Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new edition of Groovy Movies. In a spoiler free setting, as always, we are going to be discussing Toy Story 5! There is nothing better than going to the movies with my nieces and Johnny, my brother, and I were chomping at the bit to take them to Toy Story 5. Toy Story was a franchise that I could have taken or left but it was Johnny and my brother’s absolute favorite. After this past weekend, however, I am a huge fan and even watched the two that I have never seen, Toy Story 3 and 4. I laughed, I cried, and enjoyed my three movie Toy Story extravaganza so much! In fact, I would happily see the fifth one again in theaters! Let’s discuss:

^^^ As always, I have no rights to this video!

Bonnie is eight years old now and loves to play with her toys – especially Jessie! With her vivid imagination, she creates the most wonderful stories for her crew of toys that were gifted to her by Andy when he left for college. The only problem? Bonnie doesn’t have any friends to share in play time with her. All she wants is to play with her neighbors but she just doesn’t know how to do that and it breaks her parents’ hearts. In an attempt to get Bonnie to have more friends, they get her the latest hot new toy – the Lilypad. It is a frog shaped tablet for kids where you can play learning games and chat away with your friend group. Bonnie promptly becomes addicted to the high tech toy and her real toys fall by the wayside.

Jessie and Lilypad clearly have different ideas of what it means to make friends. While Jessie chastises Lilypad for not helping children make connections, Lily shows her up. She friends three girls from Bonnie’s dance class and she is immediately invited to a sleepover from the device. Bonnie is ecstatic and packs her suitcase with her clothes, Jessie and Bullseye, and Lilypad too. However, as soon as she arrives at the slumber party with her two favorite toys, the girls begin to mock Bonnie for still playing with them. Rather than stand up for herself, Bonnie gives her dolls back to her dad and the girls spend the remainder of their evening on their Lilypad tablets.

Jessie and Bullseye aren’t going to stand for this and manage to escape before being taken back home. Unfortunately, they are going to have a long journey as an elderly couple finds them, sees the address of Jessie’s old owner, and takes them back to that location. Jessie’s old owner no longer lives at this home and they meet a family with a young daughter named Blaze instead. And Blaze? She could be the perfect friend for Bonnie because she still loves to play with her toys too! All Jessie needs to do is get them to meet.

This is going to be no easy feat in this unfamiliar location with strange new toys and Jessie is going to need all of the help she can get… Even if it comes from tech. Through the help of long forgotten tech toys from Blaze’s youth, the plan to get Bonnie and Blaze to be friends is a go. And, of course, Jessie is so eager to get back to Bonnie – her best friend in the world. Will Jessie and her new companions finally get Bonnie to have a friend that she deserves? Watch Toy Story 5 to find out!

From start to finish, Toy Story 5 was an absolute joy. The story of a little girl who wants nothing more than to make friends is enough to tug at anyone’s heartstrings. I don’t know about all of you, but I have felt like Bonnie in my youth and even as an adult, creating a character that is perfectly relatable to any age group. And, of course, the toys versus tech dilemma that children of this generation face was such a smart story line choice because we see it every day – kids on phones and tablets rather than playing with an action figure or riding bikes. Toy Story 5 truly encouraged everyone to get back to using their imagination and playing the day away.

If you are a seasoned fan of Toy Story 5 you will surely love this flick. And, even if you’re like me and haven’t seen all of them, you are still going to love this flick because of the themes it covers. I enjoyed every minute of this movie and then some. It was hilarious, heartwarming, tear jerking, and packed with adventure. In fact, I think Johnny, my brother, and I liked it even more than the children in the audience. We were definitely the ones who were laughing the loudest and it was just the best time!

I am going to award Toy Story 5 with the coveted ten out of ten stars. It is a must see for ages young and old and you are in for such a huge treat!

What is your favorite Toy Story movie? Who is your favorite character from the movies (I love Jessie!)? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah