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........

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