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Toy Story icon Joan Cusack reveals why Jessie is facing "the most important issue of our generation"
Toy Story 5 is about girl power and finding your tribe, say Joan Cusack and Greta Lee.
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- Laura Rutkowski
Published: Sunday, 7 June 2026 at 8:01 am
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This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
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The toys are back in town for Toy Story 5, and Jessie the cowgirl has a major role to play, as the gang face a new technological threat in the form of snazzy kids' tablet Lilypad.
Here, Radio Times speaks to the voices of Jessie and Lilypad, Joan Cusack and Greta Lee, about what's in store in the latest entry of the beloved Pixar series.
Toy Story 5 is very much Jessie’s story?
JOAN CUSACK It’s Jessie versus tech, the most important issue of our generation. Isn’t it wild that they made it about that?
In Toy Story 2, we learnt that Jessie was donated by her first owner Emily, leaving her deeply hurt. Did you always feel there was more to explore?
JOAN I felt like there was room for that, but I also feel like Toy Story is in very good hands, so whatever they do is going to be great, but I was so surprised when they said it was going to be Jessie’s story. It was so exciting, because it was girl power and girls’ stories.
Joan Cusack and Greta Lee with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen at the London launch of Toy Story 5. Dave Benett/WireImage/Getty
Jessie thinks Bonnie is going to abandon her like Emily did and calls herself “useless” in the film. I feel like Woody and Buzz would never say that...
JOAN That self-doubt, that’s a gal thing, but also I thought they captured really well the cruelty that girls can show to each other.
Completely, the scene where Bonnie is bullied by her “friends” for still playing with toys is so sad.
JOAN I was so shocked by that, and it was so powerful.
GRETA LEE Her friend group, yeah... It was slightly triggering for me actually. It reminded me of some things – just being a child and friendship, and navigating all of that.
JOAN How hard it is and the girl groups and being left out... but I do remember having a couple of friends where we really laughed hard together. It was the best feeling ever.
Greta Lee plays Lilypad in Toy Story 5. Disney/Pixar
What were your favourite toys growing up?
GRETA I was one of those kids who would do mash-up hybrid toys. I would break them apart and build new ones, like make a Minotaur of toys, a half-Barbie, half-Cabbage Patch Kid!
So you were essentially Sid from the first Toy Story with his mutant toys!
GRETA This is exposing of my character...
JOAN How were they stuck together?
GRETA Tape, I don’t know, string, whatever I had...
Do you still have them?
GRETA No, I don’t... I don’t sleep with them every night.
JOAN There was a Barbie head that you could put make-up on. It didn’t stick that well, so you had to put on a lot of blue [make-up], and then it looked horrible, but whatever.
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Toy Story 5 is about people mattering at different points in our lives. Who is someone who has made a big impact on you?
GRETA Joan. No, really. I went to Northwestern, and Joan, I remember when we first met, I called you Joan of Evanston [the city in Illinois where Cusack is from and where Northwestern is located], because I’d been following you and your career for so long, truly.
JOAN I can’t believe you said me!
What about you, Joan?
JOAN When I was younger, I did these theatre games at this place, and we would do improv. I remember being with those people and laughing so hard. That’s always stuck with me – that community that’s totally safe and fun. I don’t have an improv group any more.
GRETA I think it’s just finding people to play with. Even as adults, that’s still what we’re all after. We’re like Bonnie, we’re still doing imaginative play and finding the right buddies to do it with us.
JOAN Yes, I totally agree! Acting affords that if you get the right group of people.
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Toy Story 5 is released in UK cinemas on Friday 19 June 2026. The first four films in the Toy Story franchise are available to watch now on Disney+ – sign-up to Disney+ from £4.99 a month.
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Authors
Laura Rutkowski
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