Eight-year-old Bonnie gets a frog-themed tablet called Lilypad, and its social app, "The Pond," quickly takes over her free time. Jessie, haunted by the memory of being abandoned by her first owner Emily, becomes convinced the toys are on their way out. The conflict isn't settled by defeating a villain. Lilypad turns out to be a well-meaning device with the wrong idea of how to help, and the film ends with toys and technology sharing Bonnie's playtime. Woody, as in earlier films, moves on, but this time to keep rescuing toys alongside friends.
1Movie Meters
Scored by our editors on the same scale for every movie. Add your own fire rating under each meter.
2Story Flow
How the movie tells its story, beat by beat. Start spoiler-free, switch to Full Story once you have seen it.
- SetupBonnie's parents give her a Lilypad tablet, voiced by Greta…Bonnie's parents give her a Lilypad tablet, voiced by Greta Lee, to help her make friends.
- ConflictMajor eventThe toys push back, and bring Woody back into the fold to…The toys push back, and bring Woody back into the fold to help them stay relevant in the face of technology.
- EscalationJessie takes the lead and treats Lilypad as the latest in a long line of threats to toys.
- EscalationLilypad orchestrates a sleepover with popular girls from Bonnie's dance class, but Bonnie is mocked for still…
- EscalationJessie and Bullseye get separated from the group and end up at Emily's old house, now home to a young girl…
- EscalationThere Jessie finds proof that Emily never forgot her and truly valued their bond.
- EscalationJessie realizes Blaze would make a perfect friend for Bonnie.
- ClimaxClimaxOvercome with guilt for having isolated Bonnie, Lilypad throws herself onto a donation truck.
- ResolutionEndingThe finale is built on a change of heart.
3Toy Story 5 FAQ
The questions viewers actually ask after the credits roll. Answers contain full spoilers.
What happened in Toy Story 5?
Bonnie's parents give her a Lilypad tablet, voiced by Greta Lee, to help her make friends. Its social app, The Pond, begins to dominate her attention. The toys push back, and bring Woody back into the fold to help them stay relevant in the face of technology. Jessie takes the lead and treats Lilypad as the latest in a long line of threats to toys. Her fear comes straight from her backstory, the toy that was left behind by Emily. Lilypad orchestrates a sleepover with popular girls from Bonnie's dance class, but Bonnie is mocked for still playing with toys, which leaves her isolated. Jessie and Bullseye get separated from the group and end up at Emily's old house, now home to a young girl named Blaze. There Jessie finds proof that Emily never forgot her and truly valued their bond. Jessie realizes Blaze would make a perfect friend for Bonnie. Overcome with guilt for having isolated Bonnie, Lilypad throws herself onto a donation truck. The toys chase after her, and an army of high-tech Buzz Lightyears reveals it can transform into drones to carry everyone to safety.
What happened at the end of Toy Story 5?
The finale is built on a change of heart. Once Lilypad recognizes how toxic the social environment around Bonnie has become, she stops competing with the toys and starts helping them, linking up with the Buzz army to get everyone out of danger. She isn't destroyed or defeated. She joins the group.
What does the ending of Toy Story 5 mean?
In the closing scenes, Bonnie and Blaze become real friends, playing together with their toys and the tablet, taking pictures, and inventing stories, while a reformed Lilypad joins in instead of competing. The film makes a point of not landing on "toys good, tech bad." Lilypad isn't the monster the toys feared, but she isn't the answer to Bonnie's loneliness either. Bonnie needed real friends, and the toys and the tablet can help her find them.
For Jessie, the ending is quiet closure. Learning that Emily never forgot her gives her a peace she didn't know she needed, and she comes to see Lilypad as an equal, not a threat. As in earlier films, Woody leaves once the work is done, reuniting with Bo Peep and Duke Kaboom to keep rescuing toys. Unlike the farewell tone of Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4, this ending is deliberately open.
Is the ending of Toy Story 5 happy or sad?
Warm and open-ended, a gentle truce between old and new, with a deeply personal resolution for Jessie.
Does Woody survive at the end of Toy Story 5?
Alive; leaves to reunite with Bo Peep and Duke Kaboom.
What happened to Buzz Lightyear?
Alive.
What happened to Jessie?
Alive; finds closure about Emily and a new friendship in Blaze's orbit.
What happened to Bullseye?
Alive; separated from the group with Jessie, then reunited.
What happened to Lilypad?
Survives and joins the group after her change of heart.
What happened to Bonnie?
Fine; makes a real friend in Blaze.
What happened to Blaze?
Fine; the girl who lives in Emily's old house.
What happened to the high-tech Buzz army?
Alive, and key to the rescue.
What happened to No main character is reported killed?
No main character is reported killed in the film.
Is Lilypad actually the villain?
Not really. She works as an obstacle for most of the film because her goals clash with Jessie's, but she wants Bonnie to be happy and ends up helping the toys.
Does Woody stay with Bonnie at the end?
No. He leaves again to continue his toy-rescue work with Bo Peep and Duke Kaboom.
Why does Jessie take the technology threat so personally?
Because of her history with Emily, who she believed had forgotten her. When Bonnie starts ignoring her toys, Jessie's old fear comes back.
What does Zurg's cameo in the credits set up?
Nothing for a sequel. It's a callback gag that closes out the high-tech Buzz storyline.
Does the film say technology and toys can't coexist?
No. Its ending argues the opposite: Bonnie plays with Blaze, her toys, and the tablet together.
Is this ending a farewell like the previous two films?
No. Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 felt like goodbyes, while this ending is more open-ended.
4Post Credits
Should you stay in your seat?
1 mid-credits scene.
What happens: Mid-credits scene: This wraps up the storyline of the high-tech Buzz army. They drift down from the sky onto a playground full of kids, who happily grab the toys. But one kid has an Emperor Zurg action figure in his backpack, and Zurg greets Buzz with "We meet again, my son!"
Does it set up a sequel? Neither extra scene sets up a sequel. They're gags and callbacks, mainly about the Buzz and Zurg rivalry.
Is there anything after the credits? End-of-credits tag: Right at the very end, Lilypad and a toy called Pizza Sunglasses perform a rap song, a payoff to a gag earlier in the film. The credits themselves play as an epilogue in hand-drawn still frames with title cards, set to Taylor Swift's original song "I Knew It, I Knew You."
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What it's about (no spoilers)
When Bonnie receives a Lilypad tablet as a gift and becomes obsessed, Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs become exponentially harder when they have to go head to head with the all-new threat to playtime.
Cast
- Joan Cusack as Jessie (voice)
- Tom Hanks as Woody (voice)
- Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear (voice)
- Conan O'Brien as Smarty Pants (voice)
- Scarlett Spears as Bonnie (voice)
Trailer
Final Trailer