Toy Story 5 Officially Revives A Devastating Jessie Storyline

Toy Story 5 is bringing back a devastating storyline for Jessie (Joan Cusack).

One of the saddest parts of the Toy Story franchise is in the second movie, when the backstory is revealed for Jessie, who was abandoned by her owner, Emily, and spent years hoping to be played with again, only to be donated instead. Between the new toy friends she’s made and being played with by Andy (John Morris) and Bonnie (Scarlett Spears), Jessie has found a sense of joy and belonging again.

Now, in Entertainment Weekly‘s Toy Story 5 preview, it’s revealed that Jessie will return to Emily’s house in the sequel. Emily doesn’t live there anymore, and it is instead home to a child named Blaze, whose voice actor, Mykal-Michelle Harris, describes the character as “a spunky, funky, equestrian horse girl. She was raised on a ranch with her family, and she’s never afraid to be herself. She’s an older kid, but she’s not afraid to play with toys or to have a whole bunch of horse figurines. That’s kind of her thing.”

Blaze has a real horse, Daffodil, and a pig, Jimmy Dean. An image has been released of Jessie and her trusty steed Bullseye riding Daffodil, with Jessie smiling widely while Bullseye looks startled. Even though she ends up there after a plan to help Bonnie make friends away from their tablets goes wrong, Jessie does not appear to be perturbed by this while riding the horse.

On the farm, Jessie meets several new toys, whose technology is outdated compared to Bonnie’s new tablet Lilypad (Greta Lee). These new characters are the potty-training Smarty Pants (Conan O’Brien), GPS tracker Atlas (Craig Robinson), and the digital camera Snappy (Shelby Rabara). O’Brien saw the ranch as the setting for a Western where Smarty Pants is the village drunk and Jessie is the cowgirl. Check out images of Jessie and Bullseye riding Daffodil, Jessie meeting the toys, and of Blaze below:

Between Blaze, the animals, new toys, and finding a way back home to Bonnie, Jessie and Bullseye will have plenty to deal with while on the farm. No matter how busy she is or what she learns from the farm toys about technology’s impact on kids, Jessie will almost definitely be affected by the memories of her time there with Emily, including the fun they had together and the heartbreak of being abandoned.

As for whether Emily will be in Toy Story 5, that does not appear to be the case, even though her former home will be. There would need to be a compelling narrative reason for Emily to return to the house she grew up in, which she presumably hasn’t been back to for many years, but if it does happen, it could lead to a cathartic reunion for Jessie.

There is a 27-year-old Toy Story theory that Emily grew up to be Andy’s mother, which could be debunked or confirmed in the sequel. It would not only be shocking for the audience, but for Jessie, as this would mean she spent years in the same house as Andy’s mother, not realizing she was the adult Emily all along.

Regardless of whether this theory or adult Emily are part of Toy Story 5‘s plot, returning to this important setting and storyline for Jessie multiple sequels later is a surprising move. It opens the door for other elements, even those from the franchise’s earliest installments, potentially being revived as well.