Toy Story 5 rides like the wind into theaters on Friday. Joan Cusack once again stars as the voice of Jessie in the film.
Cusack told ABC News that now, after all this time, she hopes she’s more like Jessie than she is like Joan.
“I strive to be more like Jessie,” Cusack said. “She’s fearless and hopeful and relentless and loving and all the good things. She’s like the ideal parent, I think, which is so sweet that they captured that in a toy.”
The fifth installment in the Toy Story franchise introduces a new character in Greta Lee’s Lilypad. The smart tablet represents how technology threatens to take over playtime. Lee said while she grew up with some tech in her childhood, she was “on the cusp of all of it.”
“I’m so thankful that I had a childhood that was completely free of all this. So I know what that’s like, as opposed to my own kids who actually don’t have that at all,” Lee said. “It’s so different now. And the kids are — I’m worried that they’re losing the ability to go back to basics, basically, and form real connections, human connections, without the assistance of these screens.”
Toy Story 5 is an emotional watch, Lee said. She watched the film for the first time with Cusack, and said she cried six times.
“I was so moved by it. I really was, and I laughed so much, too. I’m so genuinely proud of the movie,” Lee said, noting that while making the Pixar animated film they had only watched clips featuring their respective characters ahead of time.
“We saw it for the first time as fans, basically. And they did such an amazing job.”
Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Pixar.
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