Toy meets tech in Toy Story 5, as Pixar’s much-loved toys face a threat unlike anything they’ve encountered before: a smart tablet with serious screen appeal.

The fifth instalment in the long-running franchise finds Bonnie, now eight years old, growing up and growing increasingly glued to screens — leaving her beloved toys to wonder whether there’s still room for good old-fashioned playtime.

When Bullseye and Jessie (Joan Cusack), now the sheriff of Bonnie’s room, go missing, Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) steps in as her deputy to restore order. Along the way, he gets an unexpected assist from Woody (Tom Hanks), who has been off adventuring with Bo Peep (Annie Potts) and her toy-rescue squad. Naturally, the two old friends team up once again — only this time, their quest comes with a digital curveball: Lilypad, a frog-shaped smart tablet that has become Bonnie’s new favourite toy. 

As the traditional toys grapple with a world where screens are stealing the spotlight, Jessie encounters a rather unexpected collection of forgotten tech toys — and a whole new cast of characters enters the story. Here are the ones to know.

Lilypad
Lilypad is Bonnie’s new smart tablet, and she is very, very good at stealing the show. Cheerful and far more dazzling than the analogue toys she replaces, Lilypad quickly becomes Bonnie’s favourite. Her big idea for helping Bonnie make friends? Playing games and chatting with them on The Pond, her digital social space.

Naturally, Jessie is less than thrilled. To her, Lilypad represents everything threatening traditional playtime: a shiny screen that can entertain, connect, and occupy Bonnie without requiring a single toy to leave the toy box. But there’s a twist: Lilypad genuinely wants to make Bonnie happy, just as Jessie does. The two may be opposites, but they are working towards the same goal.

Greta Lee brings this deceptively disruptive device to life, and she does a fabulous job steering Lilypad away from cold, robotic villain territory, reimagining her instead as a flawed but deeply caring toy who just wants the best for Bonnie.

Multi-Buzz
One Buzz is never enough, apparently. Meet the Hi-Tech Edition Buzz Lightyears: 50 brand-new Buzz action figures who unexpectedly wash ashore and immediately get down to the important business of being Space Rangers. Their one problem? They’re stuck in demo mode and have no idea that they’re toys.

With their mission set on returning to Star Command, the Multi-Buzzes operate more like a highly coordinated squad than 50 individual toys. And while they may look familiar, these are not quite the Buzzes we know. They’re shinier, sleeker, and more technologically advanced — essentially Buzz Lightyear after a rather aggressive upgrade.

The fun part? Tim Allen voices them, just as he voices the original Buzz. Pixar’s animation team reportedly had to create sequences involving around 50 Buzzes at once, with animator Donghoe Kim describing the crowd scenes as some of the most challenging work of his career. The result, however, is nothing short of buzzworthy.

Blaze
Blaze is a tech-savvy nine-and-a-half-year-old who loves animals and dance parties but, despite her fondness for gadgets, still makes plenty of room in her life for good old-fashioned play. She lives on a ranch on the outskirts of town with her horse, Daffodil, and family pig, Jimmy Dean, and proudly displays a collection of model horses in her room.

Her connection to the story is a particularly important one: Blaze is the owner of the forgotten tech toys Jessie encounters, including Snappy, Atlas, and Smarty Pants. And because Jessie is trying to help Bonnie connect with other children, Blaze becomes an unexpected part of the solution.

Mykal-Michelle Harris voices Blaze, bringing plenty of energy to the young character. Blaze also gives Toy Story 5 an interesting counterpoint to Bonnie: while both girls are growing up in an increasingly digital world, Blaze still finds joy in animals, imagination, and play, showing that being a modern kid doesn’t necessarily mean giving up on toys.

Snappy
Say cheese! Snappy (pictured above, rightmost) is a peppy little digital camera with a big personality and, apparently, a very healthy appreciation for a good photograph. Once a beloved toy of Blaze, Snappy has spent years languishing in a junk drawer, making her reunion with Jessie something of a comeback tour. She joins Atlas and Smarty Pants in an unlikely team of forgotten gadgets who, together with Jessie, become important allies in the adventure.

Unlike the intimidatingly clever tech represented by Lilypad, Snappy is decidedly old-school by comparison. Her special talent is capturing photos and videos, and she is particularly enthusiastic about preserving memories of the good old days with her kid. In fact, one of her photographs — a picture of Blaze at Disneyland — ends up becoming a surprisingly important clue.

Snappy is voiced by Shelby Rabara, an actor and voice artist whom animation fans might recognise as Peridot in Steven Universe.

Smarty Pants
A toilet-training toy with a potty mouth, Smarty Pants is one of the older tech toys hidden away in Blaze’s collection, where he has spent years in sleep mode after his kid outgrew potty training. His big break comes when he is recruited for Jessie’s mission and suddenly finds himself back in action.

Designed to help children master the mysteries of the bathroom, Smarty Pants looks roughly as glamorous as you might expect: he resembles a roll of toilet paper. Yet, his name is no joke. He is knowledgeable, self-assured, and extremely pleased with his own intelligence, making him the resident smart alec of this new toy trio.

The voice behind all that confidence? None other than Conan O’Brien. It’s an inspired bit of casting: O’Brien’s famously quick, dry delivery is almost suspiciously well suited to a talking toilet-training device with a superiority complex.

Atlas
Atlas (pictured above, middle) is a cheerful talking hippo equipped with GPS, making him the designated navigator of the forgotten-tech crew. Like Snappy and Smarty Pants, he has been abandoned in Blaze’s tech junk drawer, waiting for someone to remember that, actually, a talking GPS hippo is a pretty useful thing to have around.

Atlas is recruited alongside Jessie and the other forgotten gadgets, putting his navigation skills to good use as the group heads into adventure. His whole personality is essentially summed up by his mission statement: he knows the way, and he is sticking with you until you get there.

Craig Robinson lends his voice to the surprisingly soothing hippo — you’ll know him from The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. His unmistakable comic delivery gives Atlas plenty of heart and personality, making him exactly the trusty sidekick you’d want on a quest — especially one that sends toys searching for their place in a changing world.

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