It’s been over three decades since the beloved series first came to our screens, and now cowboy Woody (Tom Hanks) and space ranger Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) return in the latest animated adventure, Toy Story 5. Directed by studio stalwart Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris, it centres around cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack) whose place as favourite toy of eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is threatened when trendy tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee) arrives, intended to help the little girl make friends. Eager to tag along when Bonnie is invited to her first sleepover, Jessie and her trusty steed Bullseye embark on a dangerous mission, reuniting with old friends and meeting new ones along the way.
As we’ve come to expect from Pixar over the years, this chapter taps into another cultural conversation through the playful lens of its PG storytelling. This time around, it’s the evils of technology such as device addiction, cyber-bullying, and generations of children missing out on the simple pleasures of playing with traditional toys. Many of the plot points and emotional beats feel recycled, given that this is the fifth outing, but the satirical humour remains in ‘like new condition’; with a social media ban for under 16s on the way in the UK, it also carries a lot of relevance. Stylistically, Stanton and Harris mostly play the hits with veteran composer Randy Newman crafting another sentimental score, but there are imaginative sequences of Bonnie’s playtime that introduce a little freshness to cut through the more nostalgic elements.
Sporting a gut and bald spot, the script pokes fun at Woody’s ageing and this provides Hanks with fun material to work through as the iconic character. Allen is also given an amusing subplot as a delivery of high-tech Buzz figures wash up on a deserted island. These ideas are nicely balanced against Jessie and Bonnie’s main narrative thread where Cusack enthusiastically takes centre stage; revisiting the melancholy around letting go of your childhood, it deals with universal emotions and even if its existential themes are as well-worn as Woody’s cowboy boots, Toy Story 5 knows exactly which strings to pull.
Cinema Perspective 