Toy Story 5 proves Pixar's biggest sequel problem isn't going away

In each and every Toy Story movie, we meet a brand new gang of toys. After meeting Andy’s toy box full of characters in the first movie, Toy Story 2 added the likes of Jessie, Bullseye and Mrs. Potato Head. Then came the third movie, with the addition of Bonnie’s toys to the core group, followed by Forky and Karen Beverly (aka Knifey) in Toy Story 4, along with all of Bo Peep’s new friends. And now, in Toy Story 5, there are a number of new electronic toys, which may or may not show up in future installments.

Along the way, I’ve enjoyed literally every one of these new characters — there’s not a bad one in the bunch — but it has created a problem that became really evident during Toy Story 4 and persists in Toy Story 5. There are simply too many characters, and several fan-favorites get shortchanged as a result.

Toy Story 5 casts Jessie (Joan Cusack) as the lead with Buzz (Tim Allen) and Woody (Tom Hanks) as her supporting players, and the change in dynamic works perfectly. Jessie’s constant companion, Bullseye, also gets an elevated role,, but many of the other core Toy Story characters get lost in the mix.

To evaluate the screentime of every character here would be tedious, so I’ll just point to Andy’s toys — before the introduction of Bonnie’s toys in Toys Story 3 — to illustrate my point. While Woody, Buzz, Jesse, and Bullseye are crucial to this story, beyond them, only Rex (Wallace Shawn), who gets murdered at a wedding during playtime, gets a sufficient “moment” where he gets to do anything memorable. Mr. Potato Head (Jeff Bergman) is one step below Rex; he has a few more smartass remarks than he did in the last movie, but nothing great. Slinky (Blake Clark) and Hamm (John Ratzenberger) have lines, but nothing that funny or notable. Mrs. Potato Head (Anna Vocino) only speaks briefly in a post-credits moment, and the green aliens say not a word.

Especially frustrating is that the characters forgotten about in this movie were also forgotten about in the previous one. These characters are important to people, particularly when it comes to the original gang of "Andy's toys.” I totally get that Pixar’s priority in telling a good story — especially in about 90 minutes — can’t be about forcing every toy into the narrative. I also understand that there’s just not enough room for everybody. But if Pixar is going to keep these beloved characters around, then Toy Story 5 should acknowledge them with lines that amount to more than just room noise.

Image: Pixar

So what’s the solution? It’s hard to say. Toy Story 3 featured a paring down of characters before the movie had started, as the teenage Andy had long ago gotten rid of toys like RC and Wheezy. But the characters that survived that downsizing are the ones Pixar presumably deemed as essential. Maybe a couple of Bonnie’s toys could go, like Buttercup, who has no lines in this movie, but Trixie (Kristen Schaal), Dolly (Bonnie Hunt), and Mr. Pricklepants (John Hopkins) are great, funny characters who each get a Rex-like moment in Toy Story 5.

I also think it would help if Pixar did more with these characters in between each movie, like the studio used to. For example, in 2012, Pixar made the short Partysaurus Rex, where Rex hangs out with Bonnie’s bath toys. It's just seven minutes long, but it's a great, funny character piece all about Rex. I want similar stories for characters like Slinky Dog, Hamm, and the Potato Heads (along with their alien children). While I don’t think that would solve the problem of having too many characters to fit into the core movies, it would at least let fans know Pixar hasn’t forgotten about the original toys.

As for the movies, Pixar's writers and directors need to work a little harder at finding memorable moments for the core gang, like Rex got in Toy Story 5, even if it's just one moment per movie. This goes double for characters that began as Andy’s toys. The whole franchise is built on their little plastic backs.