Maybe you heard, but there is a new Toy Story film in theaters and it’s here to make a billion dollars and show that Pixar has still got it. This franchise turned 30 last year and if it was not already clear, Toy Story continues to be one of the more inventive and consistent cultural touchstones happening in movie culture. This is also a franchise that gave Pixar a nearly unstoppable movement in a way that few other contemporary movie studios have seen. Which begs the question: with a fifth installment here, how do the Toy Story films stack up?
5.Toy Story 4 (2019)
To put it simply, there are a lot of poor and lazy kids’ movies made every year. Movies that are just colors and lack any depth to help the development of a child. Toy Story 4 is not that and it deserves to be celebrated for that reason. Toy Story, on its worst day, is better than 90% of content made for children. Whether or not audiences really needed another film in this franchise is up for debate, especially since the third instalment is a perfect ending.
Toy Story 4 is far from perfect, but the voice cast from both new and returning players is great. Toy Story 4 works as a thoughtful exploration of how we find purpose when life starts to change, which is a thematic idea that is probably relevant for most of the fans who grew up with this franchise and are not in their adult life. If you haven’t seen Toy Story 4 in a while, it is worth the rewatch and reexamination.
4.Toy Story 5 (2026)
The latest installment in the Toy Story franchise follows the gang of toys as they are threatened by technology replacing what children know as “play time”. Bonnie, the toy’s owner, has recently been given a tablet called “Lily Pad”, as her parents hope that this will help Bonnie fit in with all of the other children who have devices.
All things considered, Toy Story 5 feels like a more appropriate follow-up film to the third installment than Toy Story 4 did. It was inevitable that Pixar would have to acknowledge that technology is arguably more important to the modern child than toys are. While it might seem like this film would take a completely anti-technology stance, it does not. What this installment has to say is a bit more nuanced than “throw your phone in the trash”. The film centers on Jessie and the idea of female friendship, which marks new territory for the franchise. Some of the film’s most exciting moments come in the form of imaginary play sequences, where the animation changes to something that looks a bit like watercolors. Those moments are a lot of fun and show that Toy Story can continue to experiment with the animation medium all these years later.
That said, it is the only Toy Story film that does not feel like a finale. This just feels like another installment and while it does not work to set up a sixth film, do not be surprised in five years when Toy Story 6 is announced.
3.Toy Story 2 (1999)
Once again, Woody has gone missing; this time, he is taken by a toy collector named Al. The gang must go on a daring rescue mission to save the cowboy. Toy Story 2 is a movie that works best when expanding the world of the toys and how exactly the life of the toys works. The toys leave Andy’s home and go out into the world, showing the audience just how interesting and weird Pixar can get with these movies. This is the film that introduces one of Pixar’s core characters, Jessie. It often feels forgotten that a character so iconic is introduced in the second film and has not been there since day one.
While Toy Story 2 is one of the great films to come out of Pixar, it does not quite pack the emotional punch that other films in the franchise do (aside from the Jessie backstory).
2. Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story is a perfect movie. Truthfully, that’s all that really needs to be said (but I will keep going). Toy Story is not brought up enough in the discussion for the most important films to come out of the 90s. It does not seem like it would be most people’s gut response if they were asked what the 5 or 10 best movies to come out of the decade are. This is a film that completely changed the world of animation and blockbuster storytelling forever. Maybe aside from The Matrix, is there another more influential movie from that time period? This animation style is the dominant mode for these types of movies, so many children’s movies want to have screenplays as perfect as this one and ensemble casts as memorable as this one. No notes, there is no need to elaborate any further.
1.Toy Story 3 (2010)
This movie has a certain magic to it that few other movies have. There is an argument to be made that Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have more perfect screenplays, but there is a level of emotionality brought to 3 that the others do not have.
We follow the toys as they grapple with Andy growing up and moving on. This is one of the smartest moves the Pixar team could have made, as the audience members who grew up with the first two films will now be in the same age range as Andy. It feels like a natural evolution, especially since this is far and away the most mature film in the bunch. It is a movie that has grown with its audience and is not taking any shortcuts. It is a perfect conclusion to this original three-movie run and a franchise can rarely pull off a perfect trilogy, especially with a third movie.