movies

Back in the day, it used to be, ‘You’ve got a friend in me’. But these days everywhere you look, it’s more like, ‘You’ve got a friend in screens.’ Or so, that’s the gist of Pixar’s upcoming Toy Story 5. During Disney’s D23 Expo panel, Pixar boss Pete Docter hit the stage to give a major update on Buzz, Woody and Jessie’s next big-screen adventure – not only confirming studio legend Andrew Stanton as the director of the film, but unveiling a first piece of concept art too. That image, in the broadest of strokes, indicates what the fifth outing will explore: the notion that kids these days are increasingly more besotted by technology than they are traditional toys.

Speaking on the D23 stage, Stanton confirmed that his Toy Story 5 will tackle “what kids are obsessed with today: electronics”. And the associated art sees Woody and pals looking particularly saddened as they go unnoticed at the end of a child’s bed (is that Bonnie?) in favour of a tablet screen. Of course, there’s plenty more to uncover here – most notably how Woody has reunited with his fellow toys, after deciding to enter a new chapter with Bo Peep at the end of Toy Story 4. And it was also teased at D23 that the film will involve a marauding army of programmable Buzz Lightyear toys.