‘Toy Story 5’ Trailer Reveals How Woody Returns to Save the Day

Disney and Pixar have released the newest trailer for Toy Story 5, and it feels like the franchise is stepping into something very real. Not another collector’s item. Not a daycare disaster. This time, the toys are up against technology in the form of a cute green frog tablet named Lilypad (Greta Lee)

Directed by Andrew Stanton, who also co-wrote the film with Kenna Harris, the filmmaker behind Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, and WALL-E, the fifth installment of the studio’s flagship franchise finally puts the gang in a situation they cannot charm their way out of. The conflict is a frog looking tablet device that kids of today would love to get their hands on.

At the center of it all is Lilypad, who is positioned as the technological antagonist with a smug sense of authority. She is not just competing for attention. She represents a modern shift in how kids socialize and play. The trailer reveals how Bonnie is struggling to make friends, and some of those kids who have touchpadsare pulling away from the concept of imaginative play. Lilypad leans into that mindset hard, dismissing Jessie’s (Joan Cusack) concerns and even mocking her by repeating what she says, then repeating it again in Spanish. It is funny in the moment, but it also feels like a gut punch.

Jessie and the rest of the toys are forced to face a brutal question. What happens when imagination has to compete with a screen?

That is where Woody (Tom Hanks) comes back into the picture. The trailer reveals he has been keeping in touch with Jessie through a walkie-talkie, and he is still out there doing what he promised at the end of the last film, helping lost toys who get left behind in a world that moves on. Woody frames it simply. Toys are for play. Tech is for everything. Jessie does not argue. She just admits she is losing Bonnie to Lilypad.

Cue Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” because Woody arrives like a hero, a little more weathered now with faded paint on his head, but also sporting a new poncho. The trailer even teases the long-awaited Woody and Buzz (Tim Allen) reunion, right as Lilypad takes a jab at Woody’s age, calling him an old man toy. Woody wants her to repeat it, Forky chimes in that she thinks he is old because he is bald, and the whole scene lands as both comedy and commentary.

Lilypad insists the toys are generations behind and Bonnie needs help from someone from this century. The tag line says it all, Times May Change But Friends Are Forever. The montage sells the stakes, an illuminating army of Buzz Lightyear toys rising out of the water at night, a campsite invasion, and Jessie being played with in a way that echoes Toy Story 2, hinting that her fear of being left behind might be resurfacing.

Also rounding out the voice cast are John Ratzenberger as the wisecracking piggybank Hamm; Wallace Shawn as Rex, the anxiety-riddled tyrannosaurus rex toy; Blake Clark as the ever-loyal Slinky Dog; Jeff Bergman as the sarcastic Mr. Potato Head; Anna Vocino as the nurturing Mrs. Potato Head; Annie Potts as the adventure-loving Bo Peep; Bonnie Hunt as the wise rag-doll Dolly; Melissa Villaseñor as Karen Beverly, Bonnie’s homemade toy fashioned out of a plastic knife; John Hopkins as the dignified hedgehog plush toy Mr. Pricklepants; Kristen Schaal as the plastic triceratops toy Trixie; Ernie Hudson as the action figure Combat Carl; and Keanu Reeves as Canadian daredevil toy Duke Caboom.