Woody and Buzz Are Back, and Critics Can't Quite Agree

Toy Story 5 lands with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack reprising their roles, and a surprisingly pointed message about technology dividing reviewers but winning most of them over.

Toy Story 5 marks the return of the franchise's original voice cast, including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack.
Critics are split on the film overall, but the majority are praising its cautionary message about technology.
The BBC reported on the critical reception, noting the tech-anxiety theme as the film's most discussed element.
The Pixar sequel arrives at a cultural moment when screen-time debates and AI unease are mainstream dinner-table topics.
No wide UK or US release date has been confirmed at time of filing.

It was a summer already thick with sequels when Toy Story 5 slipped into the discourse and did something the franchise has always managed to pull off: it made the adults in the room feel like the film was aimed squarely at them.

The fifth instalment of Pixar’s long-running animated series has landed with its original voice cast largely intact. Tom Hanks returns as Woody, Tim Allen is back as Buzz Lightyear, and Joan Cusack reprises Jessie — a reunion that will mean something to anyone who can remember the first film arriving in 1995 and quietly rewriting what animated features were allowed to do.

Critical reception, as reported by the BBC, is divided but leans positive, with the film’s “cautionary” message about technology drawing the most consistent praise. In a season when screen-time anxiety, AI unease, and the question of what children actually do with their devices have all gone firmly mainstream, Pixar has apparently decided to meet the moment rather than sidestep it. Whether that reads as bold or on-the-nose appears to depend heavily on the reviewer.

The franchise has always threaded adult themes through its toy-chest premise — obsolescence, identity, the terror of being left behind — and a tech-sceptic turn in 2025 fits the pattern cleanly enough that it is hard to call it a departure. What critics seem less united on is the execution: whether the message lands with the franchise’s usual lightness or whether it sits a little heavily on the running time.

A confirmed wide release date for UK and US cinemas had not been announced at the time of filing.