In my review on Pixar animation film “Toy Story 4” (2019), I observed that this is pretty much like another goodbye after what was supposed to be the near-perfect ending of “Toy Story 3” (2010). That is the main reason why I could not help but become rather skeptical about “Toy Story 5” at first, but, surprise, this latest Pixar animation film amused and touched me more than expected. As deftly mixing familiar and fresh stuffs well together, the film demonstrates that its enduring franchise still has some unexpected ideas and potentials to explore and play with, and that is very impressive in my humble opinion.

While Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) are still the main toy characters of the story, the film actually focuses more on Jessie (voiced by Joan Cusack), who has been the leader of their fellow toys since Woody willingly left from his duty for his own life at the end of “Toy Story 4”. During last several years, Jessie and the other toys have been happy to function as playmates for a young girl named Bonnie (voiced by Scarlett Spears), but Bonnie has recently wanted to hang around with other kids around her age. Watching Bonnie struggling in her attempt to befriend other kids, Jessie is certainly ready to help her as much as possible, but Bonnie is quite afraid of looking silly to other kids because of her playing with toys.

Just for helping their daughter communicating more with other kids, Bonnie’s parents later buy Bonnie a frog-like tablet called “Lilypad” (voiced by Greta Lee), and this certainly gives a shock to the system for Jesse and her fellow toys. As Bonnie comes to spend more and more time on her Lilypad, Jesse and her fellow toys soon find themselves often abandoned on the floor, and this brings Jesse back to her old trauma involved with being abandoned by her original owner many years ago.

Jesse and her fellow toys are more despaired as coming to learn more about what may actually be the real end of the era for them as well as numerous toys out there. As spending a lot of time on their tablets and smartphones just like adults around them, kids do not show much attention to their toys, and the film certainly makes us reflect a bit on the negative sides of our ongoing digital era – and how much our younger generation has been influenced by these disconcerting aspects during last two decades.

As observing the growing conflict between Jesse and that tablet, which is incidentally called “Lilly”, many of you will be reminded of the similar conflict between Woody and Buzz in “Toy Story” (1995). Again, the old and the new clash with each other, and it is not much of a spoiler to tell you that both Jesse and Lily come to learn some lessons via this conflict of theirs. Despite her antagonistic stance against Jesse, Lily sincerely cares about Bonnie just like any other toy of hers, and there is a little aching moment when she comes to realize how she inadvertently causes a heartbreak for Bonnie later in the story.

In case of Jesse, she happens to revisit her old trauma when she is accidentally taken to a place where her original owner once lived. Because this place looks pretty much same except its current residents including a young girl named Blaze (voiced by Mykal-Michelle Harris), Jesse struggles more with her fear and anxiety about being abandoned by Bonnie, but then there comes an unexpected moment of poignancy when she comes to learn something very important about her original owner.

As generating enough gravitas to engage us, the film also throws a lot of humor into the story. While it is still fun to see Woody and Buzz bickering with each other once Woody is subsequently back in action, there are also a number of new toy characters to amuse us, and I particularly like the one voiced by Conan O’Brien. I will not go into details here for not spoiling anything, but I can tell you instead that, considering what my little 2-year-old niece is going through at this point, I may buy that toy for her if it is available.

In case of a subplot involved with a bunch of high-teach Buzz Lightyear units, I initially had some reservation because they merely felt like a more competent and intelligent version of Minions, but the film fortunately gives us enough witty gags and jokes until this subplot eventually joins the main narrative as expected. As our toy characters band together, the story recognizes and accepts new changes while also never forgetting how much toys can inspire and enrich the daily life of children, and this will certainly feel touching to you if you have enjoyed the franchise as much as I have during last three decades.

Again, the voice cast members of the film are uniformly solid on the whole. While the returning cast members including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack effortlessly slip into their respective roles, several other cast members including Greta Lee, Craig Robinson, and Shelby Rabara, Ernie Hudson, Alan Cumming, Bad Bunny, and Keanu Reeves have each own moment to shine, and young performers Scarlett Spears and Mykal-Michelle Harris hold own each own small place well in the story.

In conclusion, “Toy Story 5”, which directed by Andrew Stanton, does feel like a redundant encore at times like “Toy Story 4”, but it is still quite fun and moving on the whole. I really do not know whether there will be another Toy Story film some time later, but, so far, Pixar Animation Studios has handled its beloved franchise quite well, so we may be surprised again.