Toy Story 5, which premiered in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, is almost guaranteed to be both a critical and commercial success. However, there’s one vocal fan who still needs winning over: Quentin Tarantino.
During several interviews over the last few years, the filmmaker has revealed himself to be a devoted lover of the Toy Story franchise, counting Toy Story 3 as one of his favorite movies of all time. During a 2024 chat with Bill Maher, though, Tarantino said he had no interest in watching beyond the third movie, as “You literally ended the story as perfect as you could, so no, I don’t care if it’s good. I’m done.”
So what does the team behind Toy Story 5 have to say to Tarantino, and those like him, who may have dropped off along the way?
“I would say the simple pitch of Pixar doesn’t put out bad stuff,” Tony Hale — who voices Forky, a character Taraninto hasn’t yet met as he was introduced in Toy Story 4 — told The Hollywood Reporter on the carpet. “The thing about Pixar is they wouldn’t tell another story if there wasn’t a story to tell. Look at this — that marriage of technology and toys, I want to hear that story. So I would have him lean into his trust of Pixar.”
Pixar chief creative officer Pete Docter teased “I’ve always thought Quentin Tarantino has really good taste” when it comes to his love of the franchise and admitted, “I like that he sticks to his guns” when he said he’s done with No. 3. Pixar president Jim Morris chimed in, “He’s gotta stick to his guns but I don’t think he’d be disappointed if he took a peek at this one.”
Director Andrew Stanton, who has written on all five films, also weighed in, saying, “That’s his choice — it’s the end of the Andy years and he can end it with Andy, but we’ve got another trilogy with Bonnie,” who is the child at the center of Toy Story 4 and 5. He added, “It’s for him to miss out on.” Producer Lindsey Collins went the furthest, questioning, “You don’t want to see the little girl’s room, Quentin?”
Toy Story 5 sees Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang facing an existential threat when Bonnie gets a tablet, named Lilypad, and starts spending all of her time on a screen instead of playing with toys.
Woody, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Buzz Lightyear, Joan Cusack and Jessie at the L.A. premiere.
Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney
“It’s something that’s not going away — it’s like television for my parents when they described it coming into homes in the ’50s, and they were still grappling with it 15 years later when I was born,” Stanton said of choosing to focus this film on a tech versus toys battle. “I feel like it was similar, we’re just going to be grappling with it for a while until we figure out how to balance it. It’s a messy thing that’s perfect for drama.”
Joan Cusack, who returns as the voice of Jessie and finds herself as the film’s main character this time around, said she was “amazed that they took that on. The first thing I said when I watched the movie was, ‘I can’t believe they took on tech! Like how did they do that?’ And I think they did it in such a beautiful way because at the end of the day, there’s nothing better than laughing with a friend who really gets you and you get them. There’s no technology in the world that can beat that feeling and it’s just amazing that they were able to capture that.”
Greta Lee voices Lilypad, revealing that she considered the voices of Siri and Alexa in her process but “by the end when my kids saw the trailer they were like ‘Mom! It’s you!’ And I was like, ‘What?!’ They’re like, ‘Mom it sounds just like you.’ I was like, ‘What! I did some deep character work, what are you talking about?’”
With Tom Hanks and Tim Allen returning as the iconic Woody and Buzz, and Conan O’Brien, Craig Robinson and Shelby Rabara also voicing new additions, it’s a star-studded group — all the more so with Taylor Swift providing original song “I Knew It, I Knew You” to the film.
Swift made an appearance at the premiere — even taking the stage to sing both the new tune and “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” alongside Randy Newman — as Docter revealed the song “all happened in secrecy and suddenly [it was] whoa, what’s happening?” and Morris added that a Swift feature “wasn’t in the original plan” for the movie.
With the song being a tribute to Jessie in particular, Cusack noted, “It’s a beautiful song, I think it’s really good. And hopefully means that more people come to the movie because it’s such a good movie.”
Toy Story 5 hits theaters on June 19.
