Toy Story 5 Makes a Big Nostalgia Sacrifice to Give Young Girls the Movie Their Mothers Never Had

After taking my two daughters to see Toy Story 5, I have no doubt that Pixar is very aware of the audience this edition to the franchise is targeting. With a plot focused on the effects of “devices” on children’s lives, and a switch-up of the main character to put Jessie as the film’s lead, this is not the movie about boys playing cowboys and space rangers that girls grew up watching. Instead, it is a story that is made with those girls in mind, and gives them their Toy Story movie, even if that means one part of the franchise gets a downgrade in the process.

In 1995, Toy Story was a visually stunning, near-perfect movie that created many instantly quotable lines and characters that have never faded over time. What’s more, the franchise continued to build on those characters over three more movies and multiple shorts, introducing new toys and new adventures, but always with a focus on the often-tentative relationship between Tom Hanks’ Woody and Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear.

For that reason, Toy Story 5‘s opening half-hour being mostly absent of Woody does create a bit of a comedy void. The serious set-up of the story, explaining the invasion of devices in a mostly laugh-free first act, and several glances at your watch are in order to see how much of it is left.

This is not a unique issue to Toy Story 5. Many modern movies with a message to tell seem unable to do so without feeling like they are spoon-feeding…mostly to the wrong people. The majority of adults watching the movie are already aware of the issues tablets and smartphones can cause for their children. Meanwhile, children are either too young to want anything more than funny animation in their movies, or old enough to rebelliously ignore anything that acts like it knows better than they do. The original Toy Story dealt with several themes, including bullying, rejection and acceptance, but did so in a way that was almost hidden amid the chaos and comedy.

Toy Story 5 Is Jessie’s Story For a Reason

One thing that was clear about the original Toy Story is that is was all very much a “boy’s toys” movie. Andy and Sid were mostly the only human characters in the film and other than Bo Peep, there were no prominent female characters among the large cast of characters. This meant that girls watching the movie became fans of Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang partly because there were no other options.

While the franchise has introduced more characters like Jessie, Barbie, Mrs. Potato Head, Bonnie and other female characters with each movie, Toy Story 5 is the first time that the franchise has really given the spotlight to its female characters and, by proxy, given young girls the kind of Toy Story movie their mothers did not have.

This is something that became apparent with my daughters, and probably many other girls aged between eight and 14 who are among the exact demographic that Bonnie and her newfound friend Blaze belong to in the film. As well as declaring Jessie their favourite character, they also saw a little of themselves in Bonnie’s online interactions. Toy Story 5 is really about telling a story that the previous movies have always been moving towards but never fully committed to. In handing the lead to Jessie after three movies, exploring more of her insecurities and sad backstory, the box office and reviews have proven that it was clearly the right call.

Toy Story 5 Abandons the Nostalgic Woody/Buzz Dynamic

Toy Story 5 spends a lot of the first act following Jessie, voiced again by Joan Cusack, as she discovers that children’s playtimes are being increasingly absorbed by technological devices and not toys. There is also a side story featuring an army of Buzz Lightyears attempting to find Star Command, which plays out mostly as an elaborate deus ex machina. What is sidelined during this time is the nostalgic dynamic of Woody and Buzz and many of the original characters. The absence of this is noticeable once Woody returns to the playroom, and long-term fans get a (pardon the pun) buzz of the old toys.

Woody and Buzz’s on-screen interactions are mainly limited to the second half of the story, while Jessie, Bonnie and Blaze become the characters that have delivered a new generation of fans the movie that they will remember as their Toy Story.

Toy Story 5 gets so much right for the younger audience it’s clearly aiming at. Bonnie and Blaze are characters that speak to young females, reflect the pressures that children feel to fit in with others, and give those young girls the kind of story that the previous generation did not have. The film is both a continuation of lives of the characters fans have followed for over 30 years, and a natural passing of the torch. While Toy Story 5 does lack a little of the nostalgic value more appearances from the OG characters could have provided, it certainly makes up for it in every other way.

(feature image: Disney)

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.