Toy Story 5 (2026)
Can Pixar's fifth Toy Story feature sustain the unmatched excellence of the franchise so far? Does it have anything meaningful to say about children and digital devices?
“Let’s play!”
That’s the exhortation from Lilypad, a child’s first tablet device, to whatever child activates her. Introduced as the antagonist in Toy Story 5, and voiced with alarming friendliness by Greta Lee, Lilypad is designed to look like a friendly frog hugging a touchscreen. But Lilypad bears no resemblance to Kermit the Frog, that reassuring icon of creativity and community. Once Lilypad’s screen flickers to life, a child suddenly goes still, enchanted like a vulnerable fairy tale wanderer staring into a magic mirror.
That’s the thing about magic mirrors in fairy tales: They don’t prioritize truth-telling and the best interests of their subject. Some kind of sorcery is at work. And we recognize right away what challenge Pixar’s team is taking on here. We might even be surprised that the Toy Story team, so emphatic about the power of play, haven’t risen to this challenge sooner. What happens to children who turn away from engaging imaginatively with tangible, tactile, three-dimensional toys, and instead widen their eyes and their sponge-like minds to receive, in a state of dangerous vulnerability, whatever the imaginations and agendas of others have designed for them?
We are invested right away, if we are already fans of Pixar’s most beloved franchise. The series began by introducing us to a boy named Andy and his toys, and inspired us to care about what would become of them as the boy grew up, moved on, and left his favorite toys (and, inevitably, his parents) behind. Now, these Toy Story-tellers ask us to track the growth of little Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears), who has inherited and embraced most of Andy’s toys, and who has a particular affection for Jesse, the vivacious cowgirl. (Finally, Joan Cusack has a Jesse-focused Toy Story film!) What will happen when Bonnie gets hold of a Lilypad, her knees buckle, and she falls under its spell? Is Jesse doomed to lose this child the way she lost her beloved Emily in Toy Story 2?