Publication Date: 06-23-2026

Toy Story 5 (2026) review

Dir. Andrew Stanton

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★

What a moment for 90s babies. On the same week, two fifth installments of popular movie franchises that served as pivotal touchstones in many of our lives grace the silver-screen. While they surely play off nostalgia, they also blaze a new trail and encapsulate much of what endeared us to them in the first place. I can confirm this about Toy Story 5. I’m bracing for the dopamine rush I’ll get when I see Jackass: Best and Last opening night.

The franchise is now 31-years-old, and has effectively been a part of multiple generations. But it started with mine, and seeing this on the precipice of turning 30 was its own experience. These beloved characters have been a part of my life for the entirety of it, and although Pixar might’ve made a grave miscalculation with Lightyear, it would take something from infinity and/or beyond to derail the iridescent charm and resonance this franchise is capable of producing. Like Toy Story 4, it might have a couple missteps, but those end up being fleeting footnotes by the time director/co-writer Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris hit you with a climax emphasized by legacy, evolution, and earned sentiment.

As the posters have subtly hinted, Toy Story 5 largely focuses on Jessie the cowgirl (voiced by Joan Cusack), with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and Woody (Tom Hanks). Buzz is hard-at-work being Jessie’s deputy in pursuit to make playtime fun for eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlette Spears) meanwhile Woody — boasting an offensive bald-spot and a protruding gut — is busy doing odd-jobs around the neighborhood. With Bonnie having a difficult time making friends, and spending most of her playtime alone, her parents opt to get her a frog-themed tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee). Her shyness is suddenly curtailed by electronic stimulation, leaving her precious toys — Rex (Wallace Shawn), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Slinky Dog (Blake Clark), etc — untouched as she chats with other neighborhood girls and plays addicting games.

When Bonnie decides to spend the night at one of the girls’ houses, they mock her for bringing Jessie and her horse Bullseye. In a matter of moments, the two wind up escaping the car and are inadvertently taken back to a ranch home outside city limits, thanks to the address written on Jessie’s pant-leg — from her very first owner (pre-Andy). The return to the newly updated home with new occupants, including a spunky, animal-loving eight-year-old named Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris), is a both a stark reminder of the past and a glimpse of the future.

Jessie and Bullseye need to return to Bonnie, and while their suspicions of technology are warranted, they do learn that there is room for collaboration between simple toys and cutting-edge gadgets. The best of the new crop of characters is Smart Pants (enthusiastically voiced by Conan O’Brien), an outdated-yet-still-functional toilet-training toy. When Jesse first meets “Smarty,” he’s a stumbling, slurry mess (his batteries are low), but once he gets a fresh set of AAs, he’s a spitfire of a personality. The thought of a talking potty-training toy might make you cringe at the possibilities, but Smarty’s quips are hysterically funny without being overly crude (“don’t dump what you can’t flush!”).

The one aspect of the latest Toy Story sequel that might require some adjustment is the incorporation of 2D sequences designed to differentiate “real-life” and playtime. In these scenes, the characters take on the fantastical qualities and setups devised by the children playing with them. It looks like a dream, and — strangely enough, for a film about children and excessive screentime — removes the human touch that gives the toys their life and personality. I would’ve rather seen Bonnie holding her toys, flinging them every which way, and animating their personalities for us.

Toy Story 5 is one of the most expensive animated movies ever made, and when you see the work the animators did on Blaze’s horse, Daffodil, you’ll see why. The animal’s range of motion and overall design looks photorealistic. 13 years ago, upon seeing Monsters University, I marveled at Pixar’s advancements in lighting effects. Now, the studio is pioneering another animation technology known as “invertible rigging,” where they could replicate movements and features of a real-life horse using software. The process therein leads to advanced kinetics with everyone from humans to toys to animals. One’s animated body corresponds even to the subtlest motions. You might not notice this upon first watch, but wait until your child wants to watch this movie three or four times at home (hopefully not on a tablet) and you might notice the pioneering wizardry at play here.

The plot does tend to get a bit busy at times. The opening scene sets up a subplot of a plethora of hi-tech Buzz Lightyear models ending up on a deserted island, and harnessing every ounce of their unpolished demo mode to unite and save themselves (and perhaps others along the way). While it does contribute to a riveting conclusion, it’s a little shoehorned — but not as much as the subplot involving Buzz’s desire to propose to Jessie after many play-sessions involving Bonnie making the toys marry one another. When it comes down to Woody and Buzz harnessing Lilypad’s powers against herself in order to get Jessie and Bullseye back with her family, you get the sense that if Stanton and Harris’ screenplay would slow down just a tick in order to appreciate the Rube Goldbergian plot progressions, it would contribute to a movie that would lean into its emotional beats more.

Those emotional beats, however, are expertly handled with the kind of deftness and empathy Pixar has been about from the very beginning. Toy Story 5 makes the hard stuff look easy, no better than when Jessie proclaims herself as “useless” and isolates herself in a sentimental spot where her and her first owner used to play. What is revealed is heartwarming, encompassing the kind of legacy and impact we personally hope to have one day. In some small ways, many of us likely do, but to be informed of it is a special. quintessentially human feeling. The emotional core of this franchise remains intact; while not on-par with the original trilogy, few animated films are.

NOTE: Taylor Swift’s original song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” is one of her best in years — perhaps since “Carolina,” her contribution to Where the Crawdads Sing. It’s true to the spirit of the storyline, and Randy Newman, who composes the music again for this sequel. Have her make a signature song for a movie and you’re practically guaranteed a banger.

My review of Toy Story 4

Voiced by: Joan Cusack, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Scarlett Spears, Greta Lee, Conan O’Brien, Shelby Rabara, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Craig Robinson, Wallace Shawn, Blake Clark, John Ratzenberger, and Keanu Reeves. Directed by: Andrew Stanton.