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Matt Glasby

3/5 stars
For the past three decades, Pixar’s Toy Story franchise has used state-of-the-art animation to remind us of the simple pleasures of old-fashioned play – a nifty bit of mental gymnastics that works because the films are so lovingly crafted.
After a near-perfect original trilogy and an unnecessary yet enjoyable part four, this latest instalment is a rather tardy warning about the encroaching evils of technology.
The focus of Toy Story 5 is on Jessie the cowgirl (voiced by Joan Cusack), who is desperate to help her lonely eight-year-old owner Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) make friends.


When Bonnie’s parents buy her a frog-shaped tablet called Lilypad (Greta Lee), “Lily” quickly takes over her life – and her toy collection – leaving Jessie and her horse Bullseye out in the cold.
Meanwhile, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) is working himself up to a big commitment, and Woody (Tom Hanks) is wheeled back out – for contractual reasons, perhaps?
Capably directed and written by series co-creator Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, this is the first Toy Story with no input from disgraced director John Lasseter, who left parent company Disney in 2018.
As always, the animation is fluid, the voice work is faultless, and heartstrings aren’t so much tugged at as yanked by the pull string.
There are also plenty of funny lines, especially about out-of-date tech, such as when Jessie’s camera pal Snappy (Shelby Rabara) declares: “My entire SD card flashed before my eyes!”

However, it is also the first time you can see the joins. Amid all the side quests and cameos, new characters such as Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), a toilet-training tech toy, hardly get a look-in.
Furthermore, the inclusion of “real” (that is, non-toy) animals such as Daffodil the horse, who exists firmly in the uncanny valley, and a comedy pig called Jimmy Dean, feels wrong, as if they are incomers from another movie.
The Toy Story films began in the analogue era, but we are not in Kansas any more. Cue lots of depressing shots of people staring at screens and a subplot in which Bonnie’s new online friends start to bully her.
In this context, there is something increasingly desperate – not to mention dated – about the insistence on children prioritising vintage toys over tech. Sure, it is a lovely idea, but didn’t that ship sail years ago?

If Jessie and the gang’s adventures were a little more engaging, it might be easier to ignore the hectoring tone.
While there are enough chases and comic business to hold younger viewers’ attention – plus a catchy Taylor Swift theme song – this is the first Toy Story that does not stand up to adult scrutiny.
Perhaps that is asking too much. Or perhaps Pixar should have quit while it was ahead. As the films remind us, putting away childish things may be painful, but it is also the only way to grow.
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A tablet threatens to render the gang obsolete in Toy Story 5, which will charm children but is the first to not stand up to adult scrutiny


A tablet threatens to render the gang obsolete in Toy Story 5, which will charm children but is the first to not stand up to adult scrutiny.


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.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A tablet threatens to render the gang obsolete in Toy Story 5, which will charm children but is the first to not stand up to adult scrutiny

A tablet threatens to render the gang obsolete in Toy Story 5, which will charm children but is the first to not stand up to adult scrutiny