By now, Pixar fans know to expect a new movie to tug at the heartstrings, and Toy Story 5 will be no exception. The latest installment in the franchise will see Woody (Tom Hanks) reunite with Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) and the rest of the gang, after they went their separate ways at the end of Toy Story 4. And the Sheriff’s return is for a good reason, as it’s to help take on a new existential threat facing the toys: technology, in the form of a frog-like tablet named Lilypad (voiced by Greta Lee).
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That’s a smart premise for a modern Toy Story movie, and that one should bring a lot of laughs and some real emotion. In terms of the latter, we’re used to this franchise, in particular, producing some devastating moments over the years, but Toy Story 5 might just beat them all. Speaking with ComicBook ahead of the film’s release, when asked how this one compares in terms of emotion to the previous films, Allen and Hanks said:
Allen: “Because it’s fresh in my mind. I’m giving it number one because it’s constant. The other movies, the almost dying in the fire pit. That was hard to watch. Lovely to see the resolution. In Four when we said goodbye to each other.”
Hanks: “That was huge.”
Allen: “That… was a dramatic thing all the way through. Not dramatic like this thing, with these moments where you’re going ‘Oh, God. That’s horrible!’ They totally took me out of an animated film. I bought it. Bonnie – the acting of that scene and the acting of Jessie looking at her when she’s carrying her. I was overwhelmed… So this is a real emotional piece. In waves all the way through it.”
It Makes Sense That Toy Story 5 Will Be So Emotional
Even just from the trailers, there are several moments that we know are going to be poignant in the movie. Woody reuniting with the other toys is being played for laughs, not least given his bald spot, but it’ll also undoubtedly be emotional for them to come back together as they prepare to get through their new crisis.
That itself will also add to the emotion of the film, even more so than previous iterations. We’ve seen the notion of toys being replaced before – it drove the first movie, after all – but the introduction of technology adds a new, terrifying element for the toys because it’s so much more unknowable to them, while at the same time, something oh so relatable to us as viewers.
Above all, though, there’s the Jessie storyline that is going to be the emotional core of the movie. It’s going to revisit Toy Story 2 and her history with her original owner, Emily, which was already brutal to go through the first time, and might be even sadder second time around. She’s going to return to Emily’s house, and there’ll be new, expanded flashback scenes, accompanied by Taylor Swift’s Toy Story 5 song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” and tears are pretty much a guarantee at that point.
There may not be an individual moment that tops the incinerator scene from Toy Story 3, but like with the magic of that sequence, part of the promise here lies with these being characters so many people have grown up with. We’ve been through that loss of childhood, the feeling of giving away toys you once loved, and the nostalgia for those things comes crashing back in each entry. For many who are now parents, there’ll no doubt be that added weight of recognizing the struggle with balancing how much screen time kids have, which will only heighten the emotions even further.
Tom Hanks Explains The Key To Toy Story Sequels
In the same interview, Hanks was asked about coming back to the role of Woody time and again, and whether there were any other characters he wishes he could’ve reprised in a similar way through the years. His response was rather illuminating in terms of Toy Story 5‘s existence, and the fact that this is not a cashgrab from Disney and Pixar. He said:
“You know what? No, because the other ones would not have come out as authentically organic as Woody had. Look, I’ve made some movies that did well, and they say ‘make another one!’ And the question is why? Just to do it again, no one at Pixar sits around and says, ‘hey, what are we going to come up with [for] that next Toy Story movie? Come on, churn something out for us.’ [smokes a fake cigarette] That’s a cigarette. That means I don’t care about you.
“They don’t do that. They do not come around until someone here says, wait, there’s this thing that we can examine best by having these toys come to life when somebody leaves the room. That is a powerful elixir that has nothing to do with – little to do with commerce. It has a lot to do with commerce, but much more to say with today, with the investment that goes into people paying money to be entertained by the movie.”
Hanks’ comments should be reassuring to fans. There is always a sense of consternation around a sequel in this franchise: people didn’t think we needed Toy Story 3, then didn’t think we needed Toy Story 4, and now it’s the same with Toy Story 5. But on each occasion, Pixar has proved the doubters and the cynics wrong, and there’s still reason to think this won’t be another example of that.
Toy Story 5 releases in theaters on June 19th, 2026.
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