At the end of Toy Story 5, Bonnie – with the support of Jessie, Woody, Buzz, and an army of Buzz Lightyears – makes friends with Blaze, who returns her favorite toys to her. Blaze is a young girl on the periphery of technology; she still has a bright imagination but uses devices intermittently. Bonnie, on the other hand, has been consumed by the Lilypad tablet, which convinced her that the only way to make friends and socialize is through a screen. Blaze is the perfect friend for Bonnie, but unfortunately, in the final act of the film, Bonnie feels ashamed that she still likes toys and feels mocked by the new friends she has made. In terms of the premise, I felt like this was a worthy storyline; the film provided a dark perspective on modern parenting today.
Toys vs. Tablets
The film’s climax involves plenty of adventure, including sending messages between toy devices and riding toy horses. Afterward, Blaze visits Bonnie’s home to return Jessie and Bullseye, who “accidentally” ended up there (which happens to be the home of Jessie’s original owner – her first kid). At first, Bonnie refuses to take her toys back, believing it to be embarrassing. But when she realizes Blaze isn’t like the mean children who judged her, she calls her back.
The film ends with Blaze and Bonnie playing with toys together alongside a reformed Lilypad (the tablet realizes what it was doing to Bonnie was wrong). The children showcase an expressive imagination, and Jessie, Bullseye, Buzz, and the rest of the gang are happy again. Meanwhile, Woody returns to the wild with Bo Peep, his latest mission to save his friends completed.
I do have to say, though, that the “Jessie’s First Kid” twist in Toy Story 5 was a great emotional easter egg for the Toy Story lore. It felt poetic as Jessie’s story comes full circle, helping Bonnie find a healthy balance with tech in the exact place she herself was once abandoned.
Growing Up Too Quickly
So, what does the ending actually mean? Well, the film as a whole carries a heavy message: it implies that it might already be too late. We have already given our kids the technology to rewrite how childhood is experienced, and turning back will be extremely difficult. Throughout the film, Jessie expresses to the tech toys that devices force children to “grow up too quickly,” suggesting that this rapid maturation is detrimental to their development. This explains why Bonnie becomes extremely anxious when her instinct to just be a child is suppressed by the Lilypad and the peer pressure of her peers.
Of course, by the end, Bonnie finds a way to return to the child she used to be by befriending Blaze. Together, they find a way to play with traditional toys while using technology at the same time. Toy Story 5 implies that we can achieve a happy medium between the two. However, this feels more idealistic than realistic. Technology is incredibly powerful in its current form, and once a child is consumed by it, reversing course is incredibly difficult.
A Daunting Message for Parents
Ultimately, Toy Story 5 provides a wholesome conclusion that delivers a daunting message to parents: we are losing our children to devices, often unnecessarily and for the sake of convenience. Bonnie’s parents gave her the Lilypad purely because they had “run out of ideas” to help her make friends, yet the film does not indicate any previous attempts they made to help her socialize.
For the toys themselves, the window of time they get to be enjoyed is shrinking. This fifth film felt like another definitive ending for the group. After all, what purpose do they serve – even from a narrative perspective – if the era of physical playtime in the human world is phasing out?
Because of this, the ending offers a very slim glimmer of hope. Our natural human reaction to seeing Bonnie finally make a genuine friend is heartwarming, but it comes with the sad indictment that we are losing our kids far too early. In terms of the franchise, it makes us question whether a Toy Story 6 is even possible given where the world is today. Perhaps that is the ultimate point: this franchise was built on the love and importance of playtime. Toy Story 5 indicates that a franchise like this couldn’t even be created if it started today.
