The Reel Rejects - TOY STORY 5 OUT OF THEATER REACTION – Pixar Did Something We Didn't See Coming

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Starting point is 00:01:33 Or get your episodes early and ad free by becoming a member. The RR show. All of the drama, none of the hassle. Citizens, children, inner children. Toy lovers of the Reject Nation. It's time for a coy story. Oh, five. Look who's with me.

Starting point is 00:01:53 Look who brought me, in fact. You were actually the person I was the plus one. We just saw Toy Story 5 at the historic El Capitan Theater here. in Hollywood. We got kicked out of the lobby because they're trying to run another showing of Mandelorian and Grogu right now. So we are here elsewhere in Hollywood to talk about the newest toy story film. Leave a like on the video if you are a fan of toys and stories. Don't forget to subscribe. Before we hop in, just a quick overview. It's been some time. Yeah. We last hung out with the toys and progress is happening, all right? We got a whole new

Starting point is 00:02:26 realm of digital devices to occupy the kids' attention to captain. their imaginations, perhaps, or maybe to drain them of their life and their livelihood and their souls. I don't know. It's a big debate. It is a lot to talk about in this movie. Coy, I mean, honestly, I think that's, you know what the movie's about. You've seen a trailer? The iPads and such, the lily pads are moving in, the toys are feeling obsolete.

Starting point is 00:02:51 Are the kids even playing with any of this stuff? It's what we're here to find out. Coy, how'd you feel? You've been very excited about that. This is one of my anticipated of the year, because this is probably my favorite. animated franchise, my favorite, like, youthful leaning franchise. Because I was exactly Andy's age when the first one came out. It is one of my earliest memories in theaters.

Starting point is 00:03:10 This movie is so formative to me. This franchise is. And then the third one came out my first full year in L.A. And it's all about, like, saying goodbye to your childhood. That, you know, the third one's ending really hits you. And then I didn't know. The fifth one, guys, as of recording this, it is Saturday. I'm getting married on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:03:28 I'm getting married in roughly 72 hours. plus some change. And this movie has an entire wedding subpluck. That's not a spoiler, but it's an entire part of the film. This series, every odd number, has followed me to the, to the point where I feel like I need to call someone to Pixar to ask why they're spying in me. They're looking at you. I know I'm a millennial and this is pretty formative in on a journey, but man, am I

Starting point is 00:03:47 Andy? I'm also a bit of a technophobe. I think the themes in this one are a lot bigger than, you know, four and even two. I think the way it addresses kind of nuance and villainy is really unique. I love when a villain can have layers. I did not expect to walk out of this thinking of the pros and cons of technology in the way they handle it. There are obviously benefits to technology, but when you've got a villain that is a lily pad, I'm just so impressed at the way they articulate the importance and demerits of technology.

Starting point is 00:04:19 The movie dances a fine line and has so many interesting themes. The movie is actually like probably the biggest as far as the amount of things it's juggling to its strength and occasional weakness. We'll get to that in a little bit. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are things, I think this movie picked up quality and momentum as it went along. Yes, I was wondering if you felt this thing. We haven't talked yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is all fresh. And this is, yeah, absolutely an experience where for the first half or so, I was like, cool, I love being back with everybody. I'm enjoying, you know, the updated world of Toy Story for 2026. It looks beautiful. The animation is gorgeous. The textures are amazing. And yeah, and the first part of the story, knowing what the concept was, I was like, yeah, cool, we're doing the stuff. And I know where we're kind of going with it. And partway through when they really start to lock in on those nuances about how kids play and how kids play today with the things that are available to them.

Starting point is 00:05:08 And I don't know, the whole continuum of things that you were so invested in in your childhood that you may be left behind as an adult as you've come of age. And then seeing back from an even more advanced perspective, I mean, we're still following Bonnie in this movie. You know, they're her toys now. But we do get sort of the aged look back from Jesse, especially. and some of the other toys we've spent so much time with. And a lot of way, this is Jesse's movie. So much of it comes from her journey coming from those memories and the way in which they were separated to being with Andy

Starting point is 00:05:42 and now having all this stuff with Bonnie. You really feel the kind of wear and tear of love and loss in a movie like this as well as you do coming of age and the losses, the sort of death and rebirth that comes of that, not to get too heavy on you. But it does. Yeah, by the time you get to the second half, and especially into Act 3, I started to feel the feels.

Starting point is 00:06:02 The Pixar feels really wallop you in the second half, but I have the same situation. The first half, I found myself feeling like it was almost episodic. There were a couple times I was watching, I was like, this feels like an episode of Toy Story. And that's always a concern when you hit like a fifth installment. And the first half, I was definitely aware of the amount of characters they had to juggle, the amount of lore they had to drop, the amount of new ideas they had to posit.

Starting point is 00:06:23 But then the second half, it does the impossible. It not only wraps them up, but it adds such an emotional heft. And even a very important subplot pays off so well. Because at first that subplot, I was like, okay, I don't know if this is working for me. It feels tacked on. It feels like it's actually, and if you guys are Toy Story, if you guys are Toy Story historians, as I am casually. Toy Story. As a Toy Story, there is a alternate Toy Story 4 they clearly pulled from.

Starting point is 00:06:49 This is not a spoiler unless you know. And that alternate Toy Story 4 becomes a major subplot here. And I was like, man, did they just want to use those animatics? And then by the time it pays off, you're like, oh, what an emotional. wallop. I think this second half is one of the strongest in any of the five. Like I'm going to say the second half is a top Pixar second half, but I was worried the first half felt like it was having to do so much. And there's also an element of you spoke to the legacy and the journey that Jesse goes through. I had a really interesting time where I was really aware that the first story story

Starting point is 00:07:19 came out 31 years ago. As I said, I'm Andy's age. But I was like, wait, this is a story of Bonnie's generation, just as the viewers watching it aren't as attached to the Andy era. I was like, this is some people's Miles Morales. Like there are some people that identify Miles as Spider-Man. Yeah. So I was watching this and I was like, this is so interesting because it's juggling legacy characters, Peter Parker, but also investing

Starting point is 00:07:41 in our modern take-gun toy story, Bonnie. And so I'm watching this aware of my age and that I'm the parents here, that I'm the ones that are shepherding forward to this new generation. And then once that clicks narratively, it hits even harder in the second half. So overall, like, A-A-minus,

Starting point is 00:07:57 but first half, I was afraid It was going to be the first toy story that hit like a B minus C. And then the second half is such an A plus. It lands at the heights you want it to. Yeah, I think the things that this movie could have done a little bit more of to be better in line with what has come before. I'm not asking for retreads. I'm not asking for the same joke over and over. It's more that experiential thing.

Starting point is 00:08:17 I feel like the first handful, everything up till now has had a certain element where you're just kind of in the life with them. Like, yeah, there's hijinks. There's an adventure. But you take time in the adventure. things slow down. Like in real life, things slow down sometimes, even when you're on a mission, and you have little character moments and beats.

Starting point is 00:08:35 And they didn't do a ton of that in the first half, save for the things that are directly tied into the plot stakes with Bonnie. So, yeah, in the early half, I was like, man, even the classic characters we love feel like they're just kind of stopping by. Yeah. Classic ensemble feels like they're just throwing out a wild line here or there. But, yeah, once the movie really gets into the emotional meat in the second half,

Starting point is 00:08:56 I did find myself getting teary-eyed multiple times, and I think they brought that, they ultimately achieve that level of nuance by the end that you expect from a Pixar that feels like, wow, you know, you come to the conclusion that, yeah, all the devices aren't necessarily bad and kids play differently, and, you know, algorithmic socialization is an odd duck,

Starting point is 00:09:15 and maybe your friends, you know, can be found, maybe your people, you know, your chosen family or whoever, can be found in a sort of mixture of holistic and technological means. And that's so important in 2026. Absolutely is, absolutely is. I wish it had permeated more of the movie, but by the time the second half started to kick, I was like, okay, here we are.

Starting point is 00:09:34 Here's the feelings I've been waiting for. Here is, yeah, that Pixar juice, the sauce. Yeah, that's the thing. You know that metaphor that guy said about, like, you either got the juice, which is, like, temporary, or you got the sauce, which is, like, passed down to generations. And the first half I was like, this is some juice.

Starting point is 00:09:51 And the second half, I was like, okay, now what's happening to some sauce. A lot of fun voice performances. Greta Lee as, The Lilypad obviously does a nice job towing the line between antagonistic and just, you know, peppy kids play thing. We got Conan O'Brien joining the cast in a very amusing, what was it called? Smarty pants. A lot of poop jokes.

Starting point is 00:10:13 Yeah, a lot of poop jokes for your kids. We'll let you guys discover that. I think it's apt for a new generation. And yeah, I mean, the new additions are, you know, of a more technological variety. And actually, that was a fun discovery because, you know, they mostly advertise LilyPad, but there are some other toys. that do bring in a nuance because they are more mechanized than the toys that we're used to, but they're not quite as mechanized as lily pad.

Starting point is 00:10:35 A generation happens. Like, we go through time. Yeah, so, again, and that's largely, like, second half stuff. And then that's also when you get some good, like, character flashbacks and moments and stuff. There's a lot of fun in this movie. Yeah. There's a lot of fun stuff.

Starting point is 00:10:48 It's also, I was thinking about the pacing. I think it's very much also made for this generation of kids that are more, you know, I'm not going to say the TikTok generation because it's not negative in the, like, I can't focus. But there is a rapidness to it that I think comes from where we are now. When they had the first one come out, that was made for people that were watching it in 1995. Like there is a different flavor and culture and edit.

Starting point is 00:11:09 And I think you need to modernize it, but you can't lose what the franchise represents. So I think it tows a very fine line of like the Randy Newman music wouldn't work if it was edited like a swipe. But it also needs to appeal to a generation of kids that has been so inundated with just a volume of stimuli that we worked. And I think that's a tricky thing to get into the first half too, like you're watching a different generation's toy story. It's not jarring from four to five, but it would be jarring from one to five. Yeah, yeah. So it's adjusting for that.

Starting point is 00:11:36 But I think overall, once it ends, and I actually cried twice. And I'm not a big crier generally. Or a big animated movie guy. That's why, like this. That's a glowing recommendation of efficacy. And lots of buzz thumbs up. But yeah, I really was just so gobsmacked by how emotional I got, considering the first half made me go, like,

Starting point is 00:11:57 maybe this is a little bit not for my generation. And then by the end I was like, it's made for me. And that's a hard thing to do. I had an interesting conversation with myself because, yeah, I was like going in, I'm like, yeah, I believe that you guys make one of these whenever you have like a good story to tell, you know. And this seems like the right story to tell. And then for the first half, I was like, cool, let's dive a little deeper. To tell.

Starting point is 00:12:19 I get it. But am I not the audience for you to tell it to? Oh, no, I am, you sons of bitches. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, it's very cute. it's going to tug it to your heartstrings. The kids are going to love it. There's plenty of stuff.

Starting point is 00:12:31 There's a good amount of stuff for the parents in there, too. You get your Taylor Swift song. There's plenty of stuff in the credits as well. Stay for the credits. Stay for the credits. There's a great payoff in the credits. There is. There is, which is one of those things where you're like,

Starting point is 00:12:46 this could have been a scene in the movie. But also, it didn't have to be in that spot. It should be needed, but also not necessary. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think everyone is going to get someone. out of it. I think, you know, I read the comments. I know you guys think I glowingly endorse everything. I was really afraid in the first half. I'd be like, oh yeah, DC produced this one too. Yeah, as a Warner Brothers Pixar venture. It's not Disney Pixar anymore. It's Warner

Starting point is 00:13:10 DC pixel. It's soon to be perhaps Paral Warner Disney Pixar. Who knows? Deputy Coy is what DC stands for. I am actually running the factory. But as someone who I do like to advocate for art I like more than art I don't, I was definitely aware in the first half. I was like, how am I going to articulate that I think this movie is important, but not for me? And then the second half it became, oh, this movie's for me and important. Like, I think this might be the most important of the toy stories of the modern age. I think Toy Story 1 was so formative. Three was so, like, every odd one.

Starting point is 00:13:41 But, like, it's an important film as well as good. Yeah, I feel like I might rank it, you know, and I'm not really concerned with, like, an out-of-the-the-the-the-the-the-the-the-the-the-thier ranking thing. I might rank it more toward the middle or somewhere. I mean, they're all good, so it's hard to do that. The toy story. The middle of toy story is better than most cinema. Yes, it's fair. That's fair.

Starting point is 00:13:59 And yeah, this is absolutely one that is like timely in a different kind of way. And, you know, it's cool to see that Pixar as a company that has sort of, you know, certainly had a major effect on how animated movies are received and articulated in our day and age, you know, in this kind of a market. It is neat to see, you know, something that came from such a humble beginning and it is so kind of just purely an imagination. imagination thing, continuing that tradition, and also, yeah, commenting on something that really does affect children, adults, and everyone else. I realize that we both just said about halfway in Toy Story, but I still think that would qualify it in top third Pixar. So, like, if I say halfway Toy Story, it's still top third Pixar, and that means it's top, like, 10th in animation and

Starting point is 00:14:47 movie making. And what's so special about Pixar to me is that, like, Joy de Viva, which I think you were just speaking to. And I think the film makes that, you know, kind of a, it looks you in the eye more. Like, the Joy to Vever that Pixar has is almost like a thing in the movie where it's like, you need to know it. And like, not in a bad way, but you need to feel the, the bitter sweetness of this, of reality and the beauty. Of why you need this type of story.

Starting point is 00:15:10 Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't get a lot of movies that look you in the eye. Like, there's a meta wink in a lot of movies. This one's not meta. It's just going like, hey, love. And, like, that's beautiful. Engage your imagination and find people who play like you play. And that's so important.

Starting point is 00:15:24 And don't forget to play, because that's important. And that's Pixar. So, yeah, I mean, I got a lot out of it. Sounds like we were about the same page. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Whatever rating you decide to give it, I agree. That's how it goes. And also just hats off to, I know that Joan Kusack hasn't really been, like, in Hollywood for a minute.

Starting point is 00:15:42 And she, she, it's funny. Tim Allen and Tom Hound was like, Colin Hennon. Colin Hanks' dad. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen still get top billing, but I was like, This is her movie. In terms of who is actually on screen and doing the most and getting the most focus. For the first half, I was like, Buzz is like a punchline character. He's just like around.

Starting point is 00:16:05 Jesse is the driver. And then Woody shows up and Woody's off doing his own thing. So Woody's not a huge part of the movie even though he's there. Jesse is like is the main toy. The sheriff, I'd say. She's the sheriff. Absolutely. And it works.

Starting point is 00:16:18 And yeah, and that plays back to Toy Story too. Like that brings back some of those heartstring tugs that you remember from all the way back then also. So as far as like a time where we do a bunch of legacy stuff and we're always bringing people back, I was like, this is a cool way without doing too much like, winking at you to be like, hey, we are giving somebody else the spotlight. It makes sense to why it gives a, you know, different motivation to some of the other characters. New generation. Absolutely. So perhaps I was not apt to say, Miles, this is Spider-Gwen to my Peter Parker. There you go, Coy. And man, oh man, they have a great time. Yeah. Anyway, leave us your thoughts if you happen to be, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:52 watching this at a time where you could have already seen Toy Story 5. If not, are you going to see it this weekend? What are you excited for? Yeah, leave us all your thoughts. And we will catch you in 10 more years for Toy Story 6 with another page ripped directly out of the life and time. Where will I be? I've got to ask one of the Pixar writers,

Starting point is 00:17:09 because they're already sketching it for me. We'll find out together. And yeah, I'd love to know what you guys think. I'd love to know your experience because I was so torn in first and second half. What did you guys think if you've seen it? And go play.

The Reel Rejects - TOY STORY 5 OUT OF THEATER REACTION – Pixar Did Something We Didn't See Coming

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