Woody Is Balding and We’re Not OK: Inside Toy Story 5
The final Toy Story 5 trailer reveals a balding Woody, a tablet villain named Lilypad, and Pixar’s most personal story about growing up in the digital age.
- The final trailer for Toy Story 5 dropped this week ahead of the June 19 theatrical release
- Woody is visibly aged — including a bald spot under his hat — after years of retirement
- The villain is Lilypad, a frog-shaped smart tablet voiced by Greta Lee that threatens to replace toys entirely
- Director Andrew Stanton says the film tackles toys vs. technology because it’s a problem that “wasn’t going away”
- Conan O’Brien joins the voice cast as Smarty Pants, a toilet training tech toy
Woody has a bald spot. Let that sink in.
The final trailer for Toy Story 5 dropped this week, and along with all the expected warmth of seeing Buzz, Jessie, Rex, and Forky back together, it delivered one genuinely shocking visual: Woody takes off his hat and reveals he’s lost some plush up top. He’s also gained a little weight. He’s wearing a red poncho now. The cowboy is retired, and he looks it.
“He has a new purpose of not being devoted to one kid. He’s out in the field and not worrying,” director Andrew Stanton explained at a press preview in Anaheim after screening the first 30 minutes. “The bald spot symbolizes that he’s just worn out from not trying to take care of himself so much anymore — just doing whatever dirty work needed to be done to save a toy.”
Toys vs. Tablets
The central threat in Toy Story 5 isn’t another toy. It’s a frog-shaped smart tablet named Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee, whose very existence threatens to make Bonnie stop caring about physical toys altogether. It’s the first time the franchise has pitted its characters against technology directly — and Stanton told Variety the team recognized this was a fight that “wasn’t going away” any time soon.
“By rooting it in the real-world shift of children moving away from traditional play, it addresses one of the biggest parental dilemmas in the digital age,” Stanton said. Toys aren’t just competing with other toys anymore. They’re competing with screens.
That said, Stanton was clear that Lilypad isn’t simply a villain. The film apparently treats the tablet as a character with her own perspective — a device doing what she’s designed to do, not an evil force.
The Cast
Tom Hanks returns as Woody. Tim Allen is back as Buzz Lightyear. Joan Cusack saddles up again as Jessie. Ernie Hudson takes over as Combat Carl from the late Carl Weathers. Blake Clark returns as Slinky Dog, the role he inherited from Jim Varney. And in the most unexpected addition, Conan O’Brien voices Smarty Pants — a toilet training tech toy.
Toy Story 5 opens June 19. The trailer makes one thing clear: even a balding cowboy with a poncho and a weight gain can still make you feel something.
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