The latest entry in the Pixar franchise explores how technology is reshaping playtime.

Toy Story 5 reviews: Critics praise tearjerking scenes and ‘moments that hit you like a gut punch’

The latest entry in the Pixar franchise explores how technology is reshaping playtime.

By Sharareh Drury

June 18, 2026 7:50 p.m. ET

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Jessie, Buzz Lightyear, and Woody in 'Toy Story 5'. Credit:

- The first reviews are in for *Toy Story 5*, with critics praising the film's emotional story and impactful message for both kids and parents.

- The fifth installment of the Pixar franchise sees Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and more beloved toys facing off against a new interactive tablet named Lilypad.

- *Toy Story 5* arrives in theaters on Friday, June 19.

It's time for a good ol' Woody's Roundup… of reviews for *Toy Story 5*.

For the latest installment of the beloved Pixar franchise, Sheriff Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and their fellow toys are facing their biggest threat yet: technology. With their kid Bonnie getting preoccupied with a new interactive tablet named Lilypad, the gang has to get creative to remain relevant.

First reviews for *Toy Story 5* show a majority of critics praising the film for not just tackling the ongoing issue of screentime for kids, but delving deeper into why play and real-life connection are so valuable.

David Rooney of *The Hollywood Reporter* lauds the film's choice to spotlight cowgirl Jessie, voiced by "national treasure" Joan Cusack, whose bond with Bonnie could be a significant factor in reminding her, and all kids, why imaginative play is so important. The struggle is very real, according to Rooney, as Tom Hanks' Woody says at one point in the film, "Toys are for play. Tech is everything." Rooney gives the film an overall thumbs-up, finding that it works "because it has heart and conviction in the belief that tech toys are not innately bad. They can also serve to bring joy," while adding that the film emphasizes overall "the point that children need physical interaction and communication with other kids to help them develop and grow."

IndieWire's David Ehrlich found the film "scattered to a degree that leaves even its central plot somewhat undercooked," but also appreciated Cusack's Jessie plot of navigating the good and bad of toy tech. "Her arc builds to a gut-punch almost as strong as the Sarah MacLachlan interlude from the series' first sequel (even if it doesn't hold up to the same logical scrutiny), one that hits on the need to be needed in a way that will resonate with parents of even the youngest children," Ehrlich writes.

Lilypad (voiced by Greta Lee) in 'Toy Story 5'.

Clint Gage's review for IGN compliments the film's visuals, noting "it isn’t quite the revolutionary jump in graphics that *Toy Story 4* had over its predecessors, but the usual Pixar bump is there." As for the film's focus on tech-vs-play, Gage writes, "For a lot of the film's runtime *Toy Story*, very uncharacteristically, doesn’t have much to offer to the conversation about young people's relationship to their screens and there's not a lot of the real emotional stakes this series has been trading in for four movies prior to this."

Robert Daniels at RogerEbert.com writes that the film "doesn't take many risks," adding "it's your prototypically beautifully rendered movie tackling a heady subject in the safest possible manner." Still, he says there are "a couple of scenes that rise to the emotional level of the *Toy Story 3* incinerator sequence." Reflecting on the film's message for children to both play more and be "bold" when making friends, Daniels adds there's another layer for both adults and young ones. "We're losing something uniquely human between tabs, under signal strength, and over social content," he writes. "*Toy Story 5* hopes to claw us back to reality."

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Vulture critic Alison Wilmore dings the film, and Pixar, for essentially "plugging the latest think-piece cycle into its output, as *Hoppers* did with our collective sense of powerlessness, and as *Inside Out 2* did with anxiety." While writing that the film "achieves one terrifically tear-jerking sequence,"* *Wilmore calls the latest *Toy Story* entry a movie that "doesn’t actually want to delve into the complications of a digitally connected existence." As Wilmore concludes, "The franchise has started to feel like the toys it continues to showcase — something that should be battered beyond recognition and retired to a donation box by now, but that no one can bear to let go."

For Daily Beast critic Nick Schager, the film's emotional weight is very present, as he admits "there are at least two moments in *Toy Story 5* that brought tears to my eyes." Schager adds that "the film contends that what matters most is not the amount of time we have with loved ones, but the quality of it, since making a lasting impact on others is the entire reason for being," and that "the pathos of its climax is so overpowering that it compensates for any nagging impression that it’s playing its ancestors’ greatest hits."

While *Toy Story 5 *might not hit as hard as its predecessors, Schager found "that spending another 102 minutes with these CGI icons is never less than pleasurable, suggesting that though their story has long been complete, they're anything but obsolete."

Woody and Buzz Lightyear in 'Toy Story 5'.

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*Variety* film critic Owen Gleiberman points out that across 30 years of *Toy Story* films, a recurring theme has been "the notion of loss...the sadness of it, but also the inevitability of it," adding that the toys "almost feel like parents now, watching their children go off into the world." With the introduction of Lilypad, a new theme arises — "the disappearance of play" — both for the toys and for Bonnie, who is having trouble making friends as other kids don't play with toys anymore, and instead are stuck to screens.

Gleiberman commends *Toy Story 5* for how it "escalates in delight" while also having "moments that hit you like a gut punch," and offering a key question (and possible answer) for parents and kids of today: "How will kids connect to each other in an era that wants them to grow up too fast by virtualizing themselves? The film’s message is: Slow down, be real and *play*. The fun you take is equal to the fun you make."

*Toy Story 5* hits theaters Friday.

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Source: “EW Movie”