{"id":33695,"date":"2026-06-22T15:04:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=33695"},"modified":"2026-06-22T15:04:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:04:31","slug":"toy-story-5-is-a-fun-if-lesser-entry-in-the-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=33695","title":{"rendered":"TOY STORY 5 Is a Fun, If Lesser Entry in the Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 102 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Disney\/Pixar opens exclusively in\ntheaters on June 19th<\/sup>, 2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been a long time since the first computer animated Toy\nStory<\/em> movie debuted on cinema screens… 31 years, to be exact. Over that\ntime, techniques have become so advances that the original and the latest\neffort, \u201cToy Story 5,\u201d have a strikingly different appearance. The newest\nchapter employs top-of-the-line animation that makes even some of the outdoor\nenvironments approach photo realism. But, how does the new story hold up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the events of the previous chapter, Jessie (Joan\nCusack) is now the leader of the toys at the home of Bonnie (Scarlett Spears),\nwith Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) serving as her second in command.\nUnfortunately, the shy youngster is struggling to fit in with other kids, who\nare all obsessed with their tablets and think regular toys are babyish. In\ndesperation, her parents purchase Lilypad \u201cLily\u201d (Greta Lee) and things\nimprove. But Bonnie immediately forgets and ignores Jessie and the other toys.\nThe girl also begins to suffer from a bit of cyberbullying. Meanwhile, Woody (Tom\nHanks) is still living out in the wild, helping abandoned toys find new owners.\nThe playthings eventually try to help the girl form a friendship with an\nanimal-loving girl on a farm named Blaze Manoukian (Mykal-Michaelle Harris).\nThere is also a subplot featuring a large sea container that falls off a ship,\nreleasing a number of updated Buzz Lightyear figures in search of a purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Naturally, the cast are all excellent as the famous\ncharacter. Jessie is the lead in this picture, displaying concern for Bonniie\nand determination to keep herself and the others useful and available to the\nlittle girl. As for the toys, their interactions have always been fun to watch\nand continue to be, as Hanks and Allen trade a few good-natured quips with each\nother. It\u2019s also fun to hear some of the other characters resigning themselves\nto defeat as a new threat to their existence arrives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One new highlight is Smarty Pants (Concan O\u2019Brien) and old,\nout-of-date electronic toy designed to help kids learn to use the potty. He\ngets some of the best lines in the picture. Many other characters make\nentertaining although brief cameos, adding a laugh here and there. There are\nalso some fun moments with the Lightyears, although the subplot doesn\u2019t end up\nmaking as big of an impact on the main story thread as expected. And, as\npreviously noted, the animation on display is incredible, particularly for exteriors,\nwhich are phenomenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premise is an excellent one, presenting a new and\ninteresting form of drama to the story. It\u2019s easy to see how many youngsters are\nbecoming as addicted to screens (as well as their parents), setting up an\nimmediate form of tension for the protagonists. This movie does take an overly\nsoft approach to its central conflict and loses some of the potential drama in\nthe process. Bonnie\u2019s parents aren\u2019t on any devices and are focused on Bonnie.\nEven after Lily arrives on the scene, the girl does want to play with toys, but\npushes them away for fear of upsetting her new friends who spend all their time\nonline. Even the antagonist turns out to be just as upset about what\u2019s\noccurring as the other toys, trying to offer positive suggestions for its use\nat one point in the movie. The screenplay does come across as pulling its\npunches (especially given the fact that other countries are now noting the\nnegative effects of social media and preventing younger kids from using it, as\nwell as warning about too much screentime). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Overall, \u201cToy Story 5\u201d is an entertaining kid\u2019s film that\ndelivers incredible visuals and great voice work. The only drawback to this\nsequel is that, for such a timely premise, it\u2019s handled in a very simple and\nsafe manner. This follow-up isn\u2019t as exciting, tense, or as emotional as\nprevious efforts, and doesn\u2019t really want to offer biting satire or a deeper\ncriticism of modern technology and the impact it can have on our lives. In the\nend, it\u2019s not the strongest entry in the franchise, but even a lesser follow-up\nin this series is still fine for the entire family. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 102 minutes This feature from Disney\/Pixar opens exclusively in theaters on June 19th, 2026. It has been a long time since the first computer animated Toy Story movie debuted on cinema screens… 31 years, to be exact. Over that time, techniques have become so advances that the original and the latest effort, \u201cToy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[217,1455,5922,7283,7810,16155,23161,23162,23163,23164,23166],"class_list":["post-33695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-217","tag-animated","tag-disney","tag-family","tag-franchise","tag-pixar","tag-toy-story-5","tag-toy-story-5-film-review","tag-toy-story-5-movie-review","tag-toy-story-5-review","tag-toy-story-series"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}