Cert - PG

Run-time - 1 hour 42 minutes

Director - Andrew Stanton

As Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) grows up her toys have different views on how she should make friends compared to her new hypnotising tech device Lilypad (Greta Lee).

Toys, and their relationships with their owners, have been at the heart of the Toy Story films for 31 years. Yet, with the franchise's fifth instalment, the now eight-year-old Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is at its emotional core. Many of the best moments revolve around her diving into the genuine wholesome joy of play, or alternately facing an addicting, sometimes harsh, online world - both in attempts to make new friends in a world full of heads bent over screens.

As she tries to introduce others to her beloved Jessie (Joan Cusack) and Bullseye, she's almost laughed at, rushing them back to her Dad in exchange for electronic Lilypad (Greta Lee).

In the original Toy Story we watched the sudden arrival of a new favourite amongst the toys of Andy's bedroom. The sequel saw multiple Buzz Lightyear's let loose whilst Cowgirl Jessie revisited her past with owner Emily, and the trilogy looked at ideas of separation and moving on. Toy Story 5, following the solid philosophical questions of what it means to be a toy that Toy Story 4 observed appears to look back to this original trilogy for much of its events; less a victory lap and more an accidental retread.

At the heart of the toys' perspective is Jessie, determined to prove toys can still help make friends over the draw of big tech. She's fearing a repeat of her first owner Emily, with Randy Newman's once more integral score utilising the tear-jerking ‘When She Loved Me’ more than the almost unused ‘You've Got A Friend In Me’.

As a consequence of the previous film's events, Woody (Tom Hanks) is somewhat reduced to the Buzz role of that instalment, while Buzz (Tim Allen) is still an idiot, a very different character to the first three outings. To make up for this we follow an army of hi-tech Lightyear toys trying to find Star Command after having been washed up on an isolated island. It's a strand that feels totally made for narrative convenience to resolve matters later on, even if they are involved in one particularly nice callback.

While, like the other Toy Story films, 5 is narratively simple, it feels busy jumping between its various characters and locations. Thematically it still has some layers, but it occasionally feels preachy, especially early on.

There are chuckles and tear-jerking moments - although the dust is more specks rather than anything requiring a vacuum - and much of them come from Bonnie's perspective of play and the pain of tech, plus the still-present themes of the role of a toy and their time with a kid. It's her human character that spurs on most of the action and we have the biggest bond with her in a narrative that feels busy with construction largely based around the previous films.

Three stars