Toy Story 5 (2026) Review: Woody Versus the Tablet

Is Toy Story 5 worth watching?

Yes. Toy Story 5 is a warm, funny and surprisingly pointed family film that justifies reopening the toy box by giving the series a genuinely new rival: not another toy, but a screen. Andrew Stanton, who helped write the original film, understands what makes these characters tick, and the result feels like a continuation rather than a cash-in. The only real reservations are a familiar story shape and a large cast that leaves some favourites with little to do.

What is Toy Story 5 about?

Bonnie, the girl who inherited Andy’s toys, has a new favourite plaything: a Lilypad tablet. As she spends more and more time on the screen, Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the rest of the gang find themselves ignored in a way that no rival toy ever managed. Their mission is to win her back, and to convince themselves, as much as Bonnie, that imagination still has something to offer that an algorithm cannot.

Tom Hanks and Tim Allen return as Woody and Buzz, with Joan Cusack as Jessie, Tony Hale as Forky and Keanu Reeves back among the voices. Greta Lee voices Lilypad, and Conan O’Brien joins the cast. Toy Story 5 is an American Pixar production in English, directed by Stanton and running 102 minutes.

The oldest fear, in a new shape

Every Toy Story film is about the terror of being replaced. The first one began with Woody displaced by a shiny newcomer, and later films dealt with children growing up and moving on. What makes this chapter clever is that the threat no longer plays by the toys’ rules. A tablet does not want to be played with the way they do; it simply absorbs a child’s attention. That shift gives the familiar anxieties a sharper, more contemporary edge.

Stanton handles the subject without scolding. The film is plainly concerned about screen time, but it keeps its sympathy with Bonnie and never treats her as a problem to be fixed. The argument is made through the toys’ feelings, which is exactly where the series has always done its best work. Parents will notice the commentary; children will simply notice that Woody and his friends are sad and want to help.

Pixar craft at full confidence

The animation is as polished as you would expect, and the contrast between worn, handled toys and the sleek, glowing surface of the tablet is used well. The toys look like objects that have been loved for years; the device looks like something designed never to show wear. It is a visual argument that runs quietly through the whole film.

The comedy is quick and generous. Stanton’s background on Finding Nemo and WALL·E shows in how easily the film shifts from slapstick to something more wistful without breaking stride. Hanks and Allen slip back into their roles as if no time has passed, and the returning ensemble gives the film the easy warmth of a reunion.

Where the formula shows

This is still a Toy Story film, and it follows a structure the series has used several times: a threat to the toys’ place in a child’s life, a mission, a lesson. Viewers who felt the fourth film ended the story may find the beats a little predictable, and with so many characters in play, several beloved toys are reduced to a line or a gag. The film earns its emotion honestly, but it does not quite reach the devastating heights of the series at its peak.

Who should watch Toy Story 5?

It is an easy recommendation for families with children of primary-school age and up, and for adults who grew up with the franchise and want to see how it has matured with them. At 102 minutes it moves briskly. There is mild peril and some emotional moments about neglect and abandonment that may affect sensitive younger viewers, but nothing frightening by the series’ standards.

For more in the same spirit:

• Toy Story, the 1995 original, whose story of a favourite toy displaced by a newcomer this film echoes.
• Toy Story 4, the previous chapter, which sets up Bonnie’s room and the gang’s current situation.
• WALL·E, Stanton’s own Pixar film about technology and attention, told with far fewer words.

The verdict

Toy Story 5 proves the series still has something to say, finding in the tablet era a fresh way to explore the question that has always driven it: what happens to the things we stop paying attention to. A familiar structure keeps it just short of the franchise’s best, but it is heartfelt, funny and made with evident care.