'Toy Story 5' Tackles Screens and Childhood, But Plays It Safer Than 'Hoppers'

'Toy Story 5' Tackles Screens and Childhood, But Plays It Safer Than 'Hoppers'

Every Toy Story movie has, at its core, been about the same anxiety: the fear of being replaced, outgrown, or discarded. Toy Story 5, directed by longtime Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton alongside co-writer McKenna Harris, applies that recurring theme to a distinctly modern threat: not a shinier new toy, but the pull of screens and digital devices on a generation of kids who increasingly have less use for physical playthings at all. The Setup Bonnie, one of the few kids left in her social circle who still plays with toys in the traditional sense, is struggling to make friends. Her well-meaning parents decide the solution is to introduce her to more screen time and digital devices, a decision that horrifies Jessie in particular, who has a personal history with technology's tendency to make old toys obsolete. Woody and Buzz, meanwhile, find themselves playing a more supporting role than in previous installments, largely managing the fallout as Jessie's scheme to protect Bonnie's …