---
title: 'Toy Story 5 Review'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ep0kZHfp8R4'
video_id: 'ep0kZHfp8R4'
date: 2026-06-16
duration_sec: 0
---

# Toy Story 5 Review

> Source: [Toy Story 5 Review](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ep0kZHfp8R4)

## Summary

This video is a review of 'Toy Story 5', assessing whether this sequel was necessary and how well it works as a Pixar film. The reviewer, Clint Gage, discusses the movie's strengths in animation and humor while critiquing its emotional resonance and pacing. Ultimately, the review finds the film succeeds despite a slow start, particularly in its second half.

### Key Points

- **Graphical Bump** [0:05] — The film features a noticeable but not revolutionary improvement in graphics, with a specific early scene looking nearly photorealistic.
- **Sequel Context** [2:01] — The review acknowledges that Toy Story 5 is a sequel to a franchise that has already had two satisfying endings (Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4), making this installment's necessity a central question.
- **Fun vs. Melancholy** [3:00] — The movie offers fun moments, strong new characters (Conan O'Brien's Mr. Smartypants, Snappy, Atlas), and Bonnie's imaginative play scenes, but the first half is dominated by a 
- **Modern Themes** [4:01] — The plot revolves around Bonnie's social struggles and relationship with her tablet, Lilyad, who acts as a conduit for bullies, but the movie's critique feels somewhat out-of-touch and preachy.
- **Stronger Second Half** [7:50] — The second half of the movie significantly improves, becoming more adventurous, emotionally resonant, and funnier, ultimately finding a good landing.
- **Woody Feels Tacked On** [8:04] — Woody's presence feels unnecessary and takes away from Buzz's potential character growth and agency. The movie would arguably work better as a Buzz and Jessie two-hander.
- **Final Verdict** [10:11] — The reviewer gives the film a 7/10, noting that while it has a rocky start, it pulls off an adventurous and resonant conclusion with good new characters and proper handling of legacy ones.

### Conclusion

Toy Story 5 successfully delivers an entertaining and visually impressive sequel despite a slow and somewhat preachy first half. While not essential, it finds a good landing and provides a satisfying, if temporary, conclusion to the franchise.

## Transcript

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