Toy Story 5 and What's Making Us Happy
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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In the fifth installment of the Toy Story franchise, playtime is so over and screen time is in. Jesse, Buzz, and the rest of the crew face yet another existential crisis, but this time the threat is not the arrival of a shiny space ranger or a kid going off to college. Nope, it's dun-dun-dun tech.
And with that comes the introduction of new and colorful characters voiced by the likes of Greta Lee and Conan O'Brien. Can analog and digital coexist? We'll see. I'm Stephen Thompson.
And I'm Ayesha Harris. Joining us today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Regina Barber. She's a host and reporter for NPR's science podcast, Shortwave. Hey, Regina.
Oh, my gosh. I'm the only non-Pop Culture Happy Hour person here. I am so honored. And I'm so glad that I am your animation person, basically.
What is the main conflict in Toy Story 5?
Oh, you're more than just our animation person, Regina.
Oh, yes.
You've got a friend in us.
Yes, you've got a friend in us. Well, in Joy Story 5, we are revisiting all of our friends. And at the start of the movie, much of the gang are still together, including cowgirl Jessie and space ranger Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Joan Cusack and Tim Allen. Now, they're happily fulfilling their playtime duties with their eight-year-old kid, Bonnie, who's voiced by Scarlett Spears.
How do Jessie and Buzz respond to the new threat?
That is until Bonnie is given a tablet called LilyPad and remains glued, zombified, to its screen. LilyPad is voiced by Greta Lee. Jessie instantly becomes a very vocal opponent to everything tech and won't accept this sudden abandonment without a fight. But a series of events separates her from Bonnie and the rest of the Forgotten Toys. It's going to take a lot to get Jessie back where she belongs with course, some help from Buzz and Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks. But she's also going to need to begrudgingly work with some new smart toys she meets along the way, including a quirky potty training gadget. Didn't even know that those existed, but that's cool. And a bubbly digital camera. Toy Story 5 is in theaters now.
And Stephen, I'm going to start with you, bud. We did, and our listeners helped us rank the Pixar movies last year. And I'm not going to ask you to put this Toy Story 5, like, I'll give you a little more time to think about where you might rank this overall in the Pixar oeuvre. But I am curious, did you at least have a good time at Toy Story 5?
What new characters are introduced in Toy Story 5?
Does it still feel... If not fresh, at least still delightful to engage with.
I think so. I enjoyed myself enormously. I fully laughed, fully cried. Had a great time.
Can analog toys and digital gadgets coexist?
I think it's really interesting when we talk about the fifth installment in a franchise. You start to get into this mindset of where does it rank?
Mm-hmm.
not only like among other Pixar movies, but among other Toy Story movies. And I think if you were to rank particularly four and five, the ones that kind of come after that initial trilogy, it's really easy to sort of view them as less than instead of just viewing them as pleasurable viewing experiences. Because is it the best Toy Story movie? Of course it's not. It's the fifth one. But it still is working with a very, very, very sturdy metaphor. And still working off of just sort of like the many challenges and existential crises of childhood. And one thing that really occurred to me watching this film, kind of even in comparison to the other Toy Story movies, all of these movies are built around metaphor.
But it had never really been quite so clear to me how much the Toy Story movies are metaphors not for childhood, but for parenthood. Mm-hmm. And how often these films are fixated on obsolescence. Going all the way back to Toy Story 2, obsolescence is a really, really key ache that runs through these films. It's interesting, you know, part of it is like as you get older, you're going to kind of have different relationships with these films and kind of view them from different perspectives.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:08
2
What is the main conflict in Toy Story 5?
1:08–1:38
3
How do Jessie and Buzz respond to the new threat?
1:38–2:37
4
What new characters are introduced in Toy Story 5?
2:37–2:50
5
Can analog toys and digital gadgets coexist?
2:50–10:01
6
What themes of parenthood and childhood are explored?
10:01–10:38
7
How does Toy Story 5 compare to previous installments?
10:38–14:45
8
What critiques are made about the film's pacing and character clutter?
14:45–26:37