'Toy Story 5' review: The series still plays nicely

There’s a look that spreads across a kid’s face when she gets a new toy: Big smile, starry eyes, joyful glow. Every parent knows it.

In "Toy Story 5," a different look spreads across little Bonnie’s face when she gets her first screen device: Slack jaw, glassy eyes, sedated pallor. Every parent knows that one, too.

After more than 35 years, the "Toy Story" franchise has a new relevance. Now that childhood milestones like First Word have been joined by First Social Media Account, "Toy Story 5” couldn’t be better timed. Co-written and co-directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris (a former Disney story artist), the movie hits all the notes we’ve come to expect — humor, adventure and heart-tugging emotion — while adding a fresh, topical twist. (There’s also a winning new song by Taylor Swift, "I Knew It, I Knew You," though you won’t hear it until the closing credits.)

Franchise icons Woody (the lean cowboy voiced by Tom Hanks) and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen’s overconfident space ranger) provide connective tissue to past films, but the spotlight here belongs to Jessie, the bandy-legged cowgirl with the dusty voice of Joan Cusack. As the leader of Bonnie’s toy collection, Jessie is concerned about the arrival of Lilypad (Greta Lee), a tablet housed in a cute, froggy-looking frame. Like candy-flavored tobacco, Lilypad gets Bonnie hooked immediately. "It’s just a phase," the discarded Jessie says hopefully, but all over the neighborhood, tablets are taking over.

"Extinction!" frets Rex, Bonnie’s plastic dinosaur. "Not again!" (His voice still belongs to Wallace Shawn, 82, who always gets one great line.)

The story is thin but serviceable: Jessie wants Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) to use her imagination, but Lilypad wants Bonnie to "connect" with peers. Bonnie is getting older, after all. Shamed by a neighboring kid for bringing a doll to a sleepover, Bonnie drops Jessie like a hot potato. Score one for Lilypad.

But it turns out that all toys suffer the same fate. Jessie meets the hippo-shaped flip phone Atlas (Craig Robinson), the drop-proof camera Snappy (Shelby Rabara) and the digital potty trainer Smarty Pants (an excellent Conan O’Brien), all languishing in a dark drawer. The idea that a doll and a digital camera might both make cherished memories — and be outgrown — is a powerful one.

A couple of nagging questions: Wasn’t Pixar funded by Steve Jobs, who did more than anyone to create addictive devices like Lilypad? And wasn’t the original "Toy Story" itself a harbinger of destructive change — a computer-animated feature that spelled the end of the hand-drawn era? Yes on both counts, but this sequel has wisdom to offer: If you cling to the past, you can’t grow up. "All that matters," Jessie says of her little owner, "is we were there at the right time to help her along."

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com