Toy Story 5

4 outta 5

Toy Story 5 provides another solid Toy Story entry even though, honestly, Toy Story 3 had a fairly definitive ending. However, the specials, shorts, Part 4 and Part 5, all deliver fun continuing adventures of the Toy Story gang. Their plastic life is different now with their former leader leaving, and being toys for Bonnie has its own problems. There’s truly emotional bits that hit hard, and all Toy Story movies often have things get really weird and funny.

The toys, formerly of Andy and now Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), are living with the little girl who is having trouble making friends. Her parents realize that all the other kids are playing with tablets, so they get Bonnie a Lilypad (Greta Lee) so she can communicate with her peers. When Bonnie shows up for a sleepover with two of her toys in tow, Jessie (Joan Cusack) and the horse Bullseye, she is embarrassed and immediately ditches them for Lily. Now Jessie is determined to see if Bonnie is making friends and playing, an issue very close to Jessie as she was abandoned years ago. Back at Bonnie’s house, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the toys are trying to find Jessie and they require the assistance of the former toy leader, cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks). But the toys, and some fresh, crazy friends, have to make sure Bonnie has a new, nice, friend. This is difficult as her peers are focused on their screens and often pick on Bonnie for still playing with toys.

The Toy Story films pull off a very delicate balancing act of emotional pathos and toy frantic craziness. They’re basically indestructible, get bashed together a lot, and they’re always squealing with funny reactions to various bad news situations. But there is a lot of anxiety, especially in this film, about loneliness and being abandoned. The 2^nd film established Jessie’s trauma over being abandoned, but instead of being repetitive, it shows that trauma is difficult to overcome. Jessie’s owner abandoned her years ago and seeing Bonnie do the same thing makes her anxious. Her determination that Bonnie has something to play with makes sense. Cusack as Jessie has an exaggerated line delivery which fits when things get crazy, but she also dials things back for emotional impact. Jessie has slowly morphed into the series lead, she is basically the second lead of Toy Story 2, and here she takes centre stage.

Woody left for a few reasons; one is Bonnie basically forgot about him in favour of other toys, and his return here is played for laughs as he’s gotten balder, a bit thicker, and is wearing a terrible poncho.  Woody probably wasn’t really needed for the story, but it is great to see him return, and Hanks still sounds fun. It’s great to see Woody and Buzz bounce off each other again, as they squabble over who Jessie made deputy. There is also a romantic subplot with Buzz and Jessie that works well enough here, even if it feels a little random as Buzz and Jessie didn’t interact much in the previous movies

The best thing about Buzz here, and indeed probably, the whole movie, is the legion of Buzz Lightyear toys who stumble off a beach, and slowly realize their mission to find Star Command. They actually have a lot of neat tricks like Wi-Fi and drone flying that are even fancier than the original Buzz. Eventually, the OG drops some truth: they’re toys and their mortal enemy Zurg is actually their father, which causes them to fall to the ground in anguish.  It maybe it says something that the best thing about the movie is a goofy subplot about a legion of dumb Buzz Lightyear toys but it is really funny.

Bonnie trying to fit in with her new friends is harrowing and heartbreaking, even if Inside Out 2 basically did the same thing. But the kid zoning out on screens is also tough to watch as she completely disengages from anyone else. Lily comes off at first as a maniacal, mechanical overlord, and Lee makes her sound really mean, like when Jessie lists off the many owners she has had, Lily dismisses it with “Just sounds like you’re old.” But like all toys, Lily just wants to look out for her owner, and when Lily thinks she has made a mistake with Bonnie’s friends, she freaks out. There are a bunch of new toys along the way, when Jessie runs into abandoned toys (featuring a brief appearance by Combat Carl, who is always amazing), one is a toilet training toy, Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien). He conveys a crazy range of emotions, from low power babbling to making himself the leader of the escaped toys, as O’Brien’s performance is hilariously manic.

There is a lot of funny stuff throughout Toy Story 5, and emotional bits, and the ending of Bonnie’s search for a new friend is very satisfying. There are some cool visuals, like when the toys are being played with the visuals become dreamlike and painterly. This doesn’t reinvent the Toy Story franchise, but it is great to see these characters once again.