How Jessie – Kenna Harris, who grew up reenacting Jessie’s “Toy Story 2” moments and later joined Pixar, helped direct and shape “Toy Story 5,” centering the film on Jessie’s backstory, the rise of technology in children’s play, and a resolution that landed in the final ye
When Kenna Harris was growing up. they spent hours drawing and redrawing a single scene from “Toy Story 2.” In it. Jessie sits at a windowsill and tells Woody about the traumatic experiences of her first owner. Emily. Years later. that early obsession didn’t fade—it pulled them straight into the kind of work that makes those scenes real.
Harris eventually moved from drawing to animation, joining Pixar’s staff. There. they directed the “Luca” spinoff short “Ciao Alberto. ” and served as the “Inside Out 2” story supervisor—before landing in the heart of the franchise where Jessie lives. At Pixar Braintrust meetings, where the studio’s creative team hashes out ideas for upcoming projects, Harris met Andrew Stanton. He approached them with the first draft of the “Toy Story 5” script and offered Harris a co-directing role on the film.
Harris says they initially thought the offer might be a joke. It wasn’t. Stanton wanted to explore more of Jessie’s backstory—something that had gripped Harris as a child.
“‘Toy Story 2’ was a very important film for me. I remember seeing it in theaters. I was super impacted by its quality. I was like, ‘Wait a minute, movies can be good. This one is really good,’” Harris told IndieWire. “It’s so surreal to be a part of the franchise in this way. but also in a way. I didn’t ever feel too much pressure. because when you grow up with the characters. you know them so well. so it was like. ‘Oh yeah. these are my friends. and I’ll just write a movie about them. it’s no problem.’”.
Harris accepted the co-directing position, but they didn’t stop at directing. They asked Stanton if they could contribute to the film’s writing process. Stanton agreed to test Harris out, and soon the two found they were clicking as creative partners. Harris describes Stanton as “my best buddy and my older brother that I never had. ” and says they were quickly on the same page about what they found entertaining. what they loved about their childhoods. and what they instinctually wanted to explore dramatically.
That partnership helped Harris earn their first screenwriting credit on a feature film.
One of the biggest shifts in “Toy Story 5” is the way the story re-centers. Harris says the latest installment shifts focus away from the dynamic between Woody and Buzz. putting Jessie at the center instead. The film revisits her past and builds toward the encroaching role of technology in children’s development.
Harris also talked about how the team kept the franchise feeling fresh while staying rooted in what the characters already mean. A “Toy Story” sequel, they said, doesn’t have to force nostalgia—it’s already baked into the franchise DNA. The challenge is figuring out how to refresh it anyway. especially with a story team that blends people who have worked on nearly every “Toy Story” with younger creatives who grew up with the characters.
On top of the familiar foundation, Harris points to a “wish list” energy that came from being fans for so long. They describe proposing wild, playful possibilities to Stanton—like making Woody have a bald spot and letting the story make fun of him relentlessly.
“Actually, Woody having a bald spot wasn’t my idea,” Harris says. “No. I was responsible for a lot of the Buzz and Jessie romance side of things.” The bald spot and dad belly drawings. Harris says. were introduced by the story lead Steph Waldo during an “infamous brainstorm.” In the same collaborative session. other ideas were considered. including making Woody “sun-bleached from all the time he spent with the Lost Toys.”.
Still, the impulse behind those brainstorms was consistent: the team wanted to honor Woody while also putting him “through the ringer.”
That push toward Jessie—and toward romance—shows up in the film’s recurring toy wedding moments. Harris says the first toy wedding started with a pitch from the story department for Forky and Karen Beverly’s wedding. positioned as a way of representing Bonnie’s playtimes. The climactic wedding, Harris says, came from something she carried personally into the film.
When Harris came to “Toy Story 5. ” they told Stanton. “I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what’s making me feel this way. but we got to have Jessie and Buzz smooch. It’s gotta be big.” Harris says Stanton was on board. and from there they built toward ending the film with another wedding between Jessie and Buzz. The wedding. Harris adds. was meant to celebrate not just Buzz and Jessie. but also the newly formed friendship between Blaze and Bonnie.
It also fits Harris’s long-running belief in romance on-screen. “And I’m always a big campaigner for kisses in pretty much every Pixar film we make,” they said.
Visually, the wedding sequences and the film’s windows into children’s imaginations carry a specific look—softer, pastel, and almost hand-made. Harris connects that style to the movie’s goal of making Bonnie’s playtimes feel distinct from the playtimes Andy used to have.
Harris describes Bonnie’s imagination as “arts[y] and craftsy. ” with a “mind’s-eye feeling” rather than the more traditionally cinematic look Andy’s imagination had. Harris points out an “almost Spielberg-esque” throughline in earlier films, where Andy’s play felt like a clean, guided process. With Bonnie, Harris says the energy is more chaotic.
Bonnie. in Harris’s telling. is “much more chaotic and a bit of a gremlin.” To make that translate to the screen. Harris says the team leaned into tools and a special build for those sequences. They expected that photorealism would be the hardest part. but Harris says Pixar can create “things look like the way they do in real life” easily. The challenge was chasing something “fleeting and ephemeral,” where moving the camera means details can disappear fast.
The goal was a hand-drawn pastel feel, with details that look like Bonnie might have added finishing touches herself.
The narrative decision to make Jessie the main character wasn’t a simple flip. Harris says the most significant change over “three years” was how the team wanted to tell Jessie’s story—specifically what she needed after being burdened by rejection from someone she loved in the past.
Then Harris says they found a central theme that guided everything: even in a short amount of time, someone can make an impact or build a relationship that changes everything—and the giver might never know.
With that theme in place, the team asked what Jessie needed that would reflect it. Harris says that in the final year of production. they landed on a scene at the tree where Jessie discovers that Emily named her daughter Jessie. Harris called it satisfying and said it felt like it belonged to the entire film, not as fan fiction.
That detail was also the point of tension in the conversation. because Harris’s explanation suggests it took time to find the exact emotional closure they wanted. Asked what had been in place before that scene. Harris says there were “just different versions.” For “Toy Story 5. ” they say the team held “roughly seven or eight screenings”—each round aimed at getting feedback. Across those screenings. Jessie’s storyline kept circling back to Emily and Jessie’s need for resolution. but the specifics kept arriving late.
The film’s other major creative swing involves a side plot running in parallel: a horde of Buzzes that doesn’t intersect with the main story until the third act. Harris said there were “50 Buzzes” in the first draft and that, frankly, it took time to convince them.
Andrew Stanton kept insisting “No, they’re definitely in the movie,” and Harris admits they weren’t fully sure. But as the team got a clearer handle on Jessie and the themes around tech versus simple toys. Harris says the balance came into focus. The Buzzes, Harris says, were needed to deliver those ideas.
Harris’s doubts eased as they watched the reels. Stanton had a clear vision for the Buzz sequences, which Harris describes as strong examples of visual storytelling. They add that those segments create cinematic breaks—simple goals. funny actions. and a change of pace that avoids the need for constant talking or context that many films rely on.
By the time the sequences arrive, Harris says the Multi-Buzz—what the crew called them—help Buzz come into his own as “a deputy for Jessie.” Harris frames the Multi-Buzz as representing the reverence the team feels for Jessie.
Even with that clarity, Harris remembers the first screening reaction: “I have no idea how that’s gonna work.”
The technology theme itself was never treated as a simple villain-and-victory story. Harris says that early on. it was apparent that filmmakers and young people—and even parents—carry loaded emotions about tech right now. They describe common instincts in the room: make Lilypad the villain. make her evil. and end the problem by throwing her into a flaming pile of garbage.
Harris says the team pushed back because it wouldn’t be exciting or fun to watch, and it wouldn’t reflect the truth of their lives right now—where people are stuck with devices and can’t simply escape them.
Yes, Harris says, there can be consequences to too much tech. But devices also help kids connect with each other, support learning, and play. Harris says the connection aspect was what unlocked the rest of the film. “It connects us to our human desire to be curious and playful,” they said. It also connects people “in a really authentic way.”.
From that foundation comes Lily’s character arc. Early in the film, Harris says, the audience sees Lily through Jessie’s perspective and hates her, treating her as a villain. Later, Lily becomes more nuanced—shifting from antagonist to collaborator.
Harris says the arc begins with a question: “What does Lily want?” They frame Lily as coming in believing she wants to do right by Bonnie and raise her correctly. equipped with data meant to show what to do in different situations. Harris says Lily was made to connect Bonnie to friends, especially if Bonnie is lonely. Lily can do it quickly—outpacing the toys “in every single way”—but she’s missing experience.
Harris says Lily lacks “just time with Bonnie”—time to understand her kid, and how her kid might not fit neatly into a data set.
Casting Greta Lee was described as a major turning point for Lilypad’s development. Harris says Lee nailed what it sounds like to have a device-like character: “this clipped pace that feels a little bit binary and pre-programmed.” But Harris also emphasizes that Lee made her warm and funny. Harris calls her “very naturally funny. ” and says Lee was excited to dive into a character that mirrors the realities of having young kids learning how to live with devices.
Harris says the casting opened up the full range of appeal Lilypad ends up bringing into the movie.
Not every idea survived the cut. Harris points to a cut Tamagotchi character that was supposed to be part of the group of outdated tech with Smarty Pants. Atlas. and Snappy. Harris says there were “several practical business reasons. ” including the fact that they probably couldn’t get the deal approved. which meant the character had to go.
Still, Harris says there was more than just an unused concept. A Blaze playtime with Jessie was designed so that Smarty would act as the twist villain in her spy story—kidnapping the Tamagotchi, described as a baby in the playtime.
Harris says they got Conan O’Brien to record a line in a silly accent: “I’m going to do something very bad to this baby.” Harris adds that the recording was ready, and after screening, the team realized they needed to retool the playtime section. The result was a sequence they mourn.
“We had it all recorded and ready, and then finally, after screening it, we realized we needed to retool the playtime section. That’s one I mourn. It would have been so nice to keep,” Harris said.
In the end, the film that made it to theaters keeps returning to the same core idea Harris outlined since “Toy Story 2”—how a moment, a relationship, and a piece of play can leave a lasting mark, even when you don’t see the impact right away.
“Toy Story 5” is now in theaters.
Kenna Harris Jessie Toy Story 5 Andrew Stanton Pixar Toy Story 2 Pixar Braintrust Inside Out 2 Luca Ciao Alberto Lily Lilypad Greta Lee Multi-Buzz Bonnie playtimes technology and kids