Every Toy Story movie has its tear-jerking moment. Maybe several of them. And Toy Story 5 is no different, using its Jessie-centric focus to revisit one of the most gut-wrenching sequences in the series’ history. Andrew Stanton’s latest sequel continues the growth of kid Bonnie, who looks set to abandon her toys when everyone around her is consumed by tablets and tech – even though her new Lilypad doesn’t bring her the same joy and fulfilment as Jessie, Buzz, and the rest of the gang. In the course of the plot, through a series of misadventures, Jessie and Bullseye end up returned to Jessie’s original address, from when she was first owned by Emily – of that tear-stoking ‘When She Loved Me’ sequence in Toy Story 2.
(SPOILER WARNING for Toy Story 5!)
In the version of Toy Story 5 that came to cinemas, there’s a beautifully emotional scene where Jessie digs up a memory box planted by her former owner, under the tyre swing where they used to play together decades previously – and inside we see a photo of Emily, now as a mother to a call she named… Jessie. But, as revealed in a clip shared by Entertainment Weekly, it’s clear that an earlier story iteration actually saw Jessie and Emily reunite, with Jessie’s former owner now a grandmother.
An early storyboard animatic has been released, showing how the scene would have played out – with Jessie prodded by Bullseye and the multi-Buzz to come face-to-face with the older Emily. Even in sketched-out form, with that classic Toy Story score overlaid, it’s an emotional scene. Still, it’s interesting that the Pixar team considered going all-out with the Jessie-Emily reunion, only to pull back into a more subtle version. Either way, tears were shed. And if you haven’t shed them yet, you can still see Toy Story 5 in UK cinemas.
