The cast of Toy Story 5 have said the film explores children’s growing dependence on screens, with Tom Hanks describing the glow of phone screens in children’s bedrooms as something that “strikes terror into the heart”.
Hanks, who has voiced the cowboy doll Woody since the original Toy Story was released in 1995, said that the story reflected a wider generational relationship with technology. “One generation has this thing that defines them technologically in society, and they pour everything into it,” he told the BBC.
“There’s a moment in the movie where we look out on the cityscape and we see that blue glow of a phone in bedrooms and whatnot, and it does strike terror into the heart,” Hanks added.
In the latest instalment of Pixar's long-running franchise, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Jessie find themselves competing with a new kind of rival: a frog-shaped tablet called Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee. The film follows the toys as they struggle to remain relevant after Bonnie becomes captivated by the device, with Pixar describing the story as “Toy meets Tech”.
Alongside Hanks as Woody, Tim Allen returns as the space ranger Buzz Lightyear, while Joan Cusack reprises her role as the yodelling cowgirl Jessie.
Allen said he had recently clashed with his teenage daughter during a cinema trip after she quickly lost patience because children are now “so used to seven-second movies on Instagram”.
“She actually looked at a motion picture and went, ‘I get it! He’s going to be the villain and they’re going to do this,’” Allen told the BBC. “We had a little argument. I said, ‘from now on, if we go to movie theatres, we watch the movie, and you can [complain] about it afterwards’. But she wasn’t wrong.”
Allen said younger audiences were now “so used to a beginning, middle and end arc in seven seconds” because of social media that many struggled to stay engaged with longer films “other than Avatar”, which he described as “an experience”.
Cusack said the film’s themes would “resonate” with parents trying to limit screen time, but Allen acknowledged that fears around new technology were not new. “As soon as I said ‘put that phone down’, I remember my parents going ‘turn the music off’,” Allen said.
Lee said last month that Lilypad was not “quite a villain” and “often has really good intentions”.
“The issue is complicated because tech isn’t going anywhere, and it is beneficial in a myriad of ways, but there is a real concern about the cost of all of this screen time that we get to see in the movie,” she told PA.
Governments around the world are increasingly seeking to curb children’s use of smartphones and social media. Last year, Australia became the first country to introduce a nationwide minimum age of 16 for social media accounts, while Norway, France, Spain, and Denmark are pursuing similar measures to restrict children’s access to online platforms.
On Monday, Taylor Swift confirmed that she has a new song in the film, written and produced by Swift and Jack Antonoff. The song, titled “I Knew It, I Knew You” is meant to be a return to the star’s country music roots, and is based on the story of beloved cowgirl character Jessie.
“I’ve always dreamed of getting to write for these characters who I’ve adored since I was a 5-year-old kid watching the first Toy Story movie,” said Swift.
Toy Story 5 is set to hit theatres on 19 June 2026.
