Jun 19, 2026 9:30am IST
‘Toy Story 5’ Review: A Beautifully Grounded, Intimate Look At What We Lose When We Turn On The Screens
Anyone entering the theater expecting “Toy Story 5” to be just a vibrant, breezy movie meant to keep toddlers distracted for a couple of hours will be proven completely wrong. This isn't just a movie for kids. It is an essential, deeply moving experience for the parents sitting right beside them, the young adults who grew up with Andy, and quite frankly, anyone who has ever felt the cold glow of a smartphone screen pull them away from the real world.
Few movies in recent memory have felt so startlingly real, so entirely relatable, and above all, so painfully timely.
We live in an era where we have all become digital slaves. We text instead of talking, we curate lives on social media, and we build endless connections online without ever truly ‘being out there’ in the room. “Toy Story 5” masterfully interrogates this modern dilemma. Has all this technology actually made our lives simpler and brought us closer, or has it systematically distanced us from the tangible things that genuinely matter? This film doesn't just ask the question; it forces you to look at your own habits, gently guiding you to realize how to balance a tech-driven life without losing your humanity along the way.
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The heart of this existential crisis falls squarely on our favorite classic toy gang, now led by Jessie alongside Buzz Lightyear and a returning Woody. Watching these beloved, familiar characters realize they are suddenly entirely invisible to 8-year-old Bonnie—who is completely transfixed by her new frog-themed tablet, Lilypad—is downright heartbreaking.
It makes you realize that maybe, just maybe, the toys have feelings too. And in our rush to hand our children the latest gadgets, we are replacing the magic of organic, imaginative childhood playtime way earlier than we ever should. You will leave the theater with an overwhelming urge to go home and search through your dusty cupboards or old trunks, desperate to find a remnant of a simpler time—a time when projects and deadlines were words you didn't even know exist.
The emotional pinnacle of the film belongs entirely to Jessie. Triggered by Bonnie's tech-fueled neglect, her old abandonment wounds reopen. She sulks off to a nearby tree—the very tree her original owner, Emily, played with her under decades ago. But beneath its roots, Jessie discovers a hidden hole containing an old, late-20th-century lunchbox. Inside are photos of an adult Emily and her own daughter, whom she lovingly named Jessie. It is a staggering, tear-jerking sequence that beautifully heals Jessie's oldest trauma: she realizes that even if a toy is outgrown, its impact lives on forever as a core, nostalgic pillar of a child's adult life.
Yet, in true Pixar fashion, the film refuses to be preachy or technophobic. It doesn't paint the tablet or modern tech as an evil enemy to a child’s development. In a brilliantly nuanced twist, even the digital gadgets themselves come to understand that children still need to touch, feel, and play organically.
“Toy Story 5” is a brilliant, emotional triumph that reminds us we have taken the simple magic of childhood for granted. It is funny, it is breathtakingly animated, and it is a poignant reminder for families everywhere to occasionally put down the screens, look each other in the eyes, and remember what it means to truly have a friend.
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