Toy Story 5

Has there been a fifth instalment in a franchise that feels timely, relevant and also holds up to its predecessors?

It’s a small collection but one that Toy Story 5 can happily add itself to.

It’s easy to be skeptical about this considering Pixar’s inconsistent sequels, the disappointing Lightyear and the ever-increasing awareness of the ‘business’ side to Disney and its many partners, but this film justifies its own existence and delivers on the quality.

It’s a forehead-slappingly obvious idea that, realistically, should have been used in the slightly more lacklustre fourth film.

These films have always been about the joy of play but, also, the awareness that a toy’s time is finite as age encroaches (a theme explored in many a Pixar) but what if that time was shortened even further by the proliferation of technology?

It does leave the nagging impression throughout of ‘why haven’t they done this before’ and does leave it feeling a tad ‘five minutes behind the times’ but the story is a well told one and pushes Jessie to lead character status.

Her fears of abandonment but equal understanding of a loving childhood hit the Pixar emotional buttons and this film, like Inside Out before it, also does a good job with its human characters this time.

There’s the requisite laughs for the adults (some of the asides, one-liners and references are genuinely laugh-out-loud) and a sub-plot focusing on a squad of Buzz toys washed up on an island from a lost container is brilliant.

It’s another top-tier Pixar and there’s genuine debate to be had about where this sits within the Toy Story franchise as a whole, potentially even challenging the top 3.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️