What Toy Story 5 can tell us about modern brand storytelling

Toy Story 5 may be the latest blockbuster sequel, but it also raises a bigger question about creativity itself. As conversations around AI, efficiency and innovation dominate this year’s Cannes agenda, our Creative Director, Sarah Firth, explores why the stories that resonate most aren’t always the ones that play it safe.

Toy Story 5 opened in cinemas across the country last weekend to a mixed bag of reviews.  The fifth instalment in one of Disney’s more popular and successful franchises, was regarded by some critics as not up to the intensity of the previous films, with some noting the ‘ideas and passion are lacking’ and others commenting that the ‘storylines (are) recycled’ and the emotional stakes feel tired’.

I’m sure despite all of that, it will be a success – mainly because Disney Pixar is a brand that people innately trust to entertain them on some level.  In fact, I would argue that they were one of the first proper brands in film – what I mean is, you would go and see a Disney film because it was a Disney film as opposed to going to see a Universal Studios film or a 20th Century Fox film.

I suspect from Disney’s, and more broadly Hollywood’s, point of view, a sequel feels like a safe bet.  Same characters, familiarity, the ‘I know what I’m going to get’ factor that’s so tempting for movie execs, who can never really know if their film is going to land.  But what feels safe for movie execs, does not translate to salience for an audience.

And the same is true in comms campaigns.  Now more than ever, we need to be telling stories that have a real and deep emotional resonance with the audiences that we most need to engage.  Stories that have a real world impact, that move people into thinking and acting differently.  Stories that have originality at their heart, that genuinely deserve our attention.  Stories that make sense because they are rooted in a bigger cultural movement, that help us find additional meaning in the world.  And stories that help us connect with each other, from human to human, because in an increasingly tech driven world, that human connection is becoming cherished again.

I’m reflecting on this now because the Cannes Festival of Creativity kicks off this week and Cannes (disclaimer I’ve never been, well not in Festival Time) is a deep mix of talks about tech that sit alongside talks about storytelling.  I think this year more than ever, much like the plot of Toy Story 5, the conversation will be split between AI as the creative enabler and AI as the creative flattener – spoiler, the central premise of the film is ‘do tech enabled toys ruin childhood imagination?’

LLM’s which are designed to give us the average answer are not optimised for originality.  Yes, they are very efficient and a good pal to bounce ideas off, but they are not great at coming up with the original thoughts that power the best brand storytelling campaigns.  This is not a conversation about creative bravery versus safe bets, but one about originality and excitement versus optimisation and efficiency.

Stories are innately human and when humans are at the front and centre of creating them and sharing them, it creates a huge ripple effect (a Buzz if you pardon the pun) that draws people in.

So, let’s all learn the lesson of Toy Story vs. Toy Story 5 – the original is nearly always the best.