Joan Cusack finally gets to lead a Toy Story movie, and honestly it is about time. She has been voicing Jessie since Toy Story 2 in 1999, giving one of the most emotionally layered vocal performances in animation history, and she has always been playing second fiddle to Woody. Not anymore.
The setup for Toy Story 5 is deceptively simple. Bonnie gets a tablet and basically forgets the toys exist. The villain, if you can call it that, is literally a screen. I know that sounds like it could be heavy handed, but the execution is sharper than the premise suggests. The kids in the theater got it immediately. They recognized the dynamic because they live it. That is the kind of storytelling Pixar does best, taking something universally felt and externalizing it through toys and feelings and absurd little details that somehow make you cry.
Jessie was always the most emotionally complex character in this franchise. Her abandonment arc in Toy Story 2, set to When She Loved Me, remains one of the most devastating sequences Pixar has ever produced. She carries a fear of being forgotten that goes deeper than any of the other toys, and making her the lead of a story about a child who has literally stopped paying attention to the physical world is a perfect match of character and theme.
It does not hit Toy Story 3 levels, but honestly, what does. That film stuck the landing so perfectly that it became the emotional benchmark for an entire generation. Comparing anything to it is almost unfair. What Toy Story 5 does well is find new territory to explore rather than trying to recapture what the third film already achieved. It is a smaller, more specific story, and it works because of that specificity.
Cusack brings everything to this performance. She has always had this ability to convey vulnerability and toughness in the same line read, and the film leans into that constantly. There are moments where Jessie is rallying the other toys and moments where she is quietly terrified that history is repeating itself, and Cusack nails both registers.
The Toy Story franchise did not need a fifth installment to validate its legacy. But if you are going to make one, this is the right way to do it. Give the spotlight to the character who has earned it. Tell a story that reflects what childhood actually looks like right now. And trust that Joan Cusack can carry it, because she absolutely can.
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