‘Toy Story 5’ brings back Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie as their jobs get challenged when they come face-to-face with Lilypad, a brand-new tablet device with her own ideas about what is best for their kid, Bonnie. It is directed by Andrew Stanton and features an original score by Randy Newman.
Before you head to the theatre, here are five animated films that blend adventure, comedy, and real emotional weight in a way that Toy Story fans will appreciate.
The Iron Giant (1999)
The Iron Giant is a 1999 American animated science fiction film produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and directed by Brad Bird in his directorial debut. It is loosely based on the 1968 novel The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and was written by Tim McCanlies from a story treatment by Bird.
Set during the Cold War in 1957, the film centres on a young boy named Hogarth Hughes, who discovers and befriends a giant alien robot. With the help of a beatnik named Dean, they have to stop the U.S. military and a federal agent from finding and destroying the Giant.
The film stars the voices of Jennifer Aniston, Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, Eli Marienthal, Christopher McDonald, and John Mahoney. Vin Diesel voices the Giant with almost no dialogue, yet the performance carries enormous warmth.
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The film won 9 major awards at the 1999 Annies, which honours excellence in animation. The categories it won include Best Picture, Director, Writing, Voice Acting, Music, Character Animation, Effects Animation, Production Design, and Storyboarding. Despite that, the understaffed crew completed it with half the time and budget of other animated features. The film significantly under-performed at the box office, grossing $31.3 million worldwide against a production budget of $50 million, which was blamed on Warner Bros.’ unusually poor marketing campaign.
It has since become one of the most beloved animated films ever made. If you enjoy stories about unlikely friendships and identity, this one is essential.
Over the Hedge (2006)
Over the Hedge is a 2006 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation, based on the comic strip of the same name by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, the film features the voices of Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, William Shatner, Wanda Sykes, Avril Lavigne, and Nick Nolte.
The plot follows RJ, a raccoon who is forced to deliver food to a bear named Vincent after accidentally destroying his stockpile of food, whereupon he manipulates a family of woodland animals who have recently awakened from hibernation into helping him steal food.
Over the Hedge was released in the United States on May 19, 2006, as the first film by DreamWorks Animation to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing $339.8 million worldwide on an $80 million budget.
What makes it work is the heart underneath the slapstick. The animals are not just comedic props. They are a found family trying to survive in a world built for humans. It shares Toy Story’s core theme of a group of misfits sticking together, and it delivers some genuinely funny set pieces along the way.
Rango (2011)
Rango is a 2011 American computer-animated Western comedy film directed by Gore Verbinski from a screenplay by John Logan. The film stars the voices of Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Bill Nighy, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone, Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Root, and Ned Beatty.
The film’s plot centres on Rango, a chameleon who accidentally ends up in the town of Dirt, an outpost that is in desperate need of a new sheriff. It is a proper Western, complete with gunfights, corrupt politics, and a water crisis. But it is also quietly hilarious, and Depp’s performance as a confused pet lizard pretending to be tough is one of the funniest things in animation.
The film was both a major critical and commercial success, grossing $245.7 million against a budget of $135 million. At the 84th Academy Awards, the film won Best Animated Feature, making it the first non-Disney or Pixar film to win that award since Happy Feet in 2006. The score was composed by Hans Zimmer.
Rango is darker and more self-aware than most animated films. It works as a comedy, a Western, and a character study all at once. Anyone who likes Woody’s identity crisis across the Toy Story series will find similar territory here.
Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)
Kubo and the Two Strings is a 2016 American stop-motion animated action fantasy film directed by Travis Knight in his feature directorial debut and produced by animation studio Laika. It stars Charlize Theron, Art Parkinson, Ralph Fiennes, George Takei, Rooney Mara, and Matthew McConaughey.
The film revolves around Kubo, a young boy who wields a magical shamisen and whose left eye was stolen during infancy. Accompanied by an anthropomorphic snow monkey and beetle, he must subdue his mother’s corrupted Sisters and his power-hungry grandfather Raiden the Moon King.
The stop-motion work is extraordinary. Every frame is handcrafted. The film won the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects, becoming the second animated film ever to be nominated in the latter category following The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993.
Kubo premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 19, 2016, to critical acclaim, but was considered a box office disappointment, grossing $77 million worldwide against a budget of $60 million.
The film deals with grief, memory, and the power of stories. It is emotionally rich without being slow. If you appreciate animation that takes genuine creative risks, Kubo is worth your time before anything else on this list.
Luca (2021)
Luca is a 2021 American animated fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film was directed by Enrico Casarosa and produced by Andrea Warren. It stars the voices of Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Maya Rudolph, Marco Barricelli, and Jim Gaffigan.
Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, Luca is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta, and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.
Director Enrico Casarosa described the film as deeply personal, noting it is set on the Italian Riviera where he grew up, and that at the core of the story is a celebration of friendship, with childhood friendships often setting the course of who we want to become.
Luca is Pixar Animation Studios’ 24th feature film. It was originally meant for a theatrical release but premiered on Disney+ on June 18, 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is quieter than most Pixar films. There are no grand villains. The stakes are small and personal, which makes the emotions feel real. It is the closest thing to Toy Story’s spirit of childhood friendship that Pixar has made in years.