The most improbable fantasy moment in Toy Story 5, Pixar’s latest entry in its unavoidable animated film franchise and likely one of the year’s biggest box-office hits, comes at an unexpected juncture in the story. (Some light spoilers follow.)
It isn’t a 13-inch stuffed cowgirl taking the reins of a real full-sized horse and galloping away. Or an army of more than 100 plastic-and-felt toys scurrying a couple miles “on foot” to intercept a massive truck. Or even when 50 Buzz Lightyears commandeer a massive ship-to-shore crane in an industrial shipping yard and raise it to its full 400-foot height.
What pulled me out of this funhouse reality is a dusk scene involving Lilypad, a bright-green tablet that has served as the film’s antagonist up to that point. Careful to avoid detection by her grade-school owner, Lilypad awkwardly shuffles itself off an outdoor cafe table and throws itself into a donation box.
To imagine a tablet would realize the excessive screen time and online bullying it enabled had harmed a child, then sacrifice itself is far more bonkers than Bing Bong, to reference a past Pixar character.
In interviews, the filmmakers have stated they intentionally didn’t depict children’s tech devices as a “good or bad” binary.
“Parents aren’t doing this blindly,” said director Andrew Stanton. “They’re trying to navigate it as well, trying to figure out what’s best for their kid. And so, we figured, was this device — for right or wrong reasons. We just leaned into the gray area of it all.”
Founded as a technology company, Pixar clearly remains rooted in Silicon Valley culture. Meanwhile, Disney has released a Toy Story 5-branded LeapFrog tablet for children, underscoring commercial realities surrounding this profitable franchise.
The filmmakers are attempting to be balanced, calling out parents’ own device distraction. (I’m guilty as charged.) But when tech giants like Apple, Google and Amazon have engineered devices and services to be addictive for kids’ developing brains, it requires more than muted critique.
Strong storytelling, incomplete warning
Easy to dismiss as a commercial for tie-in products, Toy Story 5 actually has several positive themes developed with emotional depth. Like many Millennials, I’ll admit I’m a Pixar fanboy, having seen all 31 of the studio’s films and happy to argue over ranking them.
WALL-E, a 2008 dystopian dramedy also directed by Stanton, may be Pixar’s finest achievement — a grand-scale story told with minimal dialogue yet grounded in personal stakes and a vital message. It’s hard to say if this new flick and its social commentary will hold up quite as well.
“From a storytelling standpoint, this fifth entry is firing on all cylinders.”
From a storytelling standpoint, this fifth entry is firing on all cylinders. It’s hilariously funny, adding Conan O’Brien to the mix alongside Tim Allen, Tony Hale, Key and Peele, Tom Hanks, and Joan Cusack as Jessie, the newly minted sheriff who quickly emerges as this story’s lead.
“There’s a lot of little girls that aren’t Cinderella … that want to be part of everything, so I think (Jessie) speaks to that,” Cusack said at the film’s premiere.
In contrast to the first Toy Story, with a villainous boy next door blowing things up, the focus here is Bonnie and her friends, who even stage a Jessie-and-Buzz wedding by the end.
This feminine focus got some play among conservative bloggers, with one complaining Buzz is portrayed as a “bumbling, befuddled dude” who wears a kilt and “even holds a flower bouquet.” Another wrote: “Bonnie definitely needs to learn proper gender roles but she’s got time.”
Thankfully, the film itself has no such hang-ups, portraying the full range of girls’ emotions and behaviors — good and bad.
Bonnie’s young classmates tease and mock her in an online chat, a pivotal sequence the actors behind the lead characters addressed.
“Probably every kid has had their feelings hurt by something that has been typed about them on a screen that they have,” Hanks said. “(These tools) are responsible for some very cruel moments in people’s lives.”
Cusack praised the Pixar team for nailing the scene: “That moment in the car, when they diss her and that cruelty? Kids can be tough.”
The sequence may help some parents recognize the risks of giving networked devices to grade-schoolers. Today, a growing movement urges parents to wait until age 16 to allow minors access to social media.
What the research says about screens and childhood
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has been at the center of critiquing how play-based childhood has declined, which he pegs particularly to 2007 when the iPhone was introduced.
His best-seller The Anxious Generation and work since then have chronicled shocking statistics. By age 4, 58% of children have their own tablets. Notably, children from lower-income families spend nearly twice as much time with screens daily compared to higher-income households.
When that time is spent on apps like YouTube and Instagram, it’s not just explicit content but the addictive design of platforms that experts say has harmed minors. That’s not even touching issues of AI chatbots and deepfake photos, as young peers use apps to get a laugh (or worse).
The documented increase in depression and suicidal ideation among teens and children has led to several lawsuits. Meta and YouTube parent Alphabet recently doled out $6 million to settle one lawsuit, while a verdict in New Mexico ordering Meta to pay $375 million is under appeal.
In light of such complex, evolving issues, one cannot expect a tale of toy sheriff Woody and the gang exposing platforms like YouTube, Roblox and Snapchat. Toy Story, after all, aims for timeless, mass-appeal entertainment.
To its credit, the film raises issues of tech overuse with memorable visuals, including a nighttime sweep across a neighborhood where glowing screens keep children and adults awake long after bedtime.
But, unlike WALL-E, which ends calling viewers to action on environmental stewardship, here we get a laissez-faire message.
“Bonnie’s growing up, and we don’t get to decide when that happens,” Jessie says. “All that matters is that we were there at the right time to help her along.”
Toy Story 5 treats children’s immersion in technology as a largely inevitable part of growing up. Parents need not accept that premise. While screens are now woven into modern childhood, adults still have considerable influence over how and when children engage with them.
And, preaching to myself first, yes, put down the phone more often.
Josh Shepherd
Josh Shepherd is a journalist, editor and communications professional who writes on faith, culture and public policy. His articles have appeared in media outlets including The Roys Report, Christianity Today and Family Theater Productions. He and his family live in Central Florida.