When asked about continuing the “Toy Story” franchise, Andrew Stanton makes his stance on these toys clear: “I have no interest in keeping them in a box.”
No one is more qualified to speak on the future of the “Toy Story” franchise than Stanton, who has been a part of the franchise since the very beginning. He received the first of his six Oscar nominations for co-writing the original screenplay on the first film and co-wrote on every subsequent entry to one degree or another. Now, more than three decades after jump-starting these characters, Stanton steps into the director’s chair for the first time in the franchise to tackle “Toy Story 5.” As a vocal contingent opposes continuing the “Toy Story” franchise, preferring the seemingly perfect conclusion of “Toy Story 3,” Stanton has an unenviable task: proving them wrong.
To that end, Pixar invited Next Best Picture to Disneyland to spend some time with the filmmakers and get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at “Toy Story 5” ahead of its June 19th release.
During the event, Stanton talked about wanting to let these toys evolve as they are played with by subsequent generations, just as kids today may have different relationships to toys than we did. And in “Toy Story 5,” a new, more modern threat emerges: technology. As Bonnie, still a carefree, toy-loving little girl, becomes attached to her new Lilypad tablet, the whole paradigm of childhood seems to shift. While Pixar only showed us the first half of the film, it’s certainly putting a new spin on the difficulties that the toys faced in the original “Toy Story.” In that film, Woody feels threatened by the new, flashy, space-age toy in Buzz. The key difference in this new installment seems to be the strong focus on how these changes affect Bonnie and her attempts at making friends.
And yes, of course, the whole gang of toys is back in action. Jessie is now the de facto leader of Bonnie’s toys, with Woody off saving toys in the wild with Bo Peep. But he returns, helping Buzz, Rex, Hamm, and the entire crew to stop Lilypad from seemingly brainwashing Bonnie. “Toy Story 5” is clearly Jessie’s movie. She’s the star, and, for the first time since “Toy Story 2,” Jessie is revisiting the memories of being abandoned, worried that it might happen again with Bonnie. Warning: if the song “When She Loved Me” still brings tears to your eyes, you may want to bring some tissues to the theater.
This may be the fifth entry in the franchise, but “Toy Story 5” still poses many technical challenges for the Pixar crew. We previously saw Andy’s dramatic imagination bringing the toys’ adventures to life in cinematic fashion, but Bonnie’s imagination looks entirely different. Here, her playtime feels like a storybook come to life, with brushstroke details, painted backgrounds, and vivid colors. “We knew we wanted [Bonnie’s imagination] to look like it was something she made with her hands, like her own arts and crafts,” Visual Effects Supervisor Thomas Jordan described. “What does she see when she’s playing?” This stylization is a major departure for Pixar, which typically favors detailed, realistic animation.
But there’s plenty of that here, too. The storyline takes some wild turns as a shipwrecked shipment of new “Hi-Tech Buzz” toys journeys back to civilization. Still, their detours through nature lead them to interact with the secret world of animals, including a poignant homage to “Bambi.” The animal animation is extraordinarily detailed, rivaling Pixar’s best work to date. Numerous horses feature prominently in the story as well, and their musculature and hair are intricately crafted, a fascinating juxtaposition to the more stylized work inside Bonnie’s head. Legendary Pixar Production Designer Bob Pauley, who is credited with designing Buzz Lightyear, returns for “Toy Story 5,” and acknowledged the need to keep pushing the art forward. “[We were] making sure it feels part of this lineage, but also not getting stuck in a time. Every film, we’ve upgraded it. We’ve taken technology, our tools, and our art sets to make it better as we go,” Pauley recounted. “We feel very lucky to be able to play with these toys in that way.”
Will “Toy Story 5” satisfy the crowd who wishes Pixar would end the franchise? Probably not. With so many toys to balance, Woody returning from his side quests and Jessie confronting her trauma, all while giving Bonnie her own full arc, it’s a lot to manage in one film. Even so, the emotions already start to land well in the first half of the film they showed us. All these years later, seeing the evolution of the toys we grew up with still hits hard. We’ve aged, changed, and had life experiences that shape how we relate to this series, but perhaps that’s for the best. Stanton and the rest of the Pixar crew have committed to moving forward with the “Toy Story” series only if the story feels worthwhile. With Jessie and Bonnie’s story here, it seems they may have made the right call. We’ll find out when “Toy Story 5” hits theaters on June 19th.
Check out our exclusive podcast interviews with Director Andrew Stanton, Co-Director Kenna Harris, Producer Lindsey Collins, Production Designer Bob Pauley, and Visual Effects Supervisor Thomas Jordan below.
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