Francises inevitably run out of steam. After a sequel or two or eight the question eventually becomes what is there left unsaid about this concept? You can’t just run back the same story over and over. Audiences will eventually get bored.
Toy Story 5, though, looks to have a new and compelling hook: Technology. The trailer for the film shows the sentient toys’ current owner, Bonnie, under the thrall of a tablet, voiced by Greta Lee. How can a cowgirl compete with screen time? (As a father, I can answer that question: It cannot.)
That’s when Jessie calls in backup: Woody, who actually left the toys at the end of Toy Story 4. You can watch the trailer for the film below:
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In addition to the returns of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack the returning voice cast includes John Ratzenberger as Hamm, Wallace Shawn as Rex, Annie Potts as Bo Peep, and Keanu Reeves as Canadian daredevil toy Duke Caboom. New voices include Craig Robinson as “a cheerful talking GPS hippo toy” named Atlas, and Matty Matheson as “the tech-fearing toy Dr. Nutcase.”
Toy Story 5 marks the first film in the franchise directed by Andrew Stanton, the longtime Pixar creative who directed the studio’s Finding Nemo and WALL-E. (Stanton also worked on the scripts for all four previous Toy Storys.) Toy Story is the only Pixar franchise to date with more than three installments. (Cars is the closest with three films.) And Toy Story 5 might technically be the six film in the series, if you count the spinoff Lightyear — although that was about the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.
Here is Toy Story 5’s official synopsis:
The toys are back and this time, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang’s jobs are challenged when they come face-to-face with Lilypad (voice of Greta Lee), a brand-new tablet device that arrives with her own disruptive ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie. Will playtime ever be the same?
Toy Story 5 is scheduled to open in theaters on June 19.
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Gallery Credit: Erica Russell
