If you saw Toy Story 5 on the 2026 movie schedule and wondered why we’re getting yet another Toy Story sequel, there’s actually a good reason for it. Jessie the Cowgirl has been a beloved character in the franchise ever since she was introduced in Toy Story 2, but she’s never quite been center stage before. Writer/director Andrew Stanton wanted to change all that when writing the upcoming Pixar movie, and he told us why.
I had the chance to see half of Toy Story 5 on behalf of CinemaBlend and then sit down with Stanton and some of the movie’s other key filmmakers. What struck me the most about what I’ve seen from the movie so far is how instrumental Jessie is to the storyline. During the film, she even finds herself back in her previous bedroom from before she met Woody and co. Here’s what Stanton said about making the character central to the new release:
From the get-go, I knew that nobody’s ever seen the back of [Jessie’s] chaps. And nobody knew that she was an Upholstering Doll, but she always was. If you go back, she was always designed just like Woody. And so, just knowing her backstory from Toy Story 2 and knowing that she was running Bonnie’s room and those two elements, I, just as a writer, I was like, ‘Oh, there’s so much to be had here that we can dig into.’
Since the end of Toy Story 4 has Woody leaving Bonnie’s room and giving Jessie the sheriff’s badge, it certainly feels like a natural transition for these movies. Actually, during our conversation, Stanton also told us that when he first wrote Toy Story 5 without Woody before deciding to bring the character back.
Jessie ends up going on a grand adventure that leads her to meet a new cast of characters, including Bad Bunny’s toy and Conan O’Brien’s potty training toy. She’ll also meet a new human child named Blaze. As his co-writer Kenna Harris added:
And then we got to kind of specify it along the way. It was interesting to think about ruminating on the Emily of it all, but then being able to bring in ‘Well, what if there was this person who kind of took over the place that you started at and the place that you have all these memories with someone else.’ And that’s kind of how Blaze came into being.
We won’t go too much into detail about Jessie’s backstory and the Toy Story 5 adventure. However, since there’ve been so many sequels, I know I was curious what Pixar had up their sleeves this time around, and I love that they’re finally giving some more love to Jessie the Cowgirl.
Toy Story 5’s production designer, Bob Pauley, who’s had a hand in every Toy Story movie just like Stanton, also gushed about the role Jessie gets to play this time around in our interview with him. In his words:
Jessie was always an untapped resource, I think, after [Toy Story 2]. And it’s wonderful that Andrew kind of got back to kind of going that direction and using her ’cause she’s so strong, independent. I loved her, and I worked on Toy Story Terror. Jessie never gives up. Jessie finds a way
This week, we also learned that Taylor Swift has written a song for Toy Story 5 that will appear in the film after theories started forming among Swifties. We have to wonder if the song called “I Knew It, I Knew You” will be another emotional song for Jessie after Sarah McLachlan’s tune from Toy Story 2, “When She Loved Me”. When I asked Pauley about the end, the production designer said this:
The end is great. I can’t wait to share that with you. There’s all these great little gems and treasures that you’ll get to see when you see the whole movie. There’s little surprises. You’ll get there. You’ll see it…. Bring tissues.
Well, I know I’m officially convinced why Toy Story 5 needed to exist. You can see the movie only in theaters starting on June 19.