When I walked into the theater to watch Toy Story 5, I had no idea what the movie was about.
In fact, I wasn’t expecting much beyond a fun family outing. Like many parents, I was looking forward to sitting down, spending time together, and enjoying a movie with my family. I had even left my phone in the car before we went inside. It’s something I’ve been trying to do more often lately when we’re spending intentional time together. My husband had his phone with him, so we had a backup if we needed it. The goal wasn’t to disconnect from the world completely. It was simply to be more present.
What I didn’t expect was to walk away from the movie having one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve had with my daughters about technology, friendship, childhood, and what it means to be fully present.
If you’re wondering whether Toy Story 5 is worth seeing with your kids, my answer is yes. But probably not for the reasons you think.
This wasn’t just a movie about toys. It was a movie about attention.
Overall Impression of Toy Story 5
Toy Story 5 surprised me.
Without revealing too many spoilers, the movie tackles themes that feel incredibly relevant to families today. Technology, friendship, social pressure, belonging, and the changing nature of childhood all play a role in the story.
What I appreciated most is that the movie didn’t take an extreme position. It wasn’t anti-technology, anti-phone, or anti-screen. Instead, it explored a question many parents are already wrestling with:
What happens when screens become the default destination for our attention?
As someone who uses technology every day and genuinely appreciates the opportunities it creates, I didn’t leave the theater thinking technology is bad. Far from it.
I left wondering whether we’re doing enough to help our children find balance.
The movie felt less like a criticism of technology and more like a reminder that childhood still needs imagination, connection, play, and real-world experiences.
The Conversation That Surprised Me Most
The most memorable part of the day wasn’t something that happened during the movie. It happened afterward.
My oldest daughter, Della, is 11 years old and will start middle school this fall. Like many kids her age, she has been asking for an iPhone for more than a year.
After the movie, she told me something I wasn’t expecting. She said the movie made her rethink getting an iPhone. Naturally, I asked why. Her answer caught me off guard. She said she didn’t want to become addicted to it.
What struck me was that she wasn’t saying phones are bad. She wasn’t saying she never wanted one. She wasn’t suddenly rejecting technology. She was talking about balance.
As a parent, hearing an 11-year-old independently arrive at that conclusion felt significant. It wasn’t coming from a lecture. It wasn’t coming from a screen time rule. It was coming from her own reflection after watching the movie. For me, that alone made the movie worth seeing.
Themes Parents Should Know About
Screens and Attention
One of the strongest themes in Toy Story 5 is attention. The movie repeatedly raises questions about where our attention goes and what we might miss when screens consume too much of it.
As I watched, I couldn’t help but think about how much of modern life now happens through a device. Adults are on screens. Kids are on screens. Entertainment, communication, shopping, work, and even friendships increasingly happen online.
Again, the movie isn’t arguing that technology is bad. It’s asking whether we’re being intentional about how we use it. That’s a question children need to consider. It’s also a question adults need to consider.
Friendship and Social Pressure
One scene that stayed with me involved a group of girls laughing about another child because she was still playing with toys.
There wasn’t outright bullying. No dramatic confrontation. No mean-girl movie moment.
Yet the scene felt incredibly real because the comments happened in a group chat. As a parent, that scene hit close to home.
One of my concerns about technology isn’t simply screen time. It’s the way social pressure now follows children home.
Years ago, difficult interactions often ended when school ended. Today, conversations continue through group chats, text messages, and social media.
The movie handled this topic thoughtfully without becoming overly dramatic, and I appreciated that.
It reflected a reality many parents of tweens and preteens are already navigating.
The Sleepover Scene
Another scene that stood out involved a sleepover. When I think about sleepovers from my childhood, I think about board games, conversations, laughter, and staying up way too late. The sleepover portrayed in Toy Story 5 looked different. Many of the children were focused on their screens.
What made the scene powerful wasn’t that it was shocking. It was that it felt normal. I suspect many parents have witnessed something similar. Children can be physically together while directing much of their attention somewhere else.
The movie doesn’t criticize this. It simply holds up a mirror and asks us to think about it.
Emma’s Observation About Why Kids Aren’t Outside
My younger daughter Emma had a completely different takeaway from the movie. Afterward, she wondered whether one reason there seem to be fewer kids outside today is because many children are inside watching television or spending time on devices.
Emma also commented that maybe some kids stay inside because there are no kids outside to play with, but she added that sometimes she watches TV for the same reason. If there are no friends outside, it’s easy to default to a screen. I thought that was an insightful observation for a 9-year-old because it showed how complicated the issue really is.
It becomes a cycle.
Her comment immediately reminded me of something our family experienced last summer.
What Happened When Kids Actually Went Outside
Last summer, we were visiting family in California.
My children and their cousins started riding bikes around the neighborhood together. At first it was just my kids and my brother’s kids. Then something interesting happened. Other children started noticing them.
As families arrived home or kids saw the group outside, more children joined in. Some grabbed bikes. Others came out simply because they saw kids having fun. Before long, there was a large group of children outside together. And it didn’t happen for just one afternoon. It continued for days.
That experience stayed with me because it challenged a narrative I hear often: kids don’t want to play outside anymore. What I saw suggested something different. Many children still crave connection. They still enjoy riding bikes, exploring, playing games, and spending time with friends. Sometimes they simply need someone else to be outside first. Connection can be contagious.
Once a few kids were outside, others followed.
The Part That Challenged Me as a Parent
As much as the movie made my daughters think, it also made me think. One of the reasons Toy Story 5 resonated with me so deeply is because it connected to something I’ve been working on personally. I’ve realized how easy it is to drift into checking my phone. Not because what is on my screen is more important than the people around me. Not because I’m intentionally choosing my phone over my family. It simply happens. A notification appears. I check one thing. Then another. A few minutes disappear. Part of my attention drifts elsewhere.
That’s one reason I’ve started leaving my phone behind more often when we’re out as a family. Sometimes I leave it in the car when we’re at a restaurant. Sometimes I leave it behind during family outings. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s presence. Because being physically present isn’t always the same as being fully present.
That may have been the biggest lesson I took away from the movie.
Is Toy Story 5 Appropriate for Kids?
Based on my experience, yes.
My daughters are 11 and 9, and I felt comfortable with the themes presented throughout the movie.
Parents should know that the movie touches on friendship struggles, social pressure, fitting in, screen use, and attention. These themes may actually create valuable opportunities for conversation, especially with tweens and preteens.
I didn’t find the movie scary.
There wasn’t anything graphic or what I would consider overtly inappropriate for this age group. There was one brief scene that some families may want to be aware of. A group of abandoned toys is discussing the child in the home, and among them is a male Barbie doll wearing a tutu-style skirt and butterfly tattoos on his chest. The movie doesn’t draw attention to it or make it a major plot point. It could easily be interpreted as a toy that had been dressed or customized by the child during play. Some parents likely won’t think twice about it, while others may prefer to know it’s included before deciding whether the movie is a good fit for their family.
The emotional moments felt meaningful rather than overwhelming.
If anything, I think parents may appreciate the conversations the movie inspires more than the movie itself.
My Toy Story 5 Parent Review
If you’re looking for a movie that simply entertains, Toy Story 5 certainly does that. But what impressed me most was its ability to spark conversation.
The movie doesn’t offer easy answers. It doesn’t tell families to get rid of their devices. It doesn’t portray technology as evil.
Instead, it encourages reflection. How much technology is too much? How do we help children build healthy habits? How do we balance digital connection with real-world connection? What does friendship look like in a world of group chats and constant communication?
Those are important questions, and Toy Story 5 creates an opportunity to discuss them. For parents of tweens and preteens, that may be the movie’s greatest strength.
Final Verdict
The most powerful movies don’t just entertain us. They make us think and Toy Story 5 did exactly that.
It led my 11-year-old daughter to rethink getting an iPhone. It prompted my younger daughter to think about why there seem to be fewer kids outside. It reminded me how easy it is to drift toward my own phone and how important it is to be fully present with the people I love.
The morning after the movie, I noticed something else. The girls were playing with their toys. Not that they had ever stopped, but there was a renewed sense of imaginative play that felt meaningful after everything we had discussed. Maybe it was coincidence. Or maybe the movie simply reminded all of us of something important.
Technology is incredible. It connects us, educates us, and creates opportunities previous generations could only imagine. But childhood still needs room for imagination. Families still need room for conversation.
And all of us, children and adults alike, need moments when we are fully present, not just physically there, but truly there.
That was my biggest takeaway from Toy Story 5.