Toy Story 5 (Review for FilmFisher)

“Our movie-going culture may not have needed another Toy Story film, but it could certainly use more films like Toy Story — and if we aren’t getting more films like Toy Story, even a recycled Toy Story film might be better than nothing.” This is what I had to say about Toy Story 4 at the beginning of a two-part essay on the series that I wrote in 2019. It works just as well, if not better, for summing up my take on Toy Story 5 in 2026. Toy Story 5 often feels recycled and redundant in ways that Toy Story 4 did not, but watching it also reassured me that Toy Story remains the best animated franchise out there. The film is well-made, funny, and thoughtful, and I was glad to see it expand the Toy Story universe and explore its key themes in fresh new ways.

Going into the film, I expected this expansion and exploration to move in two directions. The trailers for Toy Story 5 advertised it as a film about Sheriff Woody’s return and about the advent of digital tablets for kids, represented by a new character, Lilypad. As it turns out, these two subjects do not significantly intersect with each other and do not receive equal attention. Both, however, revisit the classic Toy Story question, “What are toys made for?”

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A Toy's Telos, Chapter 2: How the Vision Was Won, and Lost (Article for FilmFisher)

Thesis and Antithesis

In “A Toy’s Telos, Chapter 1,” I argued that the Toy Story trilogy presents a moral vision for what it means to be a toy, and I outlined the key tenets of this vision as they are embodied by Woody in his relationships with Andy and Buzz. Woody has a vertical telos: to be there for Andy. He also has a horizontal telos: to be there for Buzz and other toys so that they too can be there for Andy. But Toy Story, as a story, presents this moral vision through narrative, not exposition, and narratives require conflict and resolution. The films establish their moral vision through the challenges Woody faces as he seeks to live according to his telos. It is through Woody’s resilience in the midst of these challenges that the films vindicate the idea of a toy’s telos. Another way to put this is that Woody has a thesis, an argument. In each film, he is presented with an antithesis, a counter-argument. His ability to repudiate these objections are what prove the strength — and what is more, the goodness and beauty — of his argument.

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A Toy's Telos, Chapter 1: The Moral Vision of Toy Story (Article for FilmFisher)

Woody

We need to talk about Woody. No, not Woody Allen. Enough people have been talking about him. I mean Sheriff Woody. The Woody who is an intricately-crafted doll, complete with a cow-skin vest, a red bandana, a cowboy hat, and a voice box activated by a pull string. The Woody who displays a child’s name written in Sharpie on the sole of his plastic boot: ANDY — with the “N” written backwards. The Woody who is not just a toy but a soul, a soul that is fiercely devoted to this Andy. The Woody who is voiced by Tom Hanks, with a passion and gravitas that makes Woody rival his finest in-the-flesh performances. The Woody who is the star and beating heart at the center of Pixar’s signature cultural contribution, Toy Story, a film series that has been a staple of American animation (and American childhoods) for a quarter century.

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