PEL Presents PMP#226: Toy Story Played Out
episodePreviously titled “PEL Presents PMP#226 Toy Story Played Out” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
57 min
2 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 15 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the core premise of the Toy Story franchise and why does it matter?
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You're listening to Pretty Much Pop a Culture Podcast, sentimentally catching the zeitgeist even as we trot out the same tired characters episode after episode. Today Wow. Today we're discussing the 1995 film Toy Story and sequels in light of the new Toy Story 5. I'm Mark Lintzemeier, and I think a real friend would talk to your face and not just behind your back.
I'm Al Baker cursing myself for ever throwing any of my toys away. Howdy, I'm Sara Lynn Brook and Yeehaw, the Roundup Gang is back in town.
Oh Sarah. This is Lord Swear. And anyone know why Rex is like playing basketball? Anybody? Anybody? He can't reach the rim. His arms are too sh too short. Alright.
That's probably trade. Uh Lauren. There's a lot of short arms jokes. It seems like physical disability is a endless
source of comedy. It's not a disability. He's i he's a dinosaur. Dinosaurs don't have long Arms. Okay, never mind.
I mean and the potato heads parts keep falling off. Mm-hmm.
Yes, absolutely.
It's tragic.
Or a feature. Mark, I intuited in your introduction that you might not have liked this film.
I'll just get it out there. I thought the new film stood up just fine, but I do have a mixed feeling about the entire series. I think it is well made. It does what it's supposed to do. I got a little teary, probably. I I don't remember if I did during number four. I think people think number four is sort of a drop-off. I feel like even that was it was fine. I rewatched them in more or less reverse order. That's what I did too. I saw number five pretty late in the game. So I was sort of like increasingly impressed, like, oh, I forgot that two was this good. I forgot that one was this good for the kind of movies that they are.
Yeah, I was going into this one with really low expectations because I saw a couple of reviews and they were everyone seemed very lukewarm. But now I I I watched a the new movie and it hit all the right kind of Toy Story notes for me. And yeah, you notice a lot of very similar beats being played, especially in the most recent movie. It turns out in every single Toy Story film the action has to basically revolve around the the toys being lost and needing to find their way home again. That's fine, we can buy that. But it's I was surprised at how much the new movie found that was new to talk about. And it was new stuff. So the plot and the characters were treading over old ground. But the themes and the messages seem to be new and important.
I thought kind of the opposite alb because I thought that plot-wise, the fact that Toy Story Five is focusing on Jesse instead of the usual gang, I thought was kind of a fresh take and I really liked a lot of where this movie went. But emotionally, I thought it hit all of the same beats for me. I could almost guess when it was I was going to cry. And I did cry basically right. At the same point that I do on every single other Toy Story movie.
I mean, I saw minions and monsters this week.
I'm sorry.
Actually actually it was quite good, believe it or not. Like if you know the history of Hollywood, it's actually a quite good movie, a very good movie, believe it or not. Anyway, means Monster's not the point of this of this podcast. I saw that and I thought, oh, I was gonna hate this movie because it's silly, same trot out characters, same little things, same weird things. And it hit me. It was really, really good. And I thought the same thing was gonna happen with Toy Story. I thought that Toy Story was gonna be a film where I was like, ah, this is not gonna work.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the core premise of the Toy Story franchise and why does it matter?
0:00–6:35
2
How does nostalgia shape the emotional beats across the five Toy Story films?
6:35–15:15
3
Why do the hosts argue that screens and digital play are both a threat and an opportunity for toys?
15:15–23:43
4
What horror‑adjacent themes emerge when toys become sentient and how are they handled?
23:43–30:05
5
Is the Toy Story series reaching a point of creative fatigue, and should it continue?
30:05–37:26
6
How have changes in directors, writers, and voice talent affected the franchise’s quality?
37:26–44:18
7
What lessons about play, purpose, and autonomy do the movies teach both kids and adults?
44:18–51:08
8
What final takeaways do the hosts leave listeners with about the future of Toy Story?
51:08–57:47
Speakers
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