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Pixar’s Toy Story 5 hits theaters today, June 19, 2026. This time around, Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of Bonnie’s playroom gang aren’t fighting a greedy toy collector or a bitter, smelling-of-strawberries teddy bear. Instead, they are facing down an existential threat that might actually be impossible to beat: technology.
In a fascinating sit-down chat, director Andrew Stanton, co-director Kenna Harris, and producer Lindsey Collins opened up about how they came up with this story, the creation of their new “technological” villain named Lilypad, and the deeply unsettling question that pushed them to make another movie: What happens when toys stop being needed?
The New Threat in Town: Meet Lilypad
Every Toy Story movie needs a force that shakes up the status quo. In the first movie, it was the shiny new toy replacing the old favorite. In the sequels, we saw the fear of being forgotten, broken, or thrown into a trash incinerator. But Toy Story 5 goes a step further. It asks what happens when the very concept of “playtime” changes forever.
Enter Lilypad.
Lilypad isn’t an evil toy with a dark backstory. She is a sleek, shiny, incredibly smart tablet that instantly becomes Bonnie’s absolute favorite thing in the world. The moment Lilypad arrives, Bonnie’s attention shifts completely away from her physical toys.
“Tech just wins. Like, that was the big epiphany for us early on. It was like, ‘Oh, wait a minute. You put a phone in my hand, it’s over. It’s over.’ There’s no competition from the devices’ standpoint.” — Andrew Stanton, Director
According to the filmmakers, the initial idea was to set up a classic “toys vs. tech” battle. But as they started writing and developing the movie over the last four years, they realized that a fair fight wasn’t realistic. In the real world, digital devices win the battle for attention almost every single time. Devices are showing up in children’s hands at younger and younger ages, and it’s no longer just a passing phase or a trend. It’s the new normal.
>>> Read more: Toy Story 5 Trailer
How Lilypad Changes the Game
To understand why Lilypad is such a terrifying challenge for Woody and the gang, we have to look at how she compares to the villains and obstacles of the past.
| Movie | The Core Threat / Villain | Can the Toys Fix It? | The Ultimate Outcome |
| Toy Story | Buzz Lightyear (Jealousy) / Sid | Yes | Woody and Buzz become best friends. |
| Toy Story 2 | Al’s Toy Barn / Stinky Pete | Yes | The toys rescue Woody and return home. |
| Toy Story 3 | Lotso / Growing up & Daycare | Yes | They find a new home with Bonnie. |
| Toy Story 4 | Gabby Gabby / Finding a new purpose | Yes | Woody chooses a new path as a free toy. |
| Toy Story 5 | Lilypad (The Smart Tablet) | Unclear | Playtime itself is fundamentally rewritten. |
As co-director Kenna Harris points out, the threats in the previous movies always left room for a little bit of hope. If a toy got lost, they could map out a rescue mission. If a kid grew up, the toys could find a new kid who would love them just as much. But with a tablet like Lilypad taking over, the toys are left wondering if there is any kid out there who will choose a plastic cowboy over an endless stream of digital entertainment. The shelf life of a traditional toy is shrinking fast, and for characters who are literally alive, it’s impossible not to take that personally.
When Childhood Changes, What Happens to the Toys?
At its heart, the Toy Story franchise has always been a hidden story about parenting. The toys watch over the children, help them navigate the world, comfort them when they are sad, and celebrate their wins, all while knowing that one day, the child will outgrow them and move on.
Andrew Stanton explains that when they started brainstorming Toy Story 5, they anchored the emotional weight of the movie to Bonnie’s current stage of life. Bonnie is hitting an age where socialization is everything. Making friends at school brings incredibly high stakes, anxiety, and pressure.
Historically, the toys have acted as surrogate parents, helping her process these big emotional milestones through imaginative play. But now, a digital device has stepped into the room, offering a brand-new style of “parenting.” These algorithms and apps are specifically designed to keep kids engaged, quiet, and entertained, claiming to be all about the “betterment of the child.”
One of the most profound insights Stanton shared during the interview is that the main characters (Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, and the crew) aren’t changing. Their core programming is the same: they love their kid, and they want to be there for her.
What has changed is childhood itself.
Because modern childhood is shifting toward digital spaces, the toys are forced into a corner. They have to watch the kid they love drift into a virtual world where they cannot follow. It forces an incredibly deep, emotional question to the surface: If you aren’t needed to make a child happy anymore, what is your purpose?
The Intense Internal Pressure: Why Make a Fifth Movie?
Whenever a major studio announces a fifth movie in a beloved franchise, fans immediately get skeptical. We’ve all seen franchises that don’t know when to quit, releasing sequel after sequel until the magic is completely gone.
The team at Pixar gets that. In fact, they are more cynical about it than anyone else.
Producer Lindsey Collins admitted that Pixar approaches sequels with a massive amount of healthy skepticism. When a new project is proposed, the filmmakers ask themselves the same tough questions that fans ask online: Why are we doing this? Is this story actually worthy of the characters? Or are we just making a movie for the sake of making a movie?
As it turns out, the toughest crowd to please isn’t the critics or the audience on opening weekend. It’s the people working inside the walls of Pixar itself.
“With a sequel, you’re kind of coming in with a little bit of a headwind internally. And it’s a healthy thing because the hardest audience to convince is internal.” — Lindsey Collins, Producer
Because the original movies are so fiercely loved within the studio, anyone attempting to make a sequel has to prove that they have an idea that honors that legacy. Andrew Stanton joked that when you direct a movie like Toy Story 5, the best response you can realistically hope to get from your colleagues is a relieved, “Hey, you didn’t mess it up!”
It sounds unrewarding on the surface, but the team agrees that the real joy comes later. Once the story starts clicking and the internal teams see the vision come to life, the skepticism melts away and turns into pure excitement. Ultimately, because a director has to spend four long years looking at the same footage, tweaking scenes, and rewriting dialogue, the movie has to fundamentally please the filmmakers first.
The Technology of Animation: “The Paint Set Is Figured Out”
Pixar has always been famous for pushing the boundaries of what computers can do. Think back to the original Toy Story in 1995; it was a groundbreaking masterpiece, but if you look at the human characters like Andy or Sid today, they look pretty stiff and dated. By the time Toy Story 3 and 4 rolled around, the textures of the toys, the lighting, the rain, and the environments looked so real you could almost reach out and touch them.
So, where does the technology go from here? Is it still a struggle to bring wild ideas to life on screen?
Stanton had a surprising answer. He revealed that he has felt like the technical hurdles have mostly been cleared ever since he directed Finding Dory a decade ago.
To explain how Pixar operates today, Stanton used a great art metaphor:
- The Past: In the early days of computer animation, Pixar had to invent the tools as they went along. They were literally inventing new colors and building the paintbrushes from scratch.
- The Present: Today, the technical pipeline is incredibly sophisticated. The metaphorical paint set has been completely figured out. Anything a filmmaker can visualize in their head can be built by the technical team without much of a struggle.
This means that when you watch Toy Story 5 and find yourself amazed by how incredible it looks, you aren’t just looking at advanced software. You are looking at pure artistry. The focus has completely shifted away from “Can we make a computer do this?” and moved toward “How can our artists use these tools to tell the most beautiful story possible?”
A Unique Creative Partnership: Passing the Torch
Every movie production has its own unique vibe, but Toy Story 5 brought something brand new for Andrew Stanton. As a Pixar veteran who has been there since day one, Stanton has shaped some of the most iconic stories in cinematic history, including Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and the earlier Toy Story films.
But for this project, he wasn’t flying solo. He partnered up with co-director Kenna Harris, and the experience completely changed how he looked at the filmmaking process.
Kenna Harris shared a heartwarming look at what went on behind closed doors during the four-year development process. She admitted that she had never had a true creative partner on a film quite like this before.
The two directors didn’t just split up the work; they did almost everything side-by-side:
- They co-wrote the script together.
- They literally split the writing duties right down the middle.
- They attended every single screening, review, and brainstorming session as a duo.
Harris joked that, for better or worse, she was securely attached to Stanton throughout the entire journey. Fortunately, it turned out to be an incredible match. The two found themselves working at the same pace, loving the same creative choices, and even finishing each other’s sentences.
Stanton agreed, noting that while people love to think of movies as being driven by a single, solo genius (the “auteur” theory), filmmaking at its best is always a team sport. When you find that ideal sweet spot where everyone is perfectly in sync, the magic just happens naturally.
Savoring the Moment: The Veteran’s Perspective
With a career as legendary as Andrew Stanton’s, you might think stepping into the director’s chair for another massive Pixar film would feel like just another day at the office. But Stanton opened up about a shifting mindset that altered how he approached this entire production.
He candidly admitted that he isn’t a “spring chicken” anymore, and he no longer takes it for granted that he will get to make another movie. After he finished Finding Dory, he wasn’t even sure if he would ever direct another animated feature film again.
Because of that, he walked into Toy Story 5 with a personal goal: Savor every single day.
“You treat every film like this is your last hurrah. I really tried to savor everything every day. No matter if it was a hard day or an easy day. It’s still a very rarified space that we get to make these movies in up at Pixar… what was new for me was sort of appreciating it almost to the level I did as a rookie on the first one.” — Andrew Stanton, Director
That sense of gratitude and fresh appreciation shines through in the final product. By combining the seasoned wisdom of a studio veteran with the hungry, passionate energy of a rookie, the directing duo has crafted a movie that feels simultaneously nostalgic, deeply mature, and incredibly urgent for today’s world.
Why You Need to See Toy Story 5
If you grew up with Woody and Buzz, Toy Story 5 isn’t just a movie; it’s a reflection of how the world has changed around us. It takes courage for a studio to look at its most profitable, beloved characters and drop them into a situation where they might not be able to easily win.
By taking on the screens-vs-toys dilemma, Pixar is holding up a mirror to modern families. It’s funny, it’s witty, it features the top-tier animation we’ve all come to expect, but most importantly, it has a massive beating heart.
Toy Story 5 is playing in theaters everywhere right now. Go check it out, see how Jessie handles her first meeting with Lilypad, and find out what happens when the toys we love face a world that is rapidly learning to play without them. Just make sure to bring a box of tissues; you’re definitely going to need them!
Source: awn
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