Toy Story 5 takes aim at creepy AI toys: ‘I’m always listening’

When the first Toy Story movie came out in 1995, Google didn’t exist yet and Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy. No one could have predicted that over thirty years later, Pixar would still be making Toy Story movies, nor could anyone have known that the latest installation in the franchise would pit Buzz Lightyear and a balding Woody against an evil AI tablet called Lilypad.

But sure enough, Toy Story 5 confronts old-school toys like Mrs. Potato Head, Rex, and Slinky Dog against the sinister threat of technology.

The trailer shows Bonnie, the young girl who inherited Andy’s toys when he left for college in Toy Story 2, playing outside with her toys when a surprise package with the Lilypad tablet arrives for her. She becomes completely enraptured by the tablet, not even looking up from the screen when her parents tell her that screen time is over.

The Toy Story 5 trailer makes the Lilypad — or, Lily — out to be a sinister villain. When Jessie confronts the tablet about Bonnie’s wellbeing, Lily seems not to be paying attention, so the cowgirl demands that the tablet listen to her.

“I’m always listening,” Lily says ominously, regurgitating Jessie’s impassioned speech in a computerized tone… and then translates it into Spanish.

“Tech’s invaded our house,” Jessie tells Woody. “I’m losing Bonnie to this device.”

Woody replies, “Toys are for play, but tech is for everything.”

Could Toy Story 5 pull at the heartstrings of young children and get them to think twice about the consequences of excessive screen time? That may be a stretch. But at least it gives them something to watch that’s not as mind numbing as Cocomelon.