Toy Story 5

Toy Story 5, 2026, 4 stars

Toy Storytime and again

Pixar sequel is derivative but delightful

Exclusive to MeierMovies, June 16, 2026

The Toy Story franchise has spanned five films (not including spin-offs) across 31 years, from the dawn of CGI to the dawn of AI. It has become part of humanity’s technological and artistic legacy, and part of the fabric of our lives. But what you get out of the latest installment will mostly depend on your own history.

This critic, for instance, was a decidedly different person back in 1995 when the first film debuted. I was just out of college, working for the same company that released the film (Disney), and had never seen a full-length digitally animated movie. No one had. The awe was palpable.

However, unlike many of you reading this review, I was an adult, so Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the gang shaped my young adulthood, not my childhood. And that makes a tremendous difference in how the characters are burned into your brain. Nevertheless, the first film brought me back to my earliest years and, specifically, to my own toys.

I wrote about the bond an adult can still feel for his toys in my review of Toy Story 4, in 2019. And, frankly, I can’t think of more to say on that topic. And therein lies the problem for veteran Pixar writer-director Andrew Stanton and the rest of his crew: how to invent fresh stories while remaining true to the characters. It’s a tough task. And they only partially succeed with Toy Story 5.

At the end of Toy Story 4 (2019), Woody (Tom Hanks) decided to stay a lost toy and not return to Bonnie. This allowed him to help find homes for other misplaced and abandoned toys while being close to his old love, Bo Peep (Annie Potts). And, let’s face it: He had never been Bonnie’s favorite, not the way he was Andy’s. Jessie was the new sheriff in Bonnie’s town, and that influenced Woody’s decision to break away. Still, the decision was a shock, if only because we thought Toy Story 4 was the finale, which meant Woody would spend the rest of his life (can toys live forever?) away from Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Slinky Dog (Blake Clark, sadly not Jim Varney), Mr. Potato Head (Jeff Bergman, sadly not Don Rickles), Bullseye and his other friends.

But here he is back with the gang in Toy Story 5. I won’t reveal how Stanton reunites them, suffice to say the reunion is anticlimactic. But this new film isn’t really about Woody. It’s mostly about Jessie and Bonnie, and Bonnie’s effort to find a like-minded girl pal. Indeed, it’s the most female-oriented of the series. And that’s fine, especially because the first film was almost entirely a masculine one, with Andy, Woody, Buzz and Sid dominating the plot. There wasn’t even a Mrs. Potato Head yet. So, boys, let’s leave this one to the girls.

The film is also about technology, specifically our society’s obsession with screens and devices. “The age of toys is over,” we are told. “Look at [the kids]: all on devices.”

That grim message is brought home, literally, by Lilypad, Bonnie’s new frog-themed smart tablet. Predictably, Bonnie temporarily eschews her traditional toys for this internet-connected play screen. But she doesn’t reject them completely, and therein lies part of the film’s intrigue. It seems Bonnie is an old-fashioned girl, trapped in a device-addicted world and alienated from potential friends who spend all the waking moments online.

But Lilypad does not employ AI. Or at least Stanton’s screenplay never mentions the word. And that amounts to a huge lost opportunity. After all, devices have been around for years and could have been the theme of Toy Story 4. AI, on the other hand, is nearly new, and Toy Story 5 would have felt fresher and more zeitgeisty had it homed in on artificial intelligence. (Imagine the script possibilities, as an aghast Woody remarks to Buzz, “That toy has no soul.”)

Speaking of artificial intelligence, this film uses no generative AI, which means the filmmakers do have a soul. However, their statement that they experimented with generative AI for this film but ultimately rejected it doesn’t bode well for the future. It suggests that if the quality of AI improves, which it will, a Toy Story 6 might employ it. So the status of the filmmakers’ souls is still up in the air.

The good news is that even the least impressive of the five Toy Story films, which this one is, will become a classic thanks to the art and craft of the entire Pixar team. The story is derivative, exploring again the themes of rejection and self-discovery, the former with Jessie and the latter with Buzz or, more specifically, new Buzzes who don’t yet realize they are toys. But the film finds slightly different ways to tell those familiar tales, and the trademark humor, hyper-realistic animation and lump-in-your-throat moments remind us why we still love the best animated film series of all time.

Let’s put down our devices and learn to play with our toys again.

© 2026 MeierMovies, LLC

For more information on the movie, visit IMDB and Wikipedia. The film will open in cinemas in North America on June 19 and is rated PG. If you liked this review, please follow MeierMovies on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X (Twitter).