The film begins with a bunch of Buzzes on a deserted island. But they figure out how to escape.

Bonnie, who is now 8, receives a Lilypad tablet. She has a lot of fun on it – to the point where she neglects her toys.

And that particularly concerns Jessie, who has been in charge of the other toys since Woody left 2 years prior. She tries to talk to the Lilypad (or Lily) about how important it is for Bonnie to have a real friend. Bonnie ends up connecting with her classmate, Chelsea.

Shortly after, to everyone’s surprise, Woody returns. Everybody is happy to see him, even with his balding causing a strange distraction for them.

At some point, Chelsea invites Bonnie to her house for a sleepover. Bonnie packs Lily, while Jessie and her horse, Bullseye, go into the suitcase, as well.

However, once at Chelsea’s place, Bonnie is made fun of by Chelsea and her friends, Heidi and Kara, for playing with toys. So, she has her dad take Jessie and Bullseye back home.

But they escape without Bonnie’s father noticing. Yet before they can make any progress, they are found by an elderly couple. And they see the name, Emily, engraved onto Jessie since that was her first owner many years ago. In addition, Emily’s home address is included on Jessie, too.

So, Jessie and Bullseye end up going to that address. They encounter a horse, pig, and a girl named Blaze.

But they also end up in a shed with Blaze’s old items, including a potty-training device called Smartypants. Jessie does not want to be there. She goes inside the house to look for Bullseye – only to come across a GPS receiver atlas and a camera named Snappy. 

Regardless of their poor first meeting, Jessie adjusts to Blaze’s home. In fact, she enjoys how Blaze plays with her and Bullseye.

Meanwhile, back at Bonnie’s house, Lily is concerned about Bonnie playing with toys and how her friends see that. So, she tricks Bonnie’s dad into putting her toys in the garage to be donated.

Yet, Lily is pressured to find out and reveal where Jessie and Bullseye are. Once Bonnie’s parents find out, they drive Bonnie to Blaze’s house. However, Bonnie’s friends make fun of her for liking toys by sending her embarrassing messages. Sadly, despite Blaze’s attempt to return the toys, Bonnie refuses them.

Poor Jessie is heartbroken and ready to give up hope. But is there still room for change?

In spite of being resistant to it at first, I ended up enjoying this movie. I even laughed a lot throughout it. 

The funniest moments involved the Buzz Lightyear toys. One scene that amused me was when they acted inanimate because a human was there. And he said, “I’m not cleaning that up.”

But the moment that cracked me up the most was when the Buzz Lightyear toys saw wild animals and interacted with them. For instance, they pet a deer and rode on a turtle. In addition, beautiful heavenly music played in the background. That was hilarious! I can’t believe that wildlife would be okay with toys handling them. Of course, they ran away when people came.

Another strength was Woody’s return. As for his baldness, I have mixed feelings about that. 

I understand that the creators wanted to emphasize how much time has passed since the first Toy Story movie in 1995. But Woody is a toy. He really didn’t need to start going bald. Also, the other toys’ reactions to his hair loss were quite insensitive. 

When a man is losing his hair and goes bald, that is just part of aging – and not a choice. So, it is never okay to react negatively to that. The only exception is the man himself.

Anyway, there were other aspects of this movie that I admired. A big one is how kids today prefer tablets over toys. So, it makes sense for Lily to be the villain of this film.

Another strength is the addition of Blaze. She was much nicer to Bonnie than those other girls were. 

I will admit though that I thought she looked old for a 9-year-old. Until her age was said, I thought she was around 12.

Another flaw is that I found the animals’ designs to look a little too realistic. I felt that it contradicted the cartoon-like designs of the human characters. Yet, that’s a minor issue.

Overall, I liked Toy Story 5. It was a fantastic watch that people of all ages could enjoy

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.