{"id":2619800,"date":"2026-06-27T05:33:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T09:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/review-of-toy-story-5-were-all-too-old-for-the-new-sequel\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T05:38:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T09:38:41","slug":"review-of-toy-story-5-were-all-too-old-for-the-new-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/review-of-toy-story-5-were-all-too-old-for-the-new-sequel\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of Toy Story 5: We&#8217;re all too old for the new sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freview-of-toy-story-5-were-all-too-old-for-the-new-sequel%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2619800&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article critiques the latest Disney-Pixar film, Toy Story 5, emphasizing its focus on parenting messages that valorize physical toys over digital devices. it portrays the movie as a somewhat preachy reflection on nostalgia, childhood diminishing, and the contrast between traditional toys and high-tech gadgets like social media and gaming devices. The film depicts toys as symbols of emotional and creative development but also highlights how children increasingly abandon physical toys for screens. The reviewer questions whether the movie&#8217;s nostalgic and moralistic stance is healthy, suggesting it appeals more to parents&#8217; nostalgia than to children&#8217;s actual preferences. Despite its luminous animation and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-season-two-bridgerton-realizes-subtlety-is-sexier-than-sleaze\/\" title=\"In Season Two, \u2018Bridgerton... Realizes Subtlety Is Sexier Than Sleaze\">clever dialog<\/a>, the film is criticized for promoting infantilism and dependency on toys and technology, ultimately advocating for maturity and real-world growth over nostalgia or sustained attachment to childhood toys.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The new <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/disney\/\">Disney-Pixar movie<\/a> <em>Toy Story 5<\/em> is less a cartoon than a brief for better <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/decline-of-marriage-makes-families-and-children-poorer-economist-says\/\" title=\"Economist claims decline in marriage leads to poorer families and children.\">parenting practices<\/a>, and those <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >parenting practices include children hanging<\/a> onto their toys for as long as possible. Forget <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/books\/\">books<\/a>, forget concerts, forget free play: the secret to raising a well-adjusted child is having lots of plastic action figures and worn ragdolls around the house. Or so say the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/hollywood\/\">moviemakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4625776\/just-in-time-america-250-new-film-who-was-george-washington-before-great\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Just in time for America\u2019s 250th, a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/young-washington-brings-americas-first-president-to-life-ahead-of-250th-jubilee\/\" title=\"Young Washington brings America...s first president to life ahead of 250th jubilee\">film asks<\/a>: Who was George Washington before he was great?<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4626673\/joe-concha-enjoy-america-250-without-democrat-nonsense\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Can Americans enjoy America 250 without Democrats\u2019 \u2018nonsense?\u2019: Joe Concha<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/entertainment\/4624992\/what-to-know-about-patriot-games-scholarship-athletes\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>What to know about the \u2018Patriot Games\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What\u2019s more, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/movies\/\">the movie<\/a> \u2014 the latest in a depressing succession of sequels to the admittedly clever 1995 feature <em>Toy Story<\/em> \u2014 asks the audience to make fine distinctions between old-fashioned, analog toys that depend on their owner\u2019s imagination and high-tech devices that induce their users to tap and scroll in a state of zombielike stupefaction. Let\u2019s set aside that this argument, so far as it goes, is correct. It is certainly encouraging that<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/opinion\/3385535\/hollywood-fell-apart-after-while-you-were-sleeping-movie\/\"> Hollywood<\/a>, itself increasingly <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/streaming-services\/\">dependent on streaming<\/a>, would mount a case against the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4611807\/americans-online-perils-childhood-internet-age\/\">ubiquity of screens<\/a> in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/children\/\">modern American childhood<\/a>. Yet there is something distressingly childlike itself about the argument: To contend that one species of <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/toys\/\">toys<\/a> is superior to the other, while conceivably accurate and in this case actually accurate, is also to oversell the importance of toys, <em>any<\/em> toys, in the scheme of life. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pardon me for sounding <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/480008\/biden-retreats-on-mandates-in-fear-of-being-grinch-that-stole-christmas\/\">like the Grinch<\/a>, to mix my cartoon metaphors, but if a film critic doesn\u2019t take the <em>Toy Story<\/em> series seriously, who will?<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If <em>Toy Story 5<\/em> were aimed mainly at children, this would be of little consequence, but the movie clearly wants to appeal to the sentiments of those responsible for buying tickets \u2014 the parents. Furthermore, if high-tech devices are truly as omnipresent among the young as the movie posits, then the only demographic that would look nostalgically upon the cast-off old-time toys are those who remember them: again, the parents. And without doubting the ongoing popularity of <em>Toy Story<\/em> and its sequels, the group most likely to look with special fondness upon Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and the like are those who saw the first movie 31 years ago \u2014 once again, the parents. Is it altogether healthy for those with mortgages and jobs to wallow in nostalgia for toys?<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\">Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Lilypad in \u2018Toy Story 5.\u2019 (Courtesy of Disney-Pixar)<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/2026\/06\/localimages\/LA.Film_.070126.jpg?w=696&#8243; height=&#8221;658&#8243; width=&#8221;1024&#8243; &#8220;https:><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Lilypad in \u2018Toy Story 5.\u2019 (Courtesy of Disney-Pixar)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will return to that larger, philosophical question later. The more urgent question is whether or not <em>Toy Story 5<\/em> is worth seeing, either for children or their minders. Unfortunately, while there are presumably less diverting ways to spend close to two hours in a stuffy, packed multiplex, the movie is a preachy, one-note affair. From virtually the first frames, director Andrew Stanton is preoccupied with illustrating the melancholic condition of toys that have been consigned to the ash heap of history, or, at least, of childhood.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An early scene shows an entire island on which \u201chigh-tech editions\u201d of Buzz Lightyears have been cruelly deposited \u2014 a kind of landfill for one particular product line. Meanwhile, a flashback, set vaguely in the Before Times, presents a girl playing with the ragdoll Jessie, a cowgirl and aspirant sheriff, voiced enthusiastically and most capably by Joan Cusack. The girl promises never to forsake her toy, but as she grows up, that is exactly what happens. Of course, this is no tragedy \u2014 there comes a time to put away childish things, 40-something video-gamers notwithstanding \u2014 but the movie comes close to regarding it as such.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In time, Jessie has passed into the possession of another girl, Bonnie (the voice of Scarlett Spears), who is the right age to appreciate the ragdoll but who links her loneliness with her attachment to her toys. For their part, her next-door neighbors, to whom she is afraid to speak, have dumped their outdated toys in their cluttered side yard while they occupy their eyeballs with devices, notably, the film\u2019s fictitious Lilypad (the voice of Greta Lee), which merges the worst aspects of computer \u201cgames\u201d with the worst aspects of social media. \u201cWhy, they\u2019re both just sittin\u2019 there, doin\u2019 nothing,\u201d Jessie laments to her fellow discarded toys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a notably ill-advised move, Bonnie\u2019s parents plunk down cash for a Lilypad for Bonnie, who finds texting a convenient means to make \u201cfriends,\u201d but these \u201cfriends\u201d prove fickle when Jessie and toy horse, Bullseye, come along for a play date. \u201cOh, you still play with toys,\u201d one of a trio of screen-addicted children says to Bonnie. Thus disinvited, the toys eventually find themselves having been conveyed to a ranch occupied by a horse, a pig, and a new cadre of humans, including a girl seemingly more receptive to nonelectronic toys, Blaze (the voice of Mykal-Michelle Harris), who, promisingly, has a shelfful of horse figurines.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4612932\/disclosure-day-steven-spielberg-film-review\/\">REVIEWED: STEVEN SPIELBERG\u2019S \u2018DISCLOSURE DAY\u2019 <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naturally, we are meant to take the side of Bonnie and her toys when it comes to their casual displacement in favor of high-tech devices, but the toys themselves are hardly a disinterested party. For her part, Jessie \u2014 that\u2019s the cowgirl ragdoll, for those having trouble keeping track \u2014 goes on and on about the importance of toys in the emotional and creative lives of children, but she resents it when those same children outgrow their various action figures, trinkets, and doodads. So does the movie. This is clear since, eventually, Lilypad itself (herself?) is conscripted in an effort to form a friendship between Bonnie and Blaze. As it turns out, the movie is not even sincere in its argument against electronic junk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There I go again \u2014 mounting a philosophical case against a cartoon. Yes, the movie is brightly designed and ingeniously animated. And yes, it is rather fun to again hear the voices of Tom Hanks as Woody and Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, even if their much-reduced roles have a certain obligatory quality. The dialogue, on the whole, is a degree or two smarter than comparable animated productions. When Jessie says expressions such as \u201choly butterscotch\u201d or \u201cCheese and crackers, what are you doing?\u201d only a complete sourpuss would fail to smile. Yet this is still a movie that favors infantilism. <em>Toy Story 5<\/em> wishes to keep children in a state of dependency on their toys, just as the franchise itself seeks to keep its aging viewership in a state of perpetual nostalgia. Yes, real toys are better than high-tech devices, but both are poor substitutes for growing up. Here\u2019s my advice: Bonnie should put away both Jessie and Bullseye, and throw away Lilypad, and read <em>Black Beauty <\/em>instead.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Peter Tonguette is the Life &#038; Arts editor of the <\/em>Washington Examiner <em>magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toy Story 5 promotes clingy toy-obsessed parenting over real growth<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2691,"featured_media":2619801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/LA.Film_.070126.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[16414,34310,13353,37757],"class_list":["post-2619800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-animation","tag-movie-review","tag-nostalgia","tag-toy-story-5"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/LA.Film_.070126.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2691"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2619800"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2619804,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2619800\/revisions\/2619804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2619801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2619800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2619800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2619800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}