Posted in: Disney, Movies, Pixar | Tagged: toy story 5

Toy Story 5: Exploring The Idea That "When Tech Comes In, It Wins"

Toy Story 5 director Andrew Stanton explains how the new villain Lilypad helps explore the idea that "when tech comes in, it wins. It happens to adults and kids. It just wins."

Pixar and the Toy Story films have explored the themes of childhood, growing up, and moving from one generation to another, guiding an entire generation of children to adulthood. However, the changes that have occurred in the wake of the tech boom are very different from the allegory Woody and Buzz explored in the first film. We jumped forward a lot, and the concept of the iPad kids has been looming on the horizon for a while now, and someone would have to tackle this idea without completely demonizing everyone involved. If there was anyone who could pull off confronting the idea of iPad kids, showing what it does to them, and showing parents the damage they are doing, it's Pixar. Director Andrew Stanton, who has been with Pixar since the early '90s, is the one bringing the conversation to the big screen in Toy Story 5 and recently explained to Empire how the idea that tech wins with kids and adults, and how it has completely taken over the concept of playtime.

"When tech comes in, it wins," he says. "It happens to adults and kids. It just wins. So that was the more interesting slant to take: there's no competition. Have a kid playing with toys, drop in a screen device, and see what happens. And so we leaned into the truth of that, and had fun with that. … The biggest thing that was lingering all this time is the way that technology has usurped playtime in real life. Lily is representative of what we're up against."

Despite how bad things might appear out there in the real world and how things are not looking great for the toys in Toy Story 5, Stanton still has hope, saying, "My co-director, McKenna Harris, is 30, which is my kids' age. I'm not writing them off as some lost generation. They're just as hungry and passionate and clever as you ever thought your generation was. It's made me a lot more hopeful about how the youth are going to navigate through this than I was before."

Everyone gets to a point as an adult where they are convinced that this generation of kids is the worst generation of kids, something terrible is going on, and so on and so forth, but kids are incredible human beings whose unique way of the world has them pulling through every time another generation writes them off. The lack of reading and media literacy is concerning, though, so maybe we can work on that.

Toy Story 5: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

It's Toy meets Tech in Toy Story 5 as fans are introduced to the new character Lilypad, a high-tech, frog-shaped smart tablet voiced by Greta Lee (Past Lives, The Morning Show, TRON: Ares) that makes Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang's jobs exponentially harder when they go head to head with the all-new threat to playtime.

Tom Hanks returns as the ever-loyal cowboy Woody, Tim Allen reports for duty as Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusack saddles up again as the rootin'-tootin' cowgirl Jessie, and Tony Hale is back as the voice of the handcrafted toy Forky. It was recently announced that Conan O'Brien will also join the voice cast as the toilet training tech toy Smarty Pants.

Toy Story 5 is directed by Academy Award® winner Andrew Stanton (WALL•E, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory), co-directed by Kenna Harris (Ciao Alberto) and produced by Lindsey Collins (Turning Red, WALL•E, Finding Dory). The animated adventure releases in theaters nationwide on June 19, 2026.

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