[0:00] Toys are for play, but tech is is for
[0:03] everything.
[0:05] >> Woody, Buzz, and the gang are back in
[0:06] theaters for Toy Story 5, a fourth
[0:09] sequel to Pixar's flagship franchise
[0:11] that proves no matter how well you wrap
[0:13] up a story, there's always room for one
[0:15] more. This time, the now very antique
[0:18] toys are faced with their most dangerous
[0:19] challenge yet, screen time. But how
[0:23] necessary was this sequel? And how can
[0:25] the brain trust behind Pixar
[0:27] successfully pull these toys out of the
[0:29] attic again? I'm Clint Gage and my kids
[0:31] and I went to see Toy Story 5. Here's
[0:33] our review.
[0:34] >> I want to talk to you device.
[0:36] >> Please call me Lily.
[0:37] >> Me and the toys have been working all
[0:39] summer to try and get Bonnie to make
[0:40] friends, but then you had to ruin it.
[0:43] >> Right off the bat, I can say the movie
[0:44] does Pixar proud in the visual
[0:46] department. It isn't quite the
[0:48] revolutionary jump in graphics that Toy
[0:50] Story 4 had over its predecessors, but
[0:52] the usual Pixar bump is there. In fact,
[0:54] one scene that starts with an
[0:56] establishing shot of the sky and trees
[0:58] and school bus had me thinking for a
[1:00] split second that they'd actually shot
[1:01] some real footage for the film before
[1:03] kids from the uncanny valley came
[1:05] running into frame. Now, my son had a
[1:07] quote about that as well. Uh, it was
[1:10] better graphics with an F. He almost got
[1:15] it. To be fair, he took my notebook in
[1:16] the middle of the theater and wrote in
[1:17] the dark. So, there's a chance that he
[1:19] does know how to spell graphics
[1:20] correctly. Now, my kids were very
[1:22] excited to tag along to this press
[1:23] screening, but less so when I started
[1:25] asking them questions on the ride home.
[1:27] My daughter, who just finished fifth
[1:29] grade, said it was starting to feel like
[1:30] homework. And I did have to remind her
[1:32] that this was in fact my job. And yeah,
[1:36] yeah, it's a little like homework
[1:37] sometimes. She also said every time she
[1:39] watches a Toy Story movie that uh I feel
[1:42] like my toys are watching me sleep and
[1:45] that's why they're in a different place
[1:47] in the morning. Uh, now I want to make
[1:50] sure you know I only moved all her toys
[1:52] around once. I guess that's all it
[1:54] takes. So, be careful playing that trick
[1:56] on your kids.
[1:56] >> Okay, everybody, ghost is clear. Now,
[1:59] >> for starters, it's difficult to talk
[2:01] about Toy Story 5 without a heavy dose
[2:02] of context for the entire franchise.
[2:05] Obviously, it's a sequel and there are
[2:07] four movies worth of story to keep in
[2:09] mind. But more than that, this is a
[2:10] franchise that has had two separate
[2:12] occasions to wrap up in a pretty
[2:15] satisfying way. Now, there are crowds of
[2:18] people who would agree it should have
[2:20] just been a trilogy, ending on Bonnie's
[2:22] porch at the end of Toy Story 3. And
[2:24] while Toy Story 4 started the
[2:26] conversation of why are we still doing
[2:28] this for some, it defied the odds and
[2:30] put a decently neat bow on the franchise
[2:32] yet again. And with even more finality
[2:35] this time. So, why do we need a Toy
[2:38] Story 5 is a bigger question here than
[2:40] it has been even for other longrunning
[2:42] franchises. That is, fair or not, the
[2:45] hole that this movie was starting in for
[2:46] me. My kids, though, not so much. In
[2:49] fact, their least favorite entry into
[2:50] the franchise is the widely beloved Toy
[2:53] Story 3. But my daughter had one very
[2:55] interesting reason for that. One that
[2:56] leads me back into this review proper.
[2:59] The first and foremost, a Toy Story
[3:00] movie, and I would argue a Pixar film in
[3:03] general, needs to be fun. And Toy Story
[3:05] 5 certainly trots out some fun moments.
[3:07] The animation style of Bonnie's
[3:09] imagination and the scenarios she
[3:11] concocts while playing with her favorite
[3:13] toys may be the strongest of any such
[3:15] sequence in the whole series. And from a
[3:17] battalion of stranded nextgen Buzz
[3:20] Lightyears trying to find their way back
[3:21] to Star Command to forgotten toys wasted
[3:24] in the wake of tech, there are plenty of
[3:26] memorable laughs. Conan O'Brien in
[3:29] particular is hilarious as Mr.
[3:31] Smartypants, a potty training assistant.
[3:34] In fact, the trio of new characters
[3:35] including Mr. Smarty Pants, the kid's
[3:37] first digital camera, Snappy, and Atlas,
[3:40] a map device that's for some reason a
[3:42] hippo, were my daughter's favorite
[3:44] characters in the entire movie, and I
[3:46] can't really argue with that. They're a
[3:48] blast. They also do one of my favorite
[3:49] Toy Story things, which is questioning
[3:51] their own existence in a legitimately
[3:53] terrifying way.
[3:55] >> Extinction. Not again.
[3:57] >> However, on the balance, this movie may
[3:59] be more of a downer than it was fun.
[4:01] There's a modlin sense of dread that
[4:04] hangs over most of the first half of the
[4:06] movie where a real sadness revolves
[4:08] around Bonnie and her inability to make
[4:10] friends that can meet her where she's
[4:11] at. Now, this was something that my
[4:13] daughter and I had an interesting
[4:14] conversation about. After Bonnie's
[4:16] parents buy her a Lily Pad, her first
[4:18] tablet nervously purchased as a way to
[4:20] help her connect with all the other kids
[4:22] in her orbit who already have one,
[4:24] Bonnie's online dynamic in a chat group,
[4:26] goes pretty immediately bad. My kid and
[4:29] I talked about who is to blame for that.
[4:31] The bullies who were being mean or
[4:33] Lilyad who served as an easy conduit
[4:35] providing access to Bonnie for the
[4:37] bullies. She actually blamed Lilyad
[4:40] saying quote, "It's important to know
[4:42] who good people are in real life." Now,
[4:44] there's wisdom to that beyond my
[4:46] daughter's 11 years, and I'm proud of
[4:48] her. But also, she agreed it was the
[4:50] iPad's fault. So, jokes on her, she's
[4:52] getting less screen time from now on.
[4:54] >> Bunny, screen time's over now.
[4:56] >> Okay. Meanwhile, my seven-year-old son
[4:58] said,
[5:00] "I like how the tech took over."
[5:04] So, less screen time for him, too, I
[5:06] guess. And to finally get back to my
[5:08] daughter's point, the other thing a Toy
[5:10] Story movie needs is a good villain. To
[5:12] quote her thoughts on Toy Story 3, I
[5:14] hated that the villain was just evil the
[5:16] whole time. Now, I thought that was an
[5:18] interesting take because Lilyad, for her
[5:20] part, is doing what she thinks is best
[5:22] for Bonnie, which per my daughter and
[5:24] I's conversation, makes placing the
[5:26] villain label on her a little more
[5:28] difficult. She's a standin for the idea
[5:31] of technology causing kids to grow up
[5:33] too fast, not necessarily the antagonist
[5:35] in and of herself. Now, I think that's
[5:37] in the pro column for this movie, as
[5:39] some of the franchise's best moments are
[5:41] from villains who see the error of their
[5:43] ways and are big enough to pivot. Now, I
[5:45] would argue Tom Hanks's Woody actually
[5:47] represents the best version of that in
[5:49] the original Toy Story because he was
[5:51] straight up the bad guy for most of that
[5:53] movie, but that's that's probably a
[5:55] different video. Toy Story films also
[5:57] need a relatable phase of life at their
[5:59] center, something universally
[6:01] experienced, like growing up, leaving
[6:03] home, or letting go. These are all
[6:06] things just about everybody can relate
[6:08] to without any extra direction from the
[6:10] filmmakers. And Toy Story 5, for at
[6:12] least the first half, is very much
[6:14] missing that universality. Growing up
[6:17] with social media is a modern and I
[6:19] suppose widely relatable experience that
[6:21] wasn't around 30 years ago when the
[6:22] first Toy Story came out. But instead of
[6:25] being about remember how it can be
[6:27] difficult to be a kid, a lot of Toy
[6:29] Story 5 is more focused around kids
[6:31] these days and their screens. Am I
[6:32] right? Now, the difference there is that
[6:34] Toy Story 5's statement feels like it's
[6:36] the filmmakers telling us about it
[6:39] instead of letting us get there
[6:40] emotionally ourselves. The result is an
[6:43] outofouchness that is quite frankly
[6:45] surprising to see from Pixar. For a lot
[6:47] of the film's runtime, Toy Story very
[6:49] uncharacteristically doesn't have much
[6:51] to offer the conversation about young
[6:53] people's relationship to their screens,
[6:55] and there's not a lot of the real
[6:57] emotional stakes the series has been
[6:59] trading in for four movies prior to
[7:01] this. Bonnie doesn't want to play with
[7:02] toys anymore. She needs me.
[7:05] >> And to be fair, it doesn't let parents
[7:07] off the hook either. As a remote worker
[7:09] myself, I felt properly seen and
[7:11] criticized by a scene where a parent is
[7:13] just shouting, "You're muted," while
[7:15] parked in his home office on Zoom. It's
[7:18] difficult to take that critique too
[7:20] seriously, coming from Pixar, a company
[7:22] that sprung from the same Steve Jobs
[7:24] that brought us the iPad in the first
[7:25] place. But that also might just be me
[7:28] being defensive. I did follow up about
[7:30] that scene with my kids and if it
[7:31] reminded them of me. To which my son
[7:33] said, "Oh, 100% totally. It wasn't funny
[7:37] because it was work." So, you know, the
[7:40] movie does have its finger on the pulse
[7:41] of human connectivity and low these
[7:43] modern times to some extent. Now, I know
[7:45] I've been more negative than not about
[7:47] this movie for like 1500 words now, but
[7:50] really the second half of Toy Story 5 is
[7:52] much better. A lot of what I like about
[7:54] it and how the movie lands gets into
[7:56] some spoiler territory, so it's it's
[7:58] just harder to go into detail about it.
[8:00] Before I attempt to, though, feel like I
[8:02] do also have to call out everybody's
[8:04] favorite cowboy. This movie did not need
[8:07] Woody. It's a testament to the job the
[8:10] franchise has done of ending in a
[8:11] satisfying way twice now that he feels
[8:13] so tacked on in this one. In fact, it's
[8:16] enough to make me wonder if he wasn't
[8:17] even in the early drafts of this movie
[8:19] until an exec got hold of it and said,
[8:20] "Put the cowboy in, you maniacs." You
[8:23] could lift Woody straight out of this
[8:25] movie and there would only be, I think,
[8:27] two differences. Number one, the movie
[8:29] would be maybe 2 minutes shorter. He's
[8:31] got no business to do off on his own
[8:33] that affects the plot in any meaningful
[8:35] way. And number two, it would actually
[8:37] help out Buzz. This movie wants so badly
[8:40] to be just a two-hander between Buzz and
[8:43] Jesse. and it almost pulls it off. But
[8:46] when Woody comes back and starts
[8:47] hatching plans, it takes away Buzz's
[8:50] agency. Buzz could have taken a next
[8:52] step into responsibility or adulthood,
[8:54] leadership, whatever you want to call
[8:55] it, whatever box needed to be ticked for
[8:58] one of those universally relatable life
[9:00] phases that Toy Story has always hung
[9:02] its hat on. Instead, he just kind of
[9:04] keeps following orders, and it feels
[9:06] like an opportunity was missed in favor
[9:08] of rehashing some of his and Woody's old
[9:10] dynamic.
[9:11] >> Buzz, you stay here. I'm going with
[9:12] them. You don't think I can do it?
[9:14] >> YES. NO.
[9:15] >> Now again, pretty much all of my issues
[9:17] with this film are in its first half,
[9:19] but I think that's also in part because
[9:21] I was dreading how they were going to
[9:23] attempt to stick the landing. Happily,
[9:25] the back half of the movie manages it a
[9:28] lot better than I'd feared. From the
[9:30] midpoint of the movie, Toy Story 5
[9:31] really starts to nail the things Pixar
[9:33] does best. It's adventurous with well
[9:36] choreographed and stylish action and
[9:39] just a lot funnier. the heart of the
[9:41] movie finally shows up to deal with
[9:43] things like what it means to really make
[9:45] meaningful connections or the
[9:47] distinction between games and actually
[9:49] playing. And Woody also starts to fade
[9:51] into the background, leaning into more
[9:53] of a comic relief role than being front
[9:55] and center. And surprise, surprise, the
[9:57] film is better for it. Most importantly,
[9:59] after all the hemming and hawing about
[10:01] what's to be done with tech, the film
[10:03] finally takes a stand. It's not an
[10:05] overly ambitious one or even one that
[10:07] will surprise you, but it was very
[10:09] necessary to walk out of the theater
[10:11] feeling good about it. Ultimately, Toy
[10:13] Story 5 does have something to add to
[10:16] the conversation beyond old guys shaking
[10:18] their fists at clouds about kids in
[10:20] their tablets these days.
[10:21] >> Who's laughing now?
[10:25] It shut up.
[10:26] >> But speaking of kids in their tablets,
[10:29] mine apparently have not had enough of
[10:31] Toy Story. I asked them what they'd like
[10:33] to see in a Toy Story 6. My son just
[10:35] started yelling about needing Spoony to
[10:37] join Tony Hails Forky and his knife
[10:39] bride Karen Beverly. He kept getting
[10:41] louder and doing different goofy voices
[10:44] every time my daughter would try to
[10:45] chime in. It was um it was a problem for
[10:48] a minute on the drive home, but finally
[10:51] she was able to articulate just wanting
[10:53] more Toy Story. Couldn't get any more
[10:55] detail out of her than that. Maybe it's
[10:58] the idea that she, like Andy or Bonnie,
[11:00] or it would seem Pixar, just can't bear
[11:03] the idea of leaving these toys behind.
[11:06] >> Nice poncho. It's good to see them
[11:09] fighting again. It sure is.
[11:11] >> So, I'm giving Toy Story 5 a seven. I
[11:14] thought about giving it a six, but it
[11:16] really is better than just okay. Plus,
[11:18] both my kids said they'd give it a 10.
[11:20] And if I'm going to include their quotes
[11:21] in my reviews, I should also consider
[11:23] their perspective. After all, that's
[11:25] Pixar's whole thing, right? kids movies
[11:26] that their parents can enjoy, too. All
[11:28] of my issues with the first half of the
[11:29] movie aside, Toy Story 5 manages to pull
[11:32] off an adventurous and resonant
[11:34] conclusion with a handful of new
[11:35] characters adding some fresh batteries
[11:37] to the mix and sidelining the right
[11:39] legacy characters at the right time. The
[11:41] fifth installment of Pixar's main event
[11:43] finds another good way to wrap up, at
[11:45] least until the inevitable Toy Story 6.
[11:48] That's what I thought. Toy Story 5. For
[11:50] more reviews, you're already here, guys.
[11:51] Be sure to subscribe to IGN wherever you
[11:54] like to watch.