Toy Story 5 (Christian Movie Review)
The iconic toys haven’t lost their charm, and with plenty of humor and heart, Toy Story 5 is a worthy entry in the beloved series, even if its commendable message feels aimed more at parents than younger viewers.
About the Film
Pixar’s loveable collection of sentient toys are seemingly always facing an existential crisis and fear of outgrowing their usefulness, but their position as bankable movie stars appears secure. An impressive 31 years after Toy Story (1995) helped launch Pixar Studios, the gang is back for another entertaining adventure as they face their biggest challenge yet—the tech takeover! The iconic toys haven’t lost their charm, and with plenty of humor and heart, Toy Story 5 is a worthy entry in the beloved series, even if its commendable message feels aimed more at parents than younger viewers.
After the disastrous spin-off Lightyear (2022), Pixar wisely returns Toy Story to its roots, but it doesn’t rely too heavily on nostalgia. In fact, the original band of toys—Rex, Slinky Dog, Mr. Potato Head, or even the last film’s breakout star, Forky—are essentially just cameos. Even Woody and Buzz Lightyear take a backseat in supporting roles. Instead, Toy Story 5 is primarily Jessie’s story. It’s a bit disappointing not to see more of the fan favorites, but narrowing the story in on a singular character makes the film feel more personal. Toy Story 5 is not the most fun entry in the series, but it’s among the most heartfelt and meaningful.
Toy Story may be slightly more dramatic and serious, but it’s not without plenty of quirky hijinks and humor. A repeated subplot featuring an army of Buzz Lightyears invokes Scrat from the Ice Age movies as a series of interludes responsible for the film’s best and funniest moments. There are also several scenes that adopt a storybook-esque visual aesthetic as a children’s play comes to life. These sequences are a total delight that beautifully encapsulates the joy and magic of a child’s imagination. The film is at its best when celebrating imaginative play, rather than just cautioning against the dangers of screentime.
While previous Toy Story films largely explored what happens to a toy when their kid grows up, Toy Story 5 explores what happens to toys and imaginative play when all kids grow up at an accelerated rate due to overindulgence in technology and screentime. The result is a darker, almost apocalyptic tone at times. Still, it’s nothing that young viewers won’t be able to handle and is arguably never as intense as even Sid’s room was from the original film.
I don’t recall if the previous films included many (or any) boundary-pushing gags or innuendos, but there are a few more in Toy Story 5 than I expected (see “content” section below). It’s far from overbearing, and the film is wholesome overall, but the inclusion of any such humor reflects a general question I had about the story: who is the film for? Films like Masters of the Universe (2026) and Barbie (2023), based on real-world toys, were—to their detriment—not about inspiring the sense of wonder and that made kids originally fall in love with those toys. Instead, they lectured that now-grown-up audience on how to navigate their relationship with these seemingly problematic toys. Toy Story 5 is not necessarily that, but it does feel like a case of speaking at kids rather than with them.
I was 8 years old when I saw Toy Story in theaters in 1995. I’m now a parent with 11-year-old sons of my own, but in some ways, Toy Story 5 feels like it’s still aiming at me, rather than my kids. In an interview, director Andrew Stanton explained, “Technology has changed everybody’s lives, but we’re asking what that means for us — and to our kids.” It’s an important and agreeable message, but the phrasing of the quote is notable. Unlike a character such as Riley in the Inside Out movies, Toy Story 5 really never feels like 8-year-old Bonnie’s story, but instead like a parent’s perspective on Bonnie’s story.
The film’s message is clearly a caution against tech and a celebration that nothing beats the fun of good, ole’ fashion imaginative play (amen!). Still, I wonder if there’s a slight danger in introducing a solution to a problem that may not yet exist (like how Christmas movies encouraging kids to believe in Santa Clause often serve to introduce kids to the realization that many people don’t believe in Santa). In Toy Story 5, several tech-obsessed kids mock Bonnie for still playing with toys, sending her rude messages in a group chat with pictures and emojis of crying babies, which lead her to feel self-conscious of her toys. The film ultimately rejects these opinions and promotes old school play as awesome and superior. But along the way, as young viewers vicariously share in Bonnie’s bullying, it may unintentionally introduce the idea that play is something silly for little children and is an activity that no other kids do these days.
In the end, there’s lots to appreciate about Toy Story 5. The animation is beautiful, the characters are charming, and the message is timely. After the failure of Lightyear, Pixar easily could have overly course-corrected into a cheap play for nostalgia. Instead, the film clearly attempts to tell a meaningful story, not just to put another Toy Story movie into theaters. Even so, while it may not be true that “the age of toys is over,” as one character declares, the days of Toy Story movies may be ending. Even the voice acting feels tired at times in a series that feels like it may have said all it has to say with these characters (until this film inevitably makes a billion dollars at the box office, and Toy Story 6 sees the characters as overpriced merchandise in a collectibles shop as part of the “toys are for adults” trend). It may not be among the best in the series, but if Toy Story 5 can inspire even a little more childlike imagination in our age of obsessive screen usage, then it is a story worth telling.
For Consideration
On the Surface—(Profanity, Sexual content, violence, etc.).
Language: No fully articulated profanities, although there are several innuendos and double entendres, mostly from the newly introduced character Smarty Pants, a potty-training device. On the verge of a fight, a character says that Smarty Pants is going to “wipe your a—”, before being interrupted. During one of the child’s play sequences, Smarty Pants is given an aristocrat persona and name that begins with “Shat—”, and he repeatedly corrects other character’s mispronunciations to emphasize that part. He also uses sayings like “flush me”, and other characters use frequent language like “darn”, “jeez”, or sayings like “cheese and crackers” and “jumping Jehoshaphat!”
Violence: None.
Sexuality: In minor ways, male toys are seemingly given female roles or outfits during the children’s play. Considering that all the children in the film are girls, it’s unsurprising and likely harmless, rather than being ideologically driven.
Engage The Film
The Anxious Generation
Had phycologist Jonathan Hadit been listed in the film’s credits as a writer, it would not have been a surprise. In many ways, Toy Story 5 is an adaptation of the timely messages of his book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (2024). The film goes beyond just declaring the evils of technology in the development of children, and showcases some of the concerning consequences of it, such as damaged self-esteem, FOMO-inspired anxiety, and the difficulty of building meaningful relationships.
Toy Story 5 doesn’t take a wholly negative position on technology. Even the film’s “villain”, a tablet named Lillypad, is redeemed, and all the other newly introduced characters are previous generations of tech—a potty training, a functional toy camera, a GPS, etc. The film’s message is less a “shake a fist at the clouds” reminiscence about pre-technological “golden age”, and more an acceptance that the world is changing, and we all need to be aware and intentional about how we adapt with it. It is also notable that many scenes feature adult characters in the background on a laptop or other device. The real problem is not just the existence of technology, but our over dependence on it and the way in which we allow it to take over our lives.
The series has always been about the importance of childhood and the need to protect that innocence as long as possible. There is a difference between being “childish” and “like a child.” The Bible challenges Christians to “put away childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11), but Jesus also said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Christ affirmed that there is something special and essential about the worldview of a child.
In a touching moment in the film, Jessie realizes that even as her original child outgrew playing with her as a toy, those childhood experiences had a long-lasting influence on the girl (even naming her own child after her). Toy Story 5 is a timely reminder of how these formulative periods of life can shape us even into adulthood, and the need to guard against forces (such as excessive screentime) that may force children to grow up too fast.
