I have to imagine that for an actor, writer, director, or any other person involved in creative arts, the best result that one can hope for is to create something that so touches those who experience it that it becomes an enduring and beloved part of our collective cultural identity. Even being able to accomplish that once must be an incredibly gratifying achievement. It can’t be easy either, which makes the idea of being able to do it again and again feel almost miraculous. But somehow, Pixar’s Andrew Stanton has—with a variety of cowriters—been able to do just that, and while his fifth visit to the Toy Story universe—this time working with McKenna Harris—isn’t his best work, it’s an engaging and moving work of pop art that should have viewers wiping their eyes more than once.

Bonnie (Scarlett Spears) is struggling to make friends. She still spends her time playing with the remaining toys like Buzz (Tim Allen) and Jessie (Joan Cusack), while the other children her age—and their parents—are more interested in mindlessly tapping on or scrolling through the variety of electronic devices at their disposal. Noticing her struggle to connect with her peers, her mom and dad (Lori Alan and Jay Hernandez) decide to buy her a Lilypad (Greta Lee), a tablet that purports to help children develop skills and connect with their peers.

As soon as it arrives, Bonnie is obsessed and in short order is linked up with a trio of her schoolmates. Jessie senses that they will not be a good fit for the girl however and sets about trying to locate a more likeminded friend for her human while Bonnie struggles with how much of herself she is willing to change for the acceptance of others and Woody (Tom Hanks) makes his way back to try and help.

Anyone who is planning on cleaning out their home in the near future should probably avoid watching this, or really any Toy Story movie. The franchise is so effective an anthropomorphizing the otherwise inanimate objects of its world that it makes the idea of casting anything aside all too painful to consider, much the way 1987’s The Brave Little Toaster did (itself co-written by one of the co-originators of these movies).

While Toy Story 4 was surprisingly devoid of more emotional moments, this one is not afraid to lay them on and executes them with an almost clinical precision. While the most obvious themes revolve around the creep of technology into our everyday lives and our subsequent addiction to it, it’s the later, more nostalgic moments that really hit. Don’t get me wrong, we have a BIG tech problem right now, but as the movie wisely concludes, the devices themselves aren’t inherently bad, rather the issue lies in our use of them. It’s not exactly a startling revelation, so at times the moments focused on it can begin to lag.

The latter half, when that begins to take a backburner to ideas of self-acceptance, the value of human connection, and the joy one can take from knowing they’ve made an impact in the life of another, is when the joyously tissue-worthy moments start coming pretty fast and furious. Some of the moments within Toy Story 5 rank among the studio’s most beautiful, even when they’re mixed in with clever comedy, with the sequences that take place within Bonnie’s imagination being a particular highlight.

Five movies in and these films remain nearly as good as they’ve ever been. The voice cast is charming, the animation is striking, and the script is witty and touching. This series continues to surprise with how well it can comport itself to our rapidly changing times and keeps churning out classics that kids will want to revisit over and over. It’s so good in fact, that parents may want to sit down and watch it more than once as well. ★★★★½

Rated PG for some thematic elements and rude humor.