Written by Andrew Stanton And Kenna Harris
Directed by Andrew Stanton
Woody: "I don't know, Jessie. Toys are for play, but tech... is for everything."
And I've now come to the finish of this movie series and it's been a blast. Four really great previous and a rather decent spin off movie to boot. Did this fifth entry keep up the momentum? It sure did.
Once again, the toys (except a certain few) are owned by Bonnie Anderson (Scarlett Spears) and Jessie has assumed the deputy role in order to keep Bonnie entertained and the other toys in line. It's a natural for Jessie's character. Also, this was very much Jessie's movie.
We had an opening flashback to Jessie's own history with her former kid, Emily. With the arrival of frog themed tablet named LilyPad (Greta Lee), Jessie now had to deal with Bonnie wanting friends and getting upset when her attempts to connect with other girls didn't initially pan out.
Early enough into the movie, both Jessie and Bullseye ended up on a farm. Jessie befriended the very real horse, Daffodil and an odd girl named Blaze Manoukian (Mykal-Michelle Harris), who loved animals and still played with toys. It's pretty clear that Blaze would be the perfect friend for Bonnie and it was up to Jessie to try and get the two to make friends while working through her own issues.
Jessie had a good rapport with new toys such camera Snappy (Shelby Rabara), Atlas (Craig Robinson) and toilet training toy, Smarty Pants (Conan O'Brien). They're a lively bunch of characters, with the latter helping Jessie to get over her issues with technology.
Speaking of technology, let's talk about LilyPad. She started off being rather antagonistic towards Jessie and enjoyed messing with both Woody and Buzz as well. As the movie went along, she realised she got it wrong with Bonnie and even helped save the day with the use of a whole army of Buzz Lightyear toys to boot.
By the end of the movie, Bonnie and Blaze ended up becoming the best of friends and there was a peace of sorts between toys and technology. Yes, it's a little simplistic, Woody hasn't too much to do, the Buzz/Jessie romance could've had more to it but overall, there's a lot to recommend here.
- A credit scene revealed that Zurg was alive. If that's not the main plot for the inevitable sixth movie, what will be?
- Woody had a bald spot, Forky/Spoon were married as were Buzz/Jessie and the latter found out that Emily named hsd daughter after her.
- Standout music: Taylor Swift's I Knew It, I Knew You.
- Chronology: Not that long from the fourth movie.
Toy Story 5 had all the right ideas for trying to tell a story about the pitfalls of children being dependent on modern tech. It fumbled the idea a bit but it's an engaging entry with a nice focus on Jessie and LilyPad made for an amusing antagonist of sorts.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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