff but also found themselves moved by the sophisticated storytelling and its willingness to embrace headier ideas about the meaning of one’s existence as well. At first glance, the inevitable Toy Story 2 (1999) might have appeared to be just another sequel designed to cash in on the success of its predecessor—it was even originally contemplated as a direct-to-video prospect until saner heads prevailed—but it proved to be a smarter, funnier and deeper experience that would almost instantly become enshrined as one of the greatest sequels ever made—not exactly the stiffest competition, of course, but still pretty impressive. Although those two films set the artistic bar at an almost impossibly high level—they were essentially seen by many as the Godfather/Godfather II of animation—Toy Story 3 (2011) once again not only cleared it but exceeded it by a wide margin with a narrative that found new things to do with its characters and say about the existential relationship between toys and their humans that resonated with both younger and older viewers alike (including those who were themselves kids when the first film came out) and found such a perfect note to conclude on that most observers just assumed that, at least as a feature-film enterprise, was coming to an impressively graceful conclusion.
That is why when it was announced a few years later that Disney and Pixar would be going forward with a fourth entry, even those who wholeheartedly loved the previous films were a bit skeptical. Sure, pretty much all of the key players involved had signed on but having completed one of the most spectacular hat tricks in cinema history, why risk tarnishing things with another go-around? As it happened, Toy Story 4 (2019) was perfectly fine—it was smarter and funnier than most of the animated films of that time that were trying to replicate the magic of the films that Pixar put out during their heyday (including some put out by Pixar themselves)—but it was never more than that, leaving longtime viewers with the discomfiting sensation of experiencing a Toy Story film that was ultimately less than essential. Therefore, when it was revealed that a fifth entry in the franchise was in the works, not even the fact that it once again managed to bring back the key members of the voice cast—including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack—and put Pixar mainstay Andrew Stanton, who worked on the other films and notably directed WALL*E, one of the few films from the studio ranked as highly as the original Toy Story films, in the director’s seat was enough to offset a certain level of consternation among moviegoers, who worried that perhaps the series should just quit while it was still reasonably far ahead and avoid further damage to its reputation. (Like most of society, we are going to pretend that the oddball spinoff Lightyear never happened.)
Happily—and perhaps I should have simply led with this and saved you some time and prevented you from having to wade through a couple of overwritten paragraphs, Toy Story 5 is not just a considerable improvement over its predecessor, it is a real winner that more than lives up to everything that the franchise has represented to so many people over the years. Little kids, ones who have only seen the earlier films at home on television or perhaps not at all, will adore the colors, the comedy, the action and the delightful cast of characters, both the old favorites and the new additions, and perhaps subliminally soak up the life lessons that it presents in a quietly effective manner. Older viewers—perhaps even the parents or grandparents of those younger eyes—will find it to be a spectacularly effective and occasionally moving summation of all the ideas that the films have offered over the years on the concepts of love, loss, the meaning of existence and other heady topics that even most adult films tend to shy away from these days. While it may not quite top the original trilogy when all is said and done, it is good enough to deserve comparison with them, which is more than you can say about most of the films that have emerged in the 15 years since the release of Toy Story 3. (Yes, typing the last few years of that last sentence has pretty much made me feel like David Bowie in the waiting room in The Hunger.)
You will recall that at the end of Toy Story 3, the now-grown Andy, the child owner of the various toys that the films would focus on, passed on his treasured playthings, including affable cowboy doll Woody (Hanks), cheerful cowgirl Jessie (Cusack) and space-age goofball Buzz (Allen), to a little girl named Bonnie. As this film opens, the now 8-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is still playing with her toys, using them as an outlet for her boundless creativity and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be translating into making actual friends for her to play with—her attempt to reach out to the twin kinds next door is particularly heartbreaking to witness—and when Jessie and her trusted steed, Bullseye (Alan Cumming), venture out to investigate, they discover to their horror that kids seems to have largely forsaken traditional toys and notions of play for high-tech devices that leave them staring at screens for all hours and making friends mostly in the virtual sense. (Even when they are together, they do nothing but gaze blankly at their own devices.) In despair, Jessie makes contact with Woody, who took off to roam the land as an itinerant counselor for newly abandoned toys, and summons him for help, which inspires no small amount of consternation in Buzz, who is struggling to figure out a way to propose to Jessie himself.
In the hopes that it will help her break out of her shell and make some friends, Bonnie’s well-meaning parents buy her a talking kid-friendly tablet known as Lilypad (Greta Lee) and, much to the chagrin and horror of Jessie, she takes to it immediately and begins spending all of her time on it. When Jessie tries to confront Lilypad about this, the device points out that times have changed and that it is only trying to help Bonnie as well, proving her point by getting her set up on a chat group with kids from her dance class and invited to a sleepover in about five minutes flat. Suspicious, Jessie and Bullseye stow away in her bag to see what is up and when the other girls see that Bonnie still plays with old-fashioned toys, it goes about as well as most sleepovers from your own youth, leading to Bonnie going home more despondent than ever and Jessie and Bullseye, through various machinations, winding up at the same farmhouse where she once lived with her first owner and which is now inhabited by Blaze (Mykolaiv-Michelle Harris), a 9-year-old who seems to be right on Bonnie’s unique wavelength. While Jessie is trying to get Bonnie and Blaze together for a play date, even resorting to use some of the latter’s outdated tech toys—GPS hippo Atlas (Craig Robinson), kid-friendly camera Snappy (Shelby Rabara) and potty trainer Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien, in the role he was born to voice)—to make the connection, Woody and Buzz are off trying to find Jessie and bring her home. While all of this is going on, a virtual army of Buzz Lightyears, the contents of a shipping crate that washed up on shore, have come to life and are marching en masse to find their leader as well.
It could be argued that Toy Story 5 is not exactly breaking new narrative ground this time around—the conflict between venerable old toys and flashy new playthings was one of the basic concepts of the original film and Jessie’s existential crisis over the possibility of being abandoned by her child and if that means her entire existence was meaningless was at the heart of Toy Story 2. What makes this film so fascinating is how the screenplay, penned by Stanton and Kenna Harris, takes ideas that the franchise has focused on in the past and spun them off in new and ultimately rewarding directions. A lazier screenplay, for example, might have placed most of the focus on the schism between legacy toys like Woody, Jessie and Buzz (recall how the latter was considered to be state-of-the-art back in the day) and new forms of playthings represented by the likes of Lilypad and made the latter some kind of villain (a notion that might have been somewhat untenable considering that Disney is going to be selling Lilypads as part of the accompanying merchandising onslaught). Here, the film is much more clever in the way that it deals with this particular premise by presenting Lilypad as a toy that, despite its technical advances, loves and cares for Bonnie as much as Jessie and the others but unfortunately fails to calculate just how cruel kids can be to anyone they perceive as stepping outside of the norms, even at a young age. Likewise, the notion of observing Jessie confronting her abandonment issues for a third time might seem like a bit of a non-starter but by making her essentially the central character of the story this time around, it gives us a chance to get to know her on a deeper level so that when the hurts and epiphanies involving her kick in, they pack a genuinely emotional punch that should resonate with the kids while causing older viewers to wonder why the theater is so darn dusty.
And yet, what continues to astound about the Toy Story films is that they are able to layer in these heavier concepts without them coming across as forced and heavy-handed by balancing them with a lot of humor and action along the way. In theory, the film may seem a little overstuffed for a narrative that essentially boils down to whether two girls will be able to come together for a play date and it could be argued that elements such as the oncoming army of Buzz Lightyears and perhaps even Woody himself are perhaps extraneous to the central story. Perhaps, but the film manages to work them into the fabric of the story with surprising deftness—Woody may no longer be the focus but the character is still entertaining to watch, particularly in the ways that his bromance with Buzz continues to evolve, and the stuff involving the multiple Buzzes ends up paying off beautifully when that thread eventually ties in to the main story. Stanton keeps everything moving along at a nice pace and the whole thing is as stylish-looking as ever. (The scenes in which Bonnie’s playtime reveries are presented in 2D fluorescent hues are particularly striking.) The returning cast members are all clearly having a blast but invest their line readings with enough focus and emotion so that it never feels as if they are just going through the motions in exchange for a big paycheck. (Simply hearing Cusack, who has been away from the screen for a while, busting out her cowgirl exclamations is a delight all by itself.) The new additions to the cast fit in quite nicely as well—I suspect that Conan O’Brien’s work as Smarty Pants might prove to be a bit divisive with some but I found him to be hilarious.
Toy Story 5 is ultimately a testament to the power of imagination and does so by demonstrating plenty of its own reserves of that ingredient—one that is elusive enough in a typical summer blockbuster and especially in one with a “5” in the title. It is a film that viewers of all ages will treasure—younger viewers will hopefully use it as a springboard to help fuel their own imaginations while older ones will be reminded that movies aimed at the biggest audiences imaginable can still be smart and challenging instead of just dumbing things down for the lowest common denominator. It is no secret that the once-seemingly invincible Pixar has had a somewhat shaky output over the last few years but based on this spring’s fairly inventive Hoppers and now this, they seem to have regained their mojo and are once again doing the kind of grandly ambitious and giddily entertaining films that they were once synonymous with back in the day. At a time when even the Star Wars franchise seems to have lost its way, at least cinematically, this is a rare bit of good news for moviegoers to cherish.
Oh yeah, the song during the end titles is pretty good as well.