By Dan Skip Allen

Admittedly, I’m not the target audience for the “Toy Story” franchise. That being said, they do have some themes in their films that adults can gravitate towards. Pixar as a whole has written adult themes into quite a few of their movies. That’s why I do like many of the others in their catalog. Whereas a lot of my constituents have grown up with this franchise, I have not. I was already an adult by the time the first “Toy Story” came out in 1996. One thing in this franchise has remained the same as the directors and writers have changed, and that is the quality in which Pixar/Disney makes these films. That remains the same with this one after a seven year hiatus from the last one. Fans of the franchise will surely love this new installation, but I alas wasn’t exactly enamored with it as I’d hoped to be.

When this “Toy Story”, the 5th installation, starts, it deals with a little girl named Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) who plays with her toys but doesn’t have any real friend.. Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the toys want to figure out the reason why. And so they go to investigate, and what they find is incredible. Kids aren’t playing with their toys because they have their faces in their technology based devices like Lilypads (Greta Lee). They aren’t paying any attention to their friends unless they are connected via their devices. So the girls parents decide to buy her one of these devices to help her make more friends by connecting with them. It may not exactly be the right way kids should connect with each other, though. 

The “Toy Story” films have done one thing above all others, and that’s shown the connection that kids have with their toys growing up. I myself can attest to that because I loved all of my Star Wars action figures,Transformerss, He-Man, and most of all, my G.I. Joe’s. I spent many hours with my brother playing with these toys. They meant the world to us as kids in a bad upbringing. We were able to go into our little world playing with our toys, and they took us away from our difficult lives for a little while at a time. These films have done that for a large audience of kids that grew up with them from the 90s until now. These films mean as much as my toys meant to me to all that have connected with them.

Pixar has infused these stories with thought-provoking ideas that can translate to the youth of the world and the adults who take their kids to go see these movies. With each subsequent film that is released in this franchise, the writers and directors give people new things to think about. This time, it’s technology versus human connections. We as a society are becoming more and more connected with our devices, like phones, ipads, televisions, and computers. We are losing the human connection we once had with each other. This started at a young age, so if kids start losing that connection, then all personal interactions are out the window. This particular “Toy Story” film tackles those aspects very well. That’s the best part of this story. That’s what these creators do so well.

The adventure aspects of the story, which all of the other “Toy Story” films have had, are quite a lot of fun. All of the characters are back, including some new characters. The voices of Tim Allen, Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack, and many others are back, but some new voices are added to the all-star voice cast. Conan O’Brien plays Smartypants, an old techno toy that helps out getting Jessie back to her friends and connecting the two little girls in the story. He has a lot of funny one-liners and banter with the others. He was a nice addition to a cast with a lot of great actors. This film needed his enthusiasm that translated to all who would watch it in the coming days and months. He almost steals the movie from all of the established cast, and that’s hard to do because they’re all great in this movie as well.

In the past, “Toy Story” films have had some pretty bad guys as protagonists. Specifically Lotso the Bear voiced by Wlfred Brimley. He tried to melt all of the gang in an industrial fireplace by trapping them down to a conveyor belt. Lilypad is the newest quote en quote bad guy voiced by Greta Lee. It wants to get the little girl, Bonnie, to join her so-called friends in being connected to their devices. Lee doesn’t have as sinister a plan to destroy anybody like Lotso, but she does want to make toys obsolete, so that’s a bad thing from my point of view. That makes her a bad guy in my book.The good thing is that it/she has a crisis of consciousness and helps the good guys in the end. I’ve liked a lot of what Lee has done since her breakout role in “Past Lives”. This is just another step in her blossoming career. 

Two things that have been consistent with this franchise are Randy Newman’s music, whether it’s an original song or a score. He has delivered time and again for these films and Pixar in general. He’s won multiple awards for his efforts as well. He’s back once again with a solid score but he was replaced in the song department by Taylor Swift herself with a song in the credits “I Knew It, I Knew You” inspired by Jessie the Joan Cusack character. Music has been an important part of these movies, and it is once again in this 5th installment. I think Swift might be seeing herself along with Newman at the Academy Awards next year. They are both worthy of that accolade, potentially. 

“Toy Story 5” is a fun adventure movie like all of the last 4 films in this franchise. It has heart-pounding action scenes like where the main characters are surviving a farmhouse or a road trip full of obstacles they have to overcome. The animation is as good as it’s ever been. The depth and layering of the computer animation is great. The main message of the story is an important one. Technology versus real human connections is a very relevant topic today, with AI being a huge issue in our society. Human to human interaction is the best kind of connection there is. That’s how we love and become friends.That’s why we, as a people, have progressed as a society. With a connection being our most important aspect. These films haven’t always been my thing, but they are for quite a few of the rest of the population. That being said, this one was a fine adventure film with a good message. I’m sure kids and adults will enjoy it.

🌟 🌟 🌟 1/2