Fresh Air - Comic Ali Siddiq on fatherhood, prison, and his biggest regret

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

Siddiq grew up in Houston with a largely absent father. In his new stand-up special, he paints a picture of the flawed man he admired – and reflects on his own experience as a parent. Siddiq spoke with Tonya Mosley about his upbringing, his time selling drugs, and making the leap from prison to comedy. Also, film critic Justin Chang reviews ‘Toy Story 5.’ See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And my guest today is Ali Sadiq. He's a comedian, but that word undersells it. What he really does is tell stories, true ones, from his own life. And he's told so many of them that while watching his specials, I realize Sadiq is giving us a memoir, delivered one set at a time. For instance, a few years back, he went viral with the story about surviving a prison riot. Sadiq served six years for cocaine trafficking, arresting. A rest of the story. A rest of He lasted four days after his 19th birthday. He started doing stand-up after he got out. And nearly 30 years later, he's got more than a dozen specials,

most of them independent on YouTube with millions of views. In his 2022 series, Domino Effect, he traces his life growing up in Houston, starting at 10, the year he went to live with his father and first got into trouble, all the way through the choices that landed him in prison. This month, he has a new special. called My Father. It's about everything that passed between Sadiq and his dad before his father died in 2018.

It premieres on YouTube June 21st. Here's a clip. My dad had a thing about how he dress. My dad always wore tailor-made suits. This is when he was on his note, when he was on his note. Because he was a, it's not a lot of men can say how they felt about their pops. I really wanted to look like this man. He was tall, dark, jet black,

had a lot of charisma by itself. But he just wasn't an ideal father. My dad asked me one time, I'm sitting at his house, and my daddy said, man, why you don't never say nothing bad about your mom on stage? Ali Sadiek, welcome to fresh air. Thank you for having me. Man, your timing is great.

And I was thinking when I was watching this, that there is really nothing like remembering something funny about somebody after they're gone. It's like the truest way, the most purest way, to grieve them. But I was just wondering, watching this, if your dad felt some kind of way about being in your act, what do you think he'd say about you doing this entire special about him? he never actually felt any type of way about being in my act he just wanted to know when i was going to say something negative about somebody else and not just him

you know um i get a lot of views but it's definitely 10 views 15 views that i missed because my dad would go to the library and he would um look me up on the computer and watch all of my stuff and he would call and tell me i just i just seen something else. I watched about 15, 10, 15 times. So I'm always missing those 10 or 15 views that I know that I would get from him. You say straight up, I'm a responsible man because of my mother, but I'm a good man because of my daddy. Explain that. My mom, she would think that it was her, but it's really him. Because for some time, I felt a certain type of way of about him not being there or the things that I would see from other people's, you know, fathers or what I viewed from TV.

I was judging him based upon that and what I thought. And I had certain feelings towards him. And I didn't want my kids to ever feel like that about me. I don't want my kids to think that anything else was more important than them, not being in the streets, not women. not gambling, not hustling, not anything. I didn't want them to ever think that anything that I was doing was more important than them. And my father made me at times feel unimportant to him. I played sports.

He went to one game. Out of all the sports that I played, he went to one game. You know, he came to one basketball game. You know, I don't remember ever doing anything father and son. with my dad. So that's another thing. I just knew becoming a father,

I would never be like that. Like my kids are going to see me actively at their games or at their recitals or at their whatever they may be doing. I'm going to actively be there. If, you know, if you need something, I want you to be able to call me.

So I've always made myself available for that type of effort that I was making, I always made myself available for them. So they would never feel a type of way towards me like I felt for my father for a couple of years, more than a couple of years. Your daddy, he left when you were three, but you'd see him every blue moon. But then around 10, he comes back into your life. You went to live with him. And it seems like he was very much due as I say, not as I do.

When did you first understand that contradiction? Oh, man. Probably the first year I lived with him. Like, yo, my dad was, my dad was, like I say, I don't think he was ready. I don't think he was ready to have his son with him. But yet he asked for you to live with him, right? He asked, but I don't think he was ready. You know, people ask for a lot of things they're not ready for.

And I'm like not a human though I didn't think a human was a part of that But he definitely He definitely wasn't ready yet You know because he couldn't have been Like when I look back at it I'm like yo bro you It's no way that you was ready

For me to come live with you Because you hadn't calmed down yet You know Just the story of him waking me up Saying that he was getting ready to go to San Antonio And I'm 10 I got to go to school tomorrow I'm like, yo, bro, like, what do you think?

What am I supposed to do that you're going to go to San Antonio? He's like, just do what you've been doing. Get yourself up, getting ready to go to school. You know how to, hey, bro, that's not how to go, man. I've never been in a house by myself before. Like, what's wrong with you? Ali, I mean, is it true that, okay, you tell this story about him putting cocaine on a sore wisdom, tooth?

And I was wondering, is this true or is this just for laughs? 100% true. 100% true. That's why I described it so vividly. See, that's the thing about when I tell a story. I want people to understand. I describe all the even little things. So people understand that this is a true story because you can't, it's hard to make up little things.

You know, you can make up big things, but little intricate details about something. Like, you know who was there. James and Ivory. And James was the one that saw me sitting on the step. And he was like, what's up? Because my dad's name is Lindbergh. And he called me LaBird. LaBird, what's going on?

And I said, I told him about my two. And then my daddy called me over and said, let me see. And put that cocaine on my on my two. I said, this man. I didn't even know that's what it was. I just know it was the stuff that was in the cool whip tub that was in the refrigerator. Wait, he kept the cocaine in a cool-wit tub in the refrigerator. And, yeah, the big cool-wip thing, you know how cool-whip is coming in that little container, that big container.

Oh, yeah, and you reuse them? Yeah, and he put it in, that's where the cocaine was at inside the refrigerator. And then as I thought about that earlier, like I told the story, and I never even realized how super irresponsible he was. I am 10. You don't think I like cool-wip. But things that could have happened, you know? The things that could have happened. If I would have dipped, because he always had strawberries.

My dad loves strawberries, right? So he always had strawberries in the house. And I was like, y'all, what I thought about it, if I would have just took one of the strawberries and put it in that cool whip, both thinking it was cool with, because I still would have ate it, even though I would have thought the cool wheel was bad. I'm like, oh, the cool, it's fizzing out. And then I'm like, that's what it would look like to me.

I said, he was so, so irresponsible. It's crazy. Okay, he dips a little cocaine on that sore wisdom tooth. What happened to you? Never had a problem that wisdom tooth can. Never even needed to have it taken out, huh? Never. I probably still got that tooth in my mouth right now.

It never had a problem. I don't even remember getting my wisdom tube taken out, ever. Luckily, I don't have an addictive personality. I can just stop doing stuff. Hopefully that was it, because my... My dad was insane. And I had told that story before, before I ever, before it ever aired on anything. And I remember he was at the show when I did it.

And he was like, I can't believe you remember that. Do you feel like you're working out that relationship on stage? I mean, I think the obvious is yes, but like how are you working it out? What is it doing for you, aside from just making us laugh? I think that with the relationship with him or the relationship with my little sister or my things that I had problems with as a young person, I don't hold on to things. I release them. The ups and downs of me and my dad are really molding of me. And it's also healing for me to be able to say these stories.

So I think that's the biggest part of it that I take the stories and me reliving them in front of people. or revisited them in front of people is a, I can't even say, a bit healing. It's a lot of healing. It's a lot of healing that goes on with me with that. I want to ask you about something that you do on stage that feels like maybe like a centering. You know, most comics, when they go on stage,

like everybody does it different, but most of them kind of come out swinging. They, like, run or walk in or they, like, take in the applause. You sit in a chair, you wait for the crowd to die down, and then you always start with, hey, tell me what you're doing with that. I'm paying homage to the first time I was ever on stage. First time. So I went to this comedy club, just joking comedy cafe is where I started at 1997, December the 4th. The first time I was ever on stage. I walk up. on stage and I said, hey, and the whole

entire crowd booed me. I didn't even say nothing. But hey, no jokes, no nothing. And this is because I started at Apollo night, and they were instructed to boo the next

person that was coming on stage. So I happened to be that next person. So I waited two weeks. I came back to Just Joking Comedy Cafe after two weeks. Brought me up, I did well. They brought me, I came and then I start coming every week. And then by February, I started in December.

By February, I was the co-host of that Apollo night. And I always start with, hey. Why do you think you need to be reminded of that particular night 30 years later? And to understand that I had, I made the right decision when I first went up. I wasn't in the wrong for saying, hey, it's a lot of things that keep me grounded in this business. I'm never too, and I'm never too down. I'm always even kill. And the attention that I didn't get the first time I said, hey, is what people wait on now.

When I say, hey, the whole entire audience say, hey, back. Let's go back to young Ali Sadiq. Before the comedy, you are 14 years old. You start selling drugs. You like to joke on stage. You say I was a pharmaceutical sales rep. By the time, though, that the feds got you, you were 19. You were in college at Texas Southern University.

And this is the ironic part. You were actually planning to stop selling drugs when you were caught. How close were you to quitting? I had stopped, actually. I was done. I was wrapped up. and I got a phone call to come help assist, you know, and I went out of me feeling obligated to, okay, I, you know, I hold you back.

But I was, I was done. It had become like, man, what am I doing? You know. Because you started in the first place because you wanted money. You wanted to, you wanted your own money. Yeah. And I think I fight so hard now to explain that it was a character flaw. It was like no manhood or responsibility in that because I could have just worked for money.

You know, I could have just did something else. I could have it's so many things that I could have done versus being so destructive to a community. And I remember being asked, Ali, when do you think that you're going to blow up? And my honest answer was when I pay back the, I got a, I owe this world something. Because you sold drugs. Like you owe back because of that harm you did.

That's interesting. When I pay back society for the destruction, and I think that when you are a person that has really done things and you have really changed your life and you think back on these things, you can't help but to have a heavy heart. I remember I was in San Francisco, the homeless population is so crazy.

And I'm at this kind of, Comedy Central Festival is a comedy festival. And I'm walking from a hotel to the festival. And I'm there for days, and I keep trying to find different ways to get there not to run into homeless people. And I didn't walk five blocks down, 10 blocks down, 10 blocks this way.

I walked every which way and couldn't. And I remember it was in the morning, and I was on my way to prayer. And I just stopped in the streets and I just started sobbing. And I remember saying, how much of this is my fault? Because I have been so destructive and reckless in my behavior.

I just don't understand. Like, obviously this is not the, first generation, this is the generation that was affected by the first generation of what I did. You can't conceive the magnitude of destruction that you do when you sell drugs in a community. You know, it's people doing things that they would probably never do in order that's ruining relationships. What child didn't get fed because their mom or their father decided to do this? And what uncle or aunt stole something?

Like, what did I do? Did you and your dad ever talk about this? Because, you know, I mean, he sold drugs. And then you went on to sell drugs. We never talked about it because my dad ended up using drugs. That was the lick that society took back. I remember a story that I told about some young, guys I come on the block and they told me that they had robbed these old guys and I looked at

the stuff that they had and I made them put it in a bag because I recognized the stuff. And then I went and took my dad and his friend and stuff back. And I said, man, what a, man, what were you doing over there? And my dad blamed on his friend and told him, man, I'm over there with him. He got me robbed. and my mom, I told my mom about it later and my mom said he was probably using drugs. And I said, no, he told me he wasn't using no drugs.

And that's when she told me, but I didn't put your dad in rehab twice since we've been apart. And so I went back and told him, I said, hey, I thought you said you weren't using drugs. And he said, who told you that your mama? Man, your mama, um, you want to violate my hipber rights I said this man is nuts

like he's so even when he's doing something crazy he's still funny he's so crazy so the um unfortunately the rumor around where my dad

is gone is an overdose and I don't believe that I think that that's what people wanted to say but I don't not believe it either the rumor that he died

because of an overdose yeah yeah he had a heart attack and I know he hadn't been so if you hadn't been doing something

and then you decide I'm going to do it one time you don't know what your heart can take on that. So my dad just had a heart attack out of nowhere. Our guest today is comedian Ali Sadiq. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Tanya Mosley, and this is fresh air.

My guest today is comedian Ali Sadiq. His new stand-up special, My Father, explores his relationship with his dad, who died in 2018. Sadiq has released more than a dozen specials on YouTube. including two filmed inside of jails. He himself was arrested at 19 for selling cocaine and served six years of a 15-year sentence. Part of his work includes talking with prisoners

about accountability and the realities of recidivism. This past spring, he released Ali Sadiq from inside, shot in a county jail in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he talks to inmates for almost two hours straight about the experiences of being locked up and its lasting psychological effects. Here he recalls his inmate number, which he calls a spin number.

Ask the old heads that been there before. Asked them do they remember their original spin number. This is the shit that haunts me. I've been out for 25 years, almost 26 years. 67-9346. I can't forget this number. It's ingrained in my head like my Social Security number.

It's my slavery number. 679346. That's my guest Ali Sadieke and his YouTube special from inside, a conversation with inmates. And what goes on to happen after you rattle off your number, the guys start blurting out their numbers too. What does it signify that you can remember your spin number 30 years after you are out of prison.

That you did not get out of this situation unscathed. You may have survived it, but you still have wounds. I've been out 29 years at this point. Even if I'm at home by myself, I'm going to lock the bedroom door. I still know this number. So it's still things that you may survive, but you don't get out unscathed. You're going to lose some skin in this game.

And I think that these psychological wounds are different than my physical wounds. My physical wounds start to fade. Why haven't these wounds faded yet? There was this powerful thing you said during that talk with those inmates that also is kind of sticking with me. saying, when you get locked up, your people get locked up too. And I wanted you to explain what you meant by that. My mom, even though she wasn't physically there, she's there in mind. Like, it wasn't no days that my mother didn't think about me.

When you're inside, your sister is concerned, your mom. mother is concerned, your dad is concerned, your grandmother is concerned. It is all of these people that's concerned about you because you're in a position of danger. You're in a dangerous place and there's no guarantee that you will make it out of this place. There's no guarantee. You can get a year. It doesn't mean that you're coming home.

You can get two years. It does not mean that you're coming home. Nothing about this place. says, I'm going to survive. I want to know about, I think you call it your sarcastic nature, because it's not like you started doing comedy in prison, but you did find that your humor could serve you well there. And I wonder what ways you used your sarcastic nature and comments when you were locked up.

Because I was such a violent person from the beginning, the first two years I was insane. Like I was literally a madman. Why? Because were you like that out of prison before you got there? I'm in the streets. What happens in the streets, you know, and I'm still hurt from my sister. I'm very hard.

From her passing. And things that I never revealed to people that four months later that my first son passed as well. So I never, I'm dealing with a lot of pain at this time. And so my whole thing was, was to minister pain towards people who just was in my way. You just in my way, you know. And I'm inviting this type of behavior.

Like, it's like, hey, bro, all this is going to be bad for you. You know, so then, you know, I got told, and it's always an older, wise person that comes to you and say, that really care about you, you know, just letting you know how life goes. or see something in you. Hey man, you keep doing your time like this. Somebody going to kill you.

And they're going to kill you because they're scared of you. They don't know what you're going to do. So they're going to kill you. They're going to set you up. Whether it's a group or whether there's one person, they're going to kill you. So you might want to do your time a little different. And plus you better than this.

Like you can really be a different type of person and you can get out of here. You know, you're not here forever. You know, but I'm doing. my 15 years like I'm doing 15 years like I'm not thinking about parole getting out early yeah yeah so then I became this jovialy sarcastic person about everything like anything that the person was going to do that was going to get them in trouble I was going to say something about and I remember this dude

was about to do something and I said I thought you said that you didn't steal that stuff like that you was innocent because you're doing really guilty behavior I'd be so sarcastic and I remember this was one of my classic sayings that I was like

I guess I'm the only one in here guilty because it seems like everybody else is innocent like this is a part of no accountability but y'all don't have no accountability for nothing

and so if people was about to fight I would just I would always say something like oh y'all about to fight wow that's it You do know somebody going to lose his fight twice. And they're like, what are you talking about?

I said, well, one of y'all going to win, and then the COs going to come in here and beat both of y'all. Somebody got to be willing to lose his fight twice. Like, y'all got to make a decision. And I would say so much sarcastically jovial things that they were like, man, he always got something to say. Like, yes, I do. I read that, you know, as you're doing your time, that's when you started to think when I get out of here, I could probably have my hand in comedy. And I was wondering, were there people that you were also like watching or studying or thinking about as you were thinking about what type of comic you wanted to be?

Not at all. When I, when I started doing stand-up, I actually didn't even know how to even start. It's like when I think about this journey, I literally started from a place of zero. Like I had zero information on how to become a comic, zero information of where to go. Zero, like, I was at scratch. And so when I think about, like, I don't ever not feel successful because I'm like, yo, I did what I said I was going to do when I got out. I was going to become a comic not knowing how to do it. When you get out of prison, though, how do you make that leap to like truly making this a profession?

What was your first stop? Just joking, comedy cafe. I learned a lot there. And I remember when I first got my first payment, it was $35 and it was in like fives and wands. And I thought it was a lot of money. I was like, boy, I came up. And the comedy cafe is in Houston.

It's a place in Houston. It was. It was on Richmond. And then, I went through this dilemma of people not saying that you are, you're not a real comic because you don't do it for a living.

And I remember asking Bruce Bruce about it. Who's that? I said, man, Bruce Bruce, he's a comedian of the comic. I asked Bruce Bruce, I say, hey man, are you, this is when he was the host of Comic View.

And I asked him, hey, people say that you're not a real comic unless you doing it for full time, for a living. And he said, man, I'm going to give you some advice, brother. I work for Frito Lay.

You know what I'm saying? Until my comedy started making more money for me consistently than my job. And once that happened, then I quit my job. He said, don't quit your job until your career starts making more money consistently than your

job. And what were you doing? Like, what was your job? I was selling clothing. I was working in the men's apparel store, you know, in the mall. And I worked at Sunglass Hut. You know, I used to be a street farm suiticruly up, but then I went to being a sales rep. Ain't that so?

Did you take the same amount of skill, like the selling drugs to sell it? The same amount of skill, the same thing. Hey, I need to find somebody who addicted to suits and shades. I'm saying? So to make my commission. If you're just joining us, my guest is comedian and storyteller Ali Sadiq. His new stand-up special is called My Father, and it's about his relationship with his dad. It premieres on YouTube, June 21st.

We'll be right back after a break. This is fresh air. I want to talk to you briefly about parenthood, about you being a father. You're telling me earlier that you just want to not make the same mistakes that your dad made with your children. And, I mean, you joke about this a lot, but your kids are getting a very different father than you got, which I actually want to play a clip from your latest special where you talk about taking your son, Hassan, to a concert, to the elements, earth, wind, and fire when he's 11. Let's listen. I know that I am a better father than my father was, and I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be.

Just by my son's first concert and my first concert with my father. My son Hassan, he's 11. His first concert was Earth, Win and Fire. And he asked to go. He asked to go. My son came in to me and said, Father, because he's very up across. he said, I would like to attend the concert. I said, Hassan, what concert would you like to attend?

He said, I would like to go see the elements. And I teared up, I teared up. My son wanted to go see the elements. And I said, wait, who are the elements, Hassan? Is it some little white internet group that you've been listening to? Hassan said, no, father. They're formally known as Earth, Wind, and Fire. I immediately ran and got them tickets.

I wanted to get them tickets for me and my son, me and my son going to see Earth, wind and Fire. He is 11. He's 11 years old. We went to this first concert. Me and him, we're gone. We get to the concert. Hassan is the youngest person

in his whole entire concert. And I know that for facts. because I am the second youngest person. That was my guest today in his latest special, My Father. And, Ali, that whole special, you marveling at your bougie kid, you know, you have built a soft life for him on purpose. But I wonder this, because, I mean, as a parent who also grew up a certain way, do you ever look at your son and worry that the thing that may be,

you some of the positive things, you know, not all that, that challenging stuff you went through, but like the positive stuff might also be the thing like you're keeping from him too. No, I don't. I think that the softness of his life now, I hope that he continues to desire that. And, you know, he goes through his own certain struggles, you know, because it's a certain struggle that happens in softness as well. But, you know, whether he won't oysters or crab, you know, it's a dilemma for him. So he got the, you know, choices, choices.

But yeah, he, I love how he's living. I love the way that he lives. I applaud him and I just hope that, you know, he comes out on the other side and always is like this. and loves being a kid and then gives his children the opportunity to be a kid and always have a softness for me. I need somebody to roll me around when I get old.

So hopefully he's there, you know, taking me to go eat oysters and, you know, asking me, do I want to go to a Bonny James concert or something? I just love him. I just love the softness of his life. All right, you are a Houston boy born and bred.

Do you feel like you might have ever missed out or lost out or it taking you longer than maybe it would have if you hadn't moved to a place like L.A. and New York, and, you know, you could have taken your kids with you. I don't think that that's

a thing. I think that there's no opportunity that has been lost. You know, it's only all gained and it's a certain protection of being in your home spaces. You know, my mom's from, I have, what,

maybe 40 relatives in California, but who's to say I was going to go to California and make something to myself? Because multiple comics have done that as well and never, you know, arrived in their perspective. You know, same in New York, same in Atlanta. You know, I think that what makes me unique is being home.

Oh, this has been such a pleasure, Ali, and thank you so much and best wishes as you continue on your tour. Are there particular cities that you love the most? You're a Houston boy, so are there other places throughout the country where it's like, oh yeah, they get me. It feels like a homecoming. So many places.

Chicago, D.C., Baltimore, Detroit, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Appalusius, it's too many places to even name. I'm so connected to the earth that when I'm, when I come somewhere, all of it feel like home. That's who's coming and that's who I have a connection with. Now, what's crazy is, I don't think that Corpus Christi gets me. It's right down the street. Corpus Christi, Texas, it's crazy.

It's right down the street. I don't think Corby's really full with me. They're a fishing town. They're like, is he talking about bass? Like, I don't know. Ali Sadieke, it has been such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much for this special in your time. Pleasure is all mine.

I thank you very, very much. Ali Sadieke's new special is called My Father. It premieres on YouTube, June 21st. He's also currently on his international custom fit stand. up tour. Coming up, film critic Justin Chang reviews Toy Story 5, opening in theaters this week. This is fresh air. More than 30 years after the first Toy Story launched the Pixar Animation Renaissance, Toy Story 5 is opening in theaters this week. In this latest adventure, Jesse the Cowgirl teams up with Buzz Lightyear and Woody to fend off the rise of digital devices, which are taking

over the minds and attention spans of kids everywhere. The movie was directed by Andrew Stanton of Wali and Finding Nemo fame and features new voice work by Conan O'Brien, Greta Lee, and Bad Bunny. Our film critic Justin Chang has this review. A lot has happened since the first toy story in 1995 when a cowboy sheriff doll named Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks, worried that a space ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Tim Allen, would replace him in the affections of their young owner, Andy. Every Toy Story since has touched on similar themes about the fickleness of kids, the inevitability of change, and the totemic power of the toys we grew up playing with. By the end of Toy Story 4, Woody himself had decided to move on. Along with his beloved Bo Peep,

he set off into the wild and embraced the life of a lost toy, leaving Buzz and their friends in the care of their new owner, a sweet girl named Bonnie. As someone who was pretty mixed on Toy Story 4, I can't say I was looking forward to yet another sequel, which just goes to show you should always keep an open mind. Toy Story 5 is a significant improvement, and at its best, a delight.

Things seem to be going well for Bonnie and her toys as the movie gets underway. But of course, it's only a matter of time before a new phase of childhood begins, bringing with it a fresh threat to the toy's idyllic existence. Bonnie's having trouble finding friends her age to play with, and that's because the other kids in her neighborhood are all glued to their screens. Nobody cares about toys anymore. It's all about digital tablets and other devices, with their games, group chats, and virtual worlds. Sure enough, when her parents buy her a frog-themed tablet named LilyPad, Bonnie is immediately hooked. In this scene, Jesse the Cowgirl Ragdoll, voiced as ever by Joan Cusack, confronts LilyPad, who's sharply voiced by Greta Lee from past lives. Hi! What the?

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Sleep mode, you know? No? Eh, forget it. What's just going to hop on the charger? Battery could use a little refresh? I want to talk to you, Device. Please, call me Lily.

Now look here. Me and the toys have been working all summer to try and get Bonnie to make friends with the Jordan twins across the street. Yeah. But then you had to ruin it with all your stupid... You're not even listening to me! Oh, no, I was listening.

I'm always listening. See? Now, look here. Me and the toys have been working all summer to try to get Bonnie to make friends with the Jordan twin. Now, in Spanish. With the time in the Jollan, Al-O-Ladda-Lago de la Caye.

Now, as a rap. Me, and the toys have been working all summer Trying to get Bonnie made friends. Oh, my first dance, honey. This concerns me ethically. The movie was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, who has mocked the perils of too much screen time before in his 2008 Pixar classic, Wally.

I suspect that Toy Story 5 will strike a chord with any parent who, like me, has ever yelled at their kids to get off the iPad and read a book. Ingeniously, the film takes one of the foundational ideas of the Toy Story universe, that inanimate objects can secretly think and move by themselves, and uses it to tap into our paranoia about what our devices might be doing when we're not looking. Rest assured that this is still a Pixar movie, so there's a limit to just how dystopian things will get. Thankfully, Bonnie doesn't fall victim to an internet stalker,

though she does learn a valuable lesson about bullying and peer pressure. Lily, eager to boost Bonnie's social standing, connects her with some other girls online, and even starts sending texts and images without Bonnie's knowledge. At one point, Lily, pretending to be Bonnie, arranges for all her old toys to be boxed up and stored in the garage. And so it's up to Jesse to save the day, with some help from Buzz, and eventually Woody,

happily cutting his retirement short. Bonnie's toys wind up at another kid's house in the area, where they meet a bunch of lower-tech devices, none funnier than smarty pants, an electronic toy designed to help kids with toilet training. He's voiced by Conan O'Brien, gamely spouting more potty jokes than you could find in the past four Toy Story movies combined. It's here, though, that the story starts to go a little soft. After confronting the ways in which tech is taking over our lives, Toy Story 5 pulls back and suggests that devices and toys can coexist,

and that devices themselves are no less susceptible to being neglected, forgotten, and tossed aside for the fancy new models. Maybe it's in the nature of Pixar movies to reassure us, to delve deeper into feelings of grief and impermanence than studio-animated films typically do, but then offer us consolation in return. Toy Story 5 may look boldly forward, but it also peers lovingly backward. One funny subplot features an army of digitally souped-up Buzz Light Ear action figures, a callback to the sight gag in Toy Story 2 when Buzz encountered multiple versions of himself on a store shelf. And although much has been made of the new Taylor Swift tune on the soundtrack,

the most memorable musical bit here is a gentle refrain of Randy Newman's song When She Loaves. me, also from Toy Story 2, which told the heartbreaking story of Jesse's separation from Emily, her original owner. Stanton beautifully revisits and deepens that story here, reminding us that loss is a part of life, and that we are never truly forgotten by those we love. Justin Chang is a critic for The New Yorker. He reviewed Toy Story 5. Fresh Air's executive producer is Sam Brigger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorak,

Anne-Marie Baldinato, Lauren Crenzel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Challoner, Anna Bauman, and Nico Gonzalez Whistler. Our digital media producer is Molly C.B. Nesper. Susan Nacundi directed today's show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tanya Mosley.