🎲The Die is Cast

The cultural significance of Toy Story 5

David Nichols

Jun 15, 2026

Welcome to this week’s issue of The Land of Random!

Another week. Another crazy UFO disclosure.

Another week. Another Cash App drop - a . . . phone plan?

Maybe Cash App is going after that super app dream . . .

It’s been warming up here in Middle Tennessee. It’s hot, humid, and still rainy.

The other night I was looking for something cold to sip on at the gas station up the street and guess what I saw?

Jolt Cola!

Jolt Cola was a popular caffeinated cola back in the 80s-and was discontinued in 2011. Now it’s BACK.

It’s decent - I’m going to try the Root Beer and “Dr. Pepper” flavor next.

We finished Fallout season 2 last week (10/10 was so good - a breath of fresh air after The Boys) and now we’re working on a Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

It’s pretty good! I had low hopes for this GOT expansion, but I’m pleasantly surprised.

Let’s dive in!

🎲Toy Story 5 - The Die is Cast

Yeah - I’ll show my hand. I’ve got a touch of the luddite. I don’t really want my kids messing with screens until well into their teenage years.

Other than perhaps Game Boy Colors and game consoles like that.

The internet is an extremely useful yet cosmic horror-level entity they don’t need access to until they’re more mature. Rotten might be gone, but MILLIONS of other adult/ shock sites still lurk out there . . .

Back in the day, you had to hunt for cosmic horrors. NOW they randomly show up on social media or YouTube.

And LOL to all the government regulation bc it won’t really do anything but create lots of surveillance.

Lots of the kids’ shows are full of overwhelming sensory stimulation.

Tired of slow non-stimulating shows like “If you give a mouse a cookie?” Wreck your kid’s dopamine receptors with Cocomelon!

And don’t even get me started on the weird stuff you can find on Youtube Kids.

Anywayyy . . . I say all this to briefly discuss Toy Story 5. The first kids movie to tackle the screen issue head-on.

Here - watch the trailer if you haven’t yet.

The tablet is very clearly THE villain - taking Bonnie away from the toys.

The question I’m wondering is if the tablet stays the villain - or some kind of compromise gets worked out by the end of the film.

Toy Story 2 and 3 had actual toy villains, whereas we saw a redemption arc in Toy Story 4.

Which direction will we go in Toy Story 5?

Personally, I hope the tablet ends up a villain - exiled like Lots-o-Huggin.

Regardless, I’m curious to what kind of cultural significance this movie will have.

We already know millions of children across America and the world will watch Toy Story 5 - and their parents will be watching too.

Thinking about the screens they have in their homes.

Will this usher in the great slow/anti-tech movement as a cultural zeitgeist for kids?

We’ve been seeing murmurings over the last few years.

The Yoto player.

The Tin Can Landline.

The Daylight kids tablet.

watch phones so they don’t have a real phone.

The Nodi Flip.

and many more devices.

Keep an eye on “kids and tech” articles over the next year. I’m curious to see if anything changes.

🐙The Land of Random

Links for you to explore. Laugh. Love. Weep.

Web Browsers on Video Game Consoles

A fantastic article exploring internet browsers across game consoles - from Sega Saturn to the Xbox Series.

Browsing the Web

Straw Page Website Builder

Build a web 1.0 style website with this fun drag and drop builder. AND it has blogging capabilities (something most of these lack). It’s quite reminiscent of mmm.page

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