Everyone has been asking whether Toy Story 5 needed to exist. But the more interesting question might be why does it feel so current?
Because underneath all the nostalgia and familiar characters, the film is basically built around one idea – toys competing with technology.
And not in a vague way either, the ‘villain’ being a tablet feels very on-the-nose. It taps straight into this ongoing anxiety about kids, screens and whether imagination is quietly disappearing.
It’s the kind of thing people joke about all the time – ‘iPad kids,’ short attention spans, children who would rather scroll than play and Toy Story has always been about play.
About the idea that toys come alive because kids imagine them into existence. So putting that up against a screen feels like a statement, writes Film News Blitz’s Fatima Aziz.
Is it as simple as toys = good and tech = bad?
Because for Gen Z, and especially younger kids, technology isn’t some outside threat. It’s just normal.
It’s how they watch things, talk to friends, learn stuff and create. TikTok, YouTube, games – they’re not just passive. They’re where a lot of imagination actually happens now.
So when the film frames screens as the enemy, it almost feels a bit old. Like it’s holding onto an older idea of childhood that doesn’t fully exist anymore.
At the same time though, that anxiety is real. Even if it’s slightly exaggerated, there’s something uncomfortable about how constant screens have become.
The way everything is instant, endless, always on. The idea that play now comes with algorithms attached to it.
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Reflecting the tension
There’s also something slightly ironic about it. A film questioning screen culture that will inevitably be clipped and watched on a screen.
You’ll probably see parts of Toy Story 5 first on TikTok before you even watch the full film. So it’s not outside of that world, it’s part of it.
Which kind of makes its message more complicated because it’s not rejecting technology. It’s just reacting to it.
Maybe the film really is just a reflection of how weird this shift feels, not a warning or lesson. Especially for people who grew up somewhere in between physical toys and digital everything.
Imagination hasn’t disappeared, it’s just moved
Kids are still creating worlds. They’re just doing it through edits, videos, games, trends – things that don’t look like ‘traditional’ play, but still are.
I think Toy Story 5 isn’t really about screens replacing toys. It’s more about us struggling to recognise what play looks like now.
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