Critic Reviews

It’s a sublime summing up, a movie that reflects the whole series in its magic mirror, and (just maybe) a perfect ending.

The film itself doesn’t feel overly new, but smartly, smoothly evocative of the first installment.

Toy Story 5 is a movie for everyone. But if you're feeling down, if the world seems overwhelmingly bleak, or if you just need a reminder that your heart can still be touched, then forget the chores and see it.

Toy Story 5 is the must-have item of the summer: a poignant, beautiful, imaginative and massively entertaining adventure for anyone who either has children or retains a semblance of memories from their own youth.

Seven years after the fourth outing, Toy Story 5 arrives with a meaningful story to tell, and does so with precision, humor, and pathos on par with the original trilogy’s heyday. Not only are the animation, of-the-moment storytelling, voice performances, and character development strong enough to warrant returning to this Pixar franchise again, but this film pulls off the impressive feat of being the funniest and most emotional Toy Story yet.

With Toy Story 5, Pixar reaffirms what has always made this franchise so beloved, resulting in another delightful adventure that mines fresh emotional terrain while producing plenty of hearty laughs.

I no longer fear and resent future Toy Story movies. Toy Story 5 is so good, and puts the characters in such a good place, that it changed my whole mentality on the matter.

What makes the movie sing, as with its predecessors, is its sweetness. Five movies in, it’s still poignant to think about toys having a relationship with their children, loving them and trying to keep them safe in an ever-changing world.

Five is arguably the first new “Toy Story” film to be both watched and understood by the kids of the 1995 original’s millennial audience. That shared experience is very moving all by itself.

In 2026, it’s hard out here for a toy — whether you’re an action figure or a dinosaur or a horse or even a plastic fork — what with all the screens sucking all the attention out of kids. And it’s that real-world dilemma that Toy Story 5 tackles with both wit and wisdom.