Toy Story 4 didn’t really wrap anything up, in my opinion. It feels like its own detatched thing.

I say it’s still a decently good film, it definitely didn’t “ruin” anything by existing like so many sequel-queasy people like to screech. Woody had an arc that developed him in a direction that felt natural for the character and I was pleased by Bo Peep’s return.

But the themes explored in this film definitely don’t feel core to the overarching narrative the original trio had. The toys’ relationship to Andy was the point. The passing of the torch to the new kid was the bookend. Yes, playing with the question of how toys come to life in the Toy Story universe is neat and all, and I think they handled that tastefully. But that didn’t seem like a question that really needed a spotlight on it.

Every narrative issue explored in Toy Story 4 felt like a solution looking for a problem. The hallmark of a phoned-in story. It was phoned in quite well, all things considered, but it was still phoned-in.