The first trailer of Toy Story 5 has arrived and has already triggered a wave of reactions. The historic saga from Pixar Animation Studios brings Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the whole gang back to the screen for a new adventure that promises to be more relevant than ever. This time the enemy is not a traditional antagonist, but something much more familiar: technology, specifically a smart tablet called LilyPad, capable of capturing little Bonnie’s full attention.
The images show the group of toys disoriented in front of a changing reality. Bonnie grows up, her interests transform and the time of “analog” play seems to falter. Directing this new chapter is Andrew Stanton, former director of WALL-Ea guarantee when it comes to emotions and reflections disguised as family entertainment.
Woody and that beginning of baldness that surprised everyone
But between armies of Buzz, new characters and technological tensions, there is one detail that has attracted attention more than anything else. For a moment the trailer stops on Woody, his hat lifts and a bald spot on the back of his head can be seen. A minimal detail, almost imperceptible, yet very powerful. Woody is no longer the impeccable cowboy of 1995. He too, the eternal symbol of childhood, shows the signs of time.
It’s not just a graphic choice: it’s a narrative statement. Thirty years have passed since the first one Toy Storyand the character voiced by Tom Hanks seems to carry the weight of those seasons on his shoulders – and on his scalp. His baldness becomes a metaphor for something that concerns everyone: we are changing, we are getting older.
Seeing him like this shocked the audience because it breaks an implicit pact. Toys should remain immutable, suspended in an eternal present. But no. Woody transforms, just like us who grew up watching him. Those who were children in 1995 are now adults, perhaps parents. And that small thinning becomes a mirror.
There is something surprisingly moving about this choice. Baldness – even if you hear the joke of a toy that makes fun “you would need a brown marker“to cover it up – it is not ridiculed, it is not hidden. It is there, visible. As if to say that even childhood heroes can grow old without losing their identity. Indeed, perhaps acquiring a new one.
If his conflict with technology speaks to today’s children, Woody’s bald patch speaks directly to adults. It is a sign of continuity, but also of passage. An invitation to accept that time passes, that eras overlap and that growing up does not mean losing magic. Ultimately, the real twist of the trailer is not the war on tablets. It is that small space without hair that tells thirty years of shared history.
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