Toy Story 5 Moves 30-Something Women to Tears as Jessie’s Return Rekindles 30 Years of Girlhood
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jun 23
Toy Story 5 Moves 30-Something Women to Tears as Jessie’s Return Rekindles 30 Years of Girlhood
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jun 23
Summary
Jessie’s discovery that Emily named her daughter after her became the film’s emotional peak for many millennial women, turning weekend screenings into reflections on motherhood, child-free choices and their own childhoods.
Thirty years after the franchise began, the sequel ties that nostalgia to present-day anxieties: Bonnie ditches old toys for a digital tablet to fit in, framing big tech and peer pressure as forces shaping girls’ confidence and friendships.
Bonnie’s sleepover fears, social awkwardness and search for belonging give the story its bridge between generations, while scenes of shared weirdness and play celebrate girlhood alongside its bruises.
Taylor Swift, 36, amplified that mood by unveiling a new song with a childhood cowgirl video, underscoring how the sequel taps a wider millennial fixation on revisiting pre-internet youth and measuring adult life against it.