There have always been lessons hidden inside Pixar’s Toy Story films. They’ve explored friendship, loyalty, change, loss and what it means to find your place in the world. Toy Story 5 continues that tradition, but this time its focus couldn’t be more timely.
The film asks what happens when artificial intelligence and digital technology become a child’s closest companion.
It’s a question many parents, teachers and churches are already wrestling with.
Across Australia, legislation banning children under 16 from holding social media accounts has sparked debate about childhood, mental health and the role technology should play in young people’s lives. The United Kingdom is now considering similar restrictions as governments respond to growing evidence that excessive social media use can contribute to anxiety, loneliness and poorer wellbeing among children and teenagers.
Rather than entering that debate with slogans or easy answers, Toy Story 5 tells a deeply human story.
Bonnie, now eight years old, is finding it difficult to make friends. Like many children, she feels isolated and unsure where she belongs. Wanting to help, her parents buy her an AI-powered companion called Lilypad. It’s designed to support children socially, encouraging interaction and helping them navigate friendships.
It’s an understandable decision. Parents don’t hand their children technology because they want them to become isolated. They do it because they hope it will enrich their lives, help them learn or give them opportunities they didn’t have themselves. Toy Story 5 recognises that complexity. Bonnie’s parents aren’t portrayed as careless or disengaged. They’re loving parents trying to do the best they can.
That’s what makes the film so compelling.
Lilypad isn’t evil. It genuinely wants to help Bonnie. It analyses situations, offers advice and encourages constant connection. Yet as Bonnie spends more time with her digital companion, something begins to disappear.
She stops playing. Not simply with Woody, Buzz and the other toys, but with her imagination.
Throughout the Toy Story series, imaginative play has never been just entertainment. It’s where children experiment with courage, kindness, resilience and creativity. It’s where they make sense of the world.
The toys have always represented something much bigger than themselves.
As Bonnie’s attention shifts from creating stories to consuming content and seeking digital affirmation, Woody and the gang realise they aren’t simply losing their place in the toy box. Something far more significant is at stake.
The film becomes less about toys competing with technology and more about what children need to flourish.
That’s why Toy Story 5 feels surprisingly prophetic.
Artificial intelligence is becoming part of everyday life. Many children are already talking with AI chatbots, learning through AI-powered apps and forming habits around technologies that barely existed a few years ago. Used well, these tools can open doors to learning, creativity and accessibility. They’re not something Christians need to fear.
But every new technology also invites us to ask deeper questions.
What kind of people is it shaping us to become?
What habits is it forming?
Who is it teaching us to trust?
From a Christian perspective, those questions matter because our faith has always been centred on relationships rather than transactions.
The opening chapters of Genesis remind us that human beings aren’t created for isolation. Again and again, Scripture points us towards community, hospitality and belonging. Jesus’ ministry is built around meals, conversations and shared life. He calls people by name. He walks alongside them. He listens before he speaks.
No algorithm can replace that. An AI companion might offer conversation, but it can’t offer friendship in the fullest sense.
It can’t share life. It can’t forgive. It can’t celebrate with us or grieve alongside us. It can’t love.
That’s the quiet challenge Toy Story 5 offers the Church as much as parents.
In an increasingly digital world, how do we continue creating spaces where children know they’re valued simply because they exist, not because they’re performing, posting or gaining approval from others?
Churches have something distinctive to offer here.
Week after week, congregations gather people of different ages around tables, stories, songs and shared worship. Children aren’t valued for their productivity or popularity. They’re welcomed as part of the family of God. In a culture where attention is increasingly fragmented, these ordinary practices become quietly countercultural.
Perhaps one of the most important gifts churches can offer children today is simply presence.
Adults who know their names. People who listen. Communities where questions are welcomed and friendships develop over years rather than through algorithms.
None of this means technology is the enemy. The Church itself has embraced new technologies throughout history, from the printing press to radio, television and the internet. AI will undoubtedly become another tool that can be used for good, including in ministry, education and pastoral care.
But tools should always remain servants, never masters.
That’s the wisdom at the heart of Toy Story 5.
Pixar has produced a warm, funny and beautifully animated film that will entertain families, but beneath its humour lies a gentle warning. Children don’t simply need smarter technology. They need meaningful relationships. They need imagination. They need communities where they’re known and loved.
As governments continue debating social media restrictions and AI becomes woven into everyday life, Toy Story 5 remindsus that the most important question isn’t what technology can do.
It’s what kind of childhood we’re helping to create.
And that’s a conversation worth having in every home, every school and every church.
