Toy Story 5

0:00I don't know, Jesse. I mean, toys are for play, but podcasts, podcasts are for everything.

0:30I have to say, I don't like that line, but it's the closest thing to a line in the trailer. It feels like a trailer line, right? It's a real trailer line. It feels like a sort of mission statement line. It's a mission statement line. Now, here's what I want to say. And I felt like I had to open with a quote. He's saying tech is for everything, right? Yes. Here's what I want to say to open the episode. Toy Story in five. Oh. We did it. Oh, the sigh emanating from Marie Barty Salinas. Toy Story in five. He's referencing the Knicks, Ben.

1:02I got it. The nine Knicks. Toy Story won the movie franchise championship in only five entries. Marie, why so sad? I just want to say that Woody wears cowboy boots. Yes. With spurs on them. Oh. So you're saying he's a San Antonio fan secretly? Yes, he is. All I'm saying is that Toy Story won. That's all I'm saying. Not that Toy Story, the first movie. I'm saying the Toy Story won the championship. It didn't, just to be clear. But it's interesting that you're saying that. Because you're saying there's a movie franchise championship.

1:33Ben and I have talked about this. And it's like, what would be the competitors? Is there a more consistent five movie run? I would argue Mission Impossible. I know people don't. He's going to exclude it because it has more than five? No. Or it has to be five plus? What would you call the five run? One through five. Like, I love two. I'm sorry. I know people don't like two. And you're laughing off the Macquarie. What about four through eight, though? Like, you kind of go like the true Mission Impossible. We're at eight now? Isn't it eight?

2:03Yeah, it was eight. Oh, Jesus. Okay, well then. You know, because you could do four through eight is kind of a, obviously Mission Impossible three is sort of a prologue, but like, that's the, you know. It's a wash. To me, that franchise is more impressive, maintaining quality. Or you could do three to seven and just be like, and then they had a weird cliffhanger and they never made another one. Weird. I mean, we do have to live in a world where they botched the ending really badly. Now, Griffin. What? Now, take it easy. Just because you want Toy Story to win doesn't mean you have to say that they botched it really

2:34badly. It was all right. They didn't botch it really badly. I think that movie sucks. It was all right. I find that movie so frustrating. He's going to, anything we throw at him, he'll be like, actually, turns out it's bad. No, I want to say, I'm ready to be normal about this movie. This is not my favorite movie of the year. We need like a big line. Ready to be normal. Griffin, how many tote bags of merchandise did you bring today? One. I had one already here. We're going to do some social videos on this. And then how many pieces of Toy Story apparel are you wearing right now?

3:05Currently three. What's the third? You have a hat, a shirt, a shoes. I got the Adidas before they sold out. That was a, that was a multiple alarms drop. I'll have you know. Those are cool shoes. Thank you. You're welcome. And Ben's just like, you know what? I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm just, I'm on board. I'm just on board. I'm about to correct what you're about to ask. Well, no, I'm going to say, Griffin, you have now added a new case to your iPad. Well, I've, I've joined the pond. I'm on the pond.

3:35I have a lily pad case. I have smarty pants and I have snappy here on my desk. I noticed snappy before. Yeah. I, this is, um, the lily pad. It's just a case for an actual iPad. That's, is that, that, that makes sense. There was a tweet going around that was semi-viral of like, why are they producing the evil toy? It was basically a version of, you know, the classic, like, uh, at long last, we've created the, uh, the lily pad from the famous movie.

4:07Do not create the lily pad. Well, cause the, right. It's like, obviously you make toys of villains, but this is saying we made the device for real. The device that breaks Bonnie's brain says is right. It's a flawed device. Now I want to clarify there are two main lily pad toys. There's this, which is just an iPad case that you put your own tablet into. So in that case, don't, don't hate the case, hate the tablet, right? If the tablet's causing psychological damage. Sure. The other one is like a super nerfed down, dumb, like learn your ABCs LED tablet.

4:42I assume it does not have social network. They have held off from making anything that dangerous. Yes. Yes. Um, but we will, I will give these to you on social Marie. The snappy I have, the camera character breakout, breakout star of the new film. Um, it is a functional camera. I have been taking stealth pics the last couple of weeks, including a snappy version of Stavi, of Tracy Letts. I have some very goofy pictures on this low quality digital camera. I can't wait. I can't wait to, how do we get them off?

5:13Uh, well, much like in this movie, you got hard wire. You got to plug it in. Wow. The double A gang, they all, they all need cables. Um, oh my God, what was I going to ask you? I had another Toy Story related question. I think we're both just so overwhelmed. Was it do the shoes light up? They don't.

5:31You saw a post that the shoes lit up and I want to make it clear those were the child versions and I bought the adult versions. They don't let the adult versions light up. I wonder why. No, thank God I am one size over being a child, foot wise. What size? I think I'm seven and a half. It depends on how much flexibility I want. I think I'm a men's five. Yeah. Um. What were you going to ask? I was going to ask, how old is Bonnie? Bonnie. She's eight and a half in this film. Okay. And Blaze is supposed to be about nine, nine and a half. They say she's nine. Yeah. You know, she's eight and a half in this film.

6:02In Toy Story 4, she's starting kindergarten. Someone assumed she's five. Okay. Okay. So three, three years and change. I think it should be illegal. Mm. Illegal, she says. Illegal. For eight and a half year olds to text. Well, yeah. Other people. You know, there's, Britain's bringing in a ban. It's, it's the future of the world. We all saw this film together. Basically, like a smartphone ban for any kid under 16 is sort of, seems to be the sort of future. At one point, David, you screamed, this is a movie about.

6:32I didn't scream. I whispered it to you. But it was a loud whisper. It was a, this movie's about bad parenting. I was, I was feeling a little judgmental about his parents. You were getting worked up. You would have done it differently. I was really upset by how all the kids just talking to strangers on the internet. Yeah. It's just, it's just one of those things where they're like, I don't know, we got this thing. And I'm like, you know, read the manual before you maybe hand your child a smart tablet. It's like Club Penguin where you're like, this is a closed loop, safe space only for children. And then of course there have been 15 years of like Club Penguin lawsuits.

7:05Of course. But also Club Penguin was in like the beginning days of this. And this is just, you know, Bonnie's parents. I just have a lot of questions about Bonnie. Love Bonnie. Yeah. Bonnie's great. Bonnie is a genius. She's an incredible kid. And look, here's the thing that's working against them. They live in a world of sentient toys who are plotting at all times to do all kinds of shit that they don't know about. So that's true. I don't have to deal with that. I have to deal with a lot of stuff as a parent. The toys are not alive. Toys are working possibly against me.

7:36Yeah. You don't know. I actually do know because I'm a grown up. Yeah. With a rational brain. Yeah. This is a hubris that is going to bite you in the butt. When the toys turn out to be alive? Yeah. Okay. It is well established that Bonnie's dad is a dope and the toys love fucking with him in particular. In the fourth one, I feel like that's a big narrative. They find it fun. I mean, they get the cops called on. Correct. They almost killed that whole family. Yes. Slash other bystanders. They're like driving the car and all that in the fourth one. Into a crowd of people. Right. I think it is the greatest bit this movie has as a sort of like large global bit across the film.

8:11There are four movies where the toys have to be so strategic about what they do to not break the rules of the world. And in this one, they're like, no one's paying attention. No one's paying attention. And if they see something. That is their hack a little bit. They'll lie to themselves. Yeah. People are so addicted to computers. Seems like the rules are that they just kind of automatically shut down when they're seen. Well, it's always been true, but I would say they break it more and more. And by this point, they're kind of breaking it a lot. Like, you know, the toys are kind of animate unless they are truly in like the hands of a child.

8:42The film points a finger at a lingering question from the first movie, which is, why does Buzz shut down if he thinks he's not a toy? Like, it's a question people have always had in this movie as sort of acknowledge really cool people. Cool, smart people in this one, some of our greatest minds. Even though Buzz, for some reason, is not blessed with the knowledge that he's a toy that most toys seem to be blessed with, he still has the subconscious need to go limp. And what's the internal logic there? And I don't think they gild the lily pad on that one. I think it's a pretty simple one-line solution.

9:14I think I'm going to go. Oh, no, wait a second. This is the bed we made. What are these bindings on my hand? This is the bed we made. It's not the bed we made. It is. You said that on a prior Stanton episode. One person made the bed. There's one bed maker in the room right now. Although you don't strike me as a person that makes their bed. So my room. You know what? I do like constructing things. We don't mean making a bed out of like wood. We mean like making your bed, like pulling the sheets out. The fact that he interpreted that way is all we need to know.

9:48A smidge telling. Griffin, can I? It depends on the day. It depends on the day. It's a big depends on the day. Can I ask you a question? Please. Because I don't think any of us have ever been to where you live. Uh-huh. Right. Do you have like novelty sheets? No. No, no, no, no, no. I have grown up bed sheets. Oh, grown up bed sheets? I honestly don't. I gotta say I'm a little surprised. Yeah. Bed threads. I can call out the company. Bed threads. I was always a Brooklinen guy. And then I feel like they haven't sponsored the podcast in a while. Fuck them. Sorry. Come on back, Brooklinen. Please. We love these Brooklinen.

10:19I need to get a new duvet. Let's not go there with it. A very good company called Bed Threads. Romley gifted me and then I bought some additional stuff from them. Okay. Yeah. It's a mature brown and cream linen. Okay. Still feel very woody coated to me. Maybe subtly. Maybe very subtly. Maybe you can add some, like, red and yellow throw pillows. Sure. Kind of, like, Disney bound your bed. Yeah. A bit. Ben, to answer your question, the other toys choose to shut down so as not to be caught.

10:49Right? And obviously in the first movie they willingly break the rule because Woody reveals himself to be alive to Sid in order to save the day. Right? But it feels like it's more like a moral code kind of thing. And Buzz always would just go into seemingly hypersleep without it being acknowledged. And in this one, there is the moment where the human guard comes when they're by the dock. The future Buzz. The tech buzzes. The high tech buzzes. And they go, like, why did we just shut down? Yeah. Right. But they basically say that it's, like, a defensive protective maneuver in Star Command

11:21programming or whatever. Okay. That they enter, like, a shutdown mode in self-defense. And then they start to unpack what's going on. You know? Yeah. I think I should buy some more Knicks gear. I'm trying to remember what movie this episode is about. Oh, Toy Story 5. So what's the podcast? Blank Check with Griffin and David. I'm Griffin. I'm David. It's a podcast about filmographies, directors who have massive success early on in their careers and are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion projects they want. And sometimes in one year, they make the least existent film of 2026 going straight to Hulu.

11:54This is true. No offense to it. I mean, maybe a smidge of offense to it. But, yeah. And then within mere months. Within the blink of an eye, one might say. Yes. Have another movie open over, like, $150 million domestic. It sure seems like it might not hit $200, but it's going to do a very solid $150 plus. It did 17.5 Thursday night. Very good preview numbers for a movie that is, I don't know if you know this, for children. It's for children. Allegedly. The only animated film that has beaten that as a Thursday preview is Incredibles 2, which

12:29made 182 openings. Which is the current record holder for animated films. And it beat it by 1 million. Yes. Right? Inside Out 2 didn't beat it. No. Yeah. Inside Out 2 was just this incredible moment. The hold. Well, the hold wasn't. But no, no. It was this moment where everything had been opening poorly. Yeah. And people were, like, for like three months. The box office is dead. People were back to, like, movies are over. Yes. And then Inside Out 2 was coming out and everyone was like, no one even cares about this. The trailers have been kind of whatever. And then it opened huge. And everyone was like, oh, well, all right.

13:01You know, like, it was sort of the start of people being like, well, I guess some stuff does work. And then more and more stuff started working. And I mean, this is kind of turned around. Yeah. Toy Story 4 had a 12 million preview. They were projecting last night that this was doing 13, 14. And it came in. It came in higher. Many millions above that. I love it. So it feels like it's overperforming. In a year where the box office is doing great. And not only that, there is a robust variety of different types of movies. I love the movies. I love the movies. We loved a movie. There was people pocket watching Disclosure Day because they were like, it feels like they're

13:34not even trying to advertise this to Gen Z. And then it opened and in the opening weekend, which was above estimates or above projections, then they were like, oh, and look at the exit tracking. It was 75% over 30. And I'm like, what's the problem here? Yeah, fucking one. Every movie doesn't have to be for everyone. Right. They successfully got 50 year olds to go to the movies. Good.

13:57I agree. I, there was, there's just a really funny post on the Blinkies, right? I wanted to find it, but it's, it's, I don't know where it ended up, but someone. We've been talking about the films of Anterstan. Yes. We have, we have. And the miniseries is, of course, called. Podsy. Podsy. Podsy. Someone just said that the Star Wars, the Mandalorian and Grogu standee had tipped over at their, and someone just posted the Mandaflorian. That's what it feels like. And I just haven't really gotten it. That's what it feels like. Everyone's like, the movies are back in Mandalorian. It's just like on the, like face down.

14:28And everyone's like, who cares? There couldn't be a better failure amongst the successes. And it's not even that I have spite for that movie, but it just represents every bad habit of studio filmmaking for the last 15, 20 years. Even your, not quite beloved, but your some, you know, Masters of the Universe, which you sort of enjoyed. I feel like. I haven't seen it yet. Yeah. But like that one too, it's just kind of like, nope, this form, this rule book is going to get tossed. I don't think it's bad for that movie to flop. I think it's probably beneficial to the movie culture. Yeah.

14:59And in fact, everything I dislike about that movie is the stuff. Is the formula stuff. Is the formula stuff that is, I think, causing it to fail and that I think we need to get wash out of the system. I still think, obviously, you know, it seems Spider-Man will do well. Some of these things are going to stick around. Well, and we're today talking about the fifth film in a franchise. And we're talking about Toy Story 5, which. That is potentially going to break records for the franchise. Is a movie that I think is successful and very enjoyable. But, obviously, I'm happy you have it.

15:31And I'm happy people have it. I don't think it really, it does not quite justify its existence. If you, you know, if you point a gun at me. Sure. I'm like, I don't know that it really added enough new that we had to have it. But at least it's good. And at least it's doing well. And it's well made. And I'm like, I'm kind of basically like, it's all good. But I wasn't like, wow, yeah, they had a whole, you know, sort of room in the Toy Story world that they'd never explored. I'm like, I feel like we're hitting a lot of the stuff we've thought about before in Toy Story.

16:01But that's okay. Here's what I'll say. I think I put the other four above it. I rate four much higher than most people. I do two. You like three less than this, I assume. I think I'd put this over three. Yeah. I just don't like three. I rewatched three and four after we saw five and four grew in my estimation. Four I just love. Four is great. But four is very controversial. Whatever. The things on the Reddit you would not believe. I would. The Toy Story Reddit? Yeah. Where people call Bonnie a, and I quote. The normal zone?

16:31C***. What? Someone did the Anthony. I almost said this to Ben before the record. And then I said, when we were in the theater and I was like, I'm going to save this for the on mic response. Ben is stunned silent. I don't think that's acceptable. I think that person should apologize. I also just want to say that. To the cartoon character Bonnie. Before you got here, I was telling Ben and David that I have spent some time on the Toy Story Reddit recently. It's a deranged place. It's a really, it's a really sad place. Sad and scary. I used to be on the Bluey Reddit because I just wanted to know like when new episodes were dropping.

17:05And after a little while, I was like, I think I cannot see even just headlines from this thing anymore. These people are out of their mind. Because three quarters of them are like, childless adult here, but I love Bluey more than I love my own, you know, family. And you're just like, oh my God. Right. It's a, it's a, you know, it's a special interest or whatever. But like my, I wasn't getting like calling a child the C word vibes from the Reddit. I was getting more like, I'm like, you know, a 30 year old man and I'm trying to decide what, which of my toys to bring with me to the theater.

17:39I would say that's half of the Reddit. Okay. I would say that's half and that's the sweet half. And that's the sweet half. That's the well-intentioned. That's the, that's the emphasis I put on that. That is the innocuous. I'm not saying sweet. I'm saying like, that's the, like, oh, that's sweet. I understand that it's not at least a malevolent, but it's maybe a little. You know, the Anthony Bourdain meme about Henry Kissinger, where it's like, you read about what he did and you're going to want to attack him with a hammer at a restaurant or whatever. People, someone recently posted that with Bonnie, where when you.

18:12Just it's once you've been to Cambodia, you'll never stop wanting to be Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands is the, is the Bourdain line. And it was once you read the full, you know what it was, it wasn't even the full plot breakdown. It was that the little golden book had shipped. So people were breaking down the spoilers from the story from the children's book adaptation. And it was replacement. Once you read the little golden book adaptation of Toy Story 5, you'll never stop wanting to beat Bonnie to death with a hammer. Right. What? They don't, they don't like, they're like, Bonnie is disrespectful to the toys.

18:45What? She's a child who doesn't know they're alive. Okay. All right. I think we got to, we got to, we got to pivot away from. No, I'm like actually really upset by all. But they're maniacs on the internet. They're maniacs on the internet. And what they don't understand, of course, is that Andy is a cuck loser and Bonnie rocks. Andy is absolutely a cuck loser. With every increasing film, Andy is found dead in a ditch. Bonnie is such a champion. Especially because like the plots of the, you know, like the first, you know, the Andy movies, you know, the way he plays, pretty uninspired.

19:17It's so uninspired. The way they portray Bonnie playing her imagination. It's so fun. Now, I mean, I think they also realize as they made these movies, like, oh, right, that's interesting. We should have more and more fun with that, you know, like depicting the play or whatever. But the first two, you only see it from the outside. It's like, there's a bad guy and then Woody and Buzz fucking kill him. Evil Dr. Porkchop. Yeah. One of the baddest guys of all time. Evil Dr. Porkchop. He's a terrible man. I mean, once you read. He's a terrible bank. Once you read about what Evil Dr. Porkchop did, you'll never want to stop beating him to death with a hammer.

19:50And if you beat him to death with a hammer, you'll get a bunch of coins inside of him. Today, we're talking Toy Story 5 directed by Andrew Stann, which is a fascinating case of a fifth film in a franchise directed by someone who's directed none of the previous, but has quietly kind of been the author of this whole franchise. He's always had a hand. Yes. Three is the one he's involved in. The author? In so many ways, he was. I mean, he's certainly been the dominant. I think Griffin is also trying to erase the participation of one hugging fella.

20:20Here's my thing with lots of hugging Lasseter. You look at the movies he made where he didn't have everyone working with him. And you're like, huh, where is the juice? Is that Cars? Is that what we're talking about? Or does Cars not even count there? But also like the fucking Skydance animated films that he's now overseeing. Yeah, but he's not even directing. I think John Lasseter was quite vital to the original Toy Story, I assume. No question. But Stanton was always involved, you're saying. Yes. Three is the one he's least involved in.

20:51Oh, it's the worst one. You know what? That was my take re-watching it. Yeah. It's so nasty. I mean, I've ranted about it before. Like, I just, yeah. I think it's a movie that's just like about grown-ups feeling guilty or about growing up, whatever. And I'm like, you need to take a pill and relax. Like, calm down. I also think the moment where they're all going to die in the furnace sucks and is ruined by a stupid deus ex machina that makes no sense. It's so bad. It makes no sense. The whole thing sucks. That movie is stupid. And now Tarantino's out here being like, that's the best movie ever made.

21:23Why'd they ever make more? Please come on our podcast, Quentin. I respect a lot of the movies you've made, but you're also annoying. He's too busy hanging out in Tel Aviv. Yeah, that's right. Maybe someday we'll tell you what movie he almost did on this podcast. That's cute. But we're not going to talk about it today. It is this weird thing, though, where, right, there's a portion of people who also are just like, that is the best ending the franchise will ever have, and it is disgusting. David is putting a middle finger up. To that person. To the straw man. And then he's successfully pivoted to a straw man. I'm like, you know, F you, straw man. Here's the thing I like about this movie, and this is sort of the internal battle of

21:56what you're saying. This is the first one to not even attempt to be an ending since two. Totally. Right. Yes, exactly. Four still had that responsibility, it seemed, where they were like, well, I guess we'll make it a goodbye to Woody. People are so upset at the idea that we're ruining the sanctity of the three ending, that we need to have an ending that's similarly kind of emotional and built around closure. And this one is like, who are we fucking kidding? You know, I probably keep making these as long as they're right. Dana Walden said recently that this is the most streamed franchise on Disney Plus.

22:31Can confirm. From my household. Right. Above any other Disney Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars thing. This is so infinitely valuable to them. These characters are so beyond evergreen that this movie does feel, in certain ways, a little bit more like the Toy Story shorts and Toy Story of Terror, which I love, where it's just like, let's just have another adventure. Right? Yeah, basically. It's got a defined angle. It does. Which I think is smart. And it's cleaning up some nerd business. It does some good cleanup. For you nerds.

23:01Yes. Out there. I'm taking my daughter to it on Sunday. Congratulations. Wait, what screening are you going to? Nighthawk. When? I think noon. Because we're going with the Ehrlichs at 11. I thought you were leaving. Aren't we? That night. Red Eye. No, I'm taking her Sunday. Yeah. Yeah, we're going Sunday. Okay. Well, and no, I won't be at that one. I think it's noon. Sorry. But I wonder what she will make of. I'm constantly questioning what kids get out of, especially this movie.

23:33What would she make of the big tech message of the kind of, like, kids should play like this, not like this? Because it's like, this is a little old for, like, you know, like that. I don't know that my daughter has thought too hard so far about, like, socializing, right? You know, which is a big part of this movie. Bonnie-coded in a lot of ways. Your daughter reminds me of Bonnie. That's totally fair. I know what you mean about how she plays. But, you know, this is heady for a five-year-old. I'm not sure it'll translate. And I'm almost certain, and again, she's five, so, like, you know, she's not the only viewer of this movie, that she will not understand the Jesse, the big Jesse plot.

24:07I think that's going to go completely over her head to the point of confusion. Interesting. But she's seen two. Yeah, she's not going to get it. She's not going to get the, like, Jesse named her daughter after a toy. Like, that's just not going to make sense to her. I love that so much. That's the one thing in this movie that I didn't like. But we could talk about it. That emotionally devastated me. And I thought in a way that was not overstated, which I appreciate, that they didn't make too much of a meal out of the moment. And that it's not the ending point. Yeah. That it is a beat.

24:37It's a beat. Are you going to name your potential future child after a toy? I had always said I was going to name my kids Brewster and Ripley. After a movie. Brewster and Ripley. Yeah. After Ellen Ripley and Brewster McCloud. Yeah. That's what I always said. After Ellen Ripley. Or Ellen DeGeneres. That's so true. Yeah. I could name my child Little Ellen. Or David's mom. Yeah. Sure. An homage to a great woman. Exactly. If you so choose. Right. I should name my child after David. Why don't you consider that?

25:08I'm not sure that Ripley's, I'm trying to remember when Ripley's first name becomes, is Ripley's name in the first Alien? I forget. Ellen, you mean? Yes. I, I, like, does Cameron give her a first, you know what I mean? Like, is in the first movie, like, everyone's got, like, a last name and, like, you don't really know much about them? I think you'll at least see the readouts. You might. I, I don't remember. Yeah. In my memory, she's, she's Ellen from the beginning. Let's find out. I'm Ellen. I mean, I think it's definitely harder for young boys to have toys that have, like, names that you would give your child, like, Bionicle, you know, like.

25:41Well, if you call your child Bionicle, like, you get put on a little list on the, for the government, you know, and just keep an eye on you. Meanwhile, my favorite toy was named Samantha Parkington, which is a totally normal name for a girl. Bionicle's also the name of the property. It's not the name of a character. Okay, what are the names of the characters? Yeah, please name a Bionicle, please. I'm looking it up. But I wonder, I wonder what she will make it up. I'm very interested to see. I'm very, like, intrigued to know what her, what her take will be if she has one. She also might just kind of be like, you know, that was great.

26:14Like, Jesse and Forky and all my friends were in a movie and I had a great time. I think it's always been the magic of these movies, though, is that they move fast enough and they're bright enough. And there is the sort of cheat code they have of, oh, you can, like, explore existential themes because your movie stars a cowboy, a spaceman, and a dinosaur. And they're fun. Like, visually, you know. But it's, I do think it's why she likes Three the least. Because Three is kind of the slowest and kind of the most about, like, the experience of grownups. So it's a little, it's a little, it's her least favorite. She never asks for it. It's my least favorite.

26:45I guess I would, I think I do put this above Three. Wow. Wow. He changes rankings. I'm like, I'm working on it in real time. I've certainly, I've only seen this movie twice. And it's been a mad rough to see it twice. Really? Griffin's seen this movie twice and it technically was released last night. Yes. And I'm only holding two more sets of tickets. I also saw it twice. Yeah. I'm sorry. I went with Griffin to both screenings. Yes. You sure did? I did. You're saying this like you're admitting it to the police. Let's be clear. We walked out of the theater of the previous screening and you said, is there a way to

27:19see that again before we record? Because I would like to. You didn't say that. Because our screening was, you know, we're recording this. A week ago. Right when the movie's coming out. I really enjoyed it and I really connected with the message of talking about technology. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. In our contemporary society. But what if they make a Toy Story about how podcasts are bad? Then we're fucked. Toy Story 6 is like Bonnie's listening to too much podcast. Toy Story 6 should be the toys start doing a podcast and pretend they're humans. Right. And then, but they, so they have to like hide their identities and then hire actors to play

27:50them. And then people are like trying to push them to pivot to video and they're like, oh my God, Griffin, I love this. Yes. Because it's building off of what we established in Toy Story 5, which is now the toys can communicate through text. I don't think you learn Ellen's name until the camera one. There's no readout. There's no like moment where you like see a screen being like Dallas, Ripley, you know what I mean? So like, I think they came up with that later. The other characters all have first names. They have later given first names, but like they're credited just as Dallas, Ripley, Lambert,

28:23Brett, Kane, Cash, Parker. You're looking at the end credits for that right now. And like, and like, it kind of makes sense because of course, famously Ripley was sort of written without a gender. Yes. You know? And so maybe they didn't even think about it. I think most of the characters were sort of, that was kind of the idea. The idea, no gender, no race or whatever. Right. And then like, obviously in Cameron's film, he's like, no, she's a mother. She's, you know, we're going to get into all of this. And she has a first name. But even in the aliens, I mean, how many times does she say like, I'm Ellen?

28:55Like, does she say that to Newt? Like, I think she says I'm Ripley. Every time the DJ drops a track and she does a little dance to welcome her next guest, she goes, I'm Ellen.

29:04Okay. Before we lose the thread. This has been an Ellen-centric series when you think about all the dories. I wonder why. Yes. Go ahead. You were discussing how your daughter's going to react. I wonder. And I'm wondering just like with her and kids overall, how is the screen time of it all going to connect with kids? Like, what is your daughter's relationship to tech? Uh, she watches a TV on an iPad and she knows that we often are like, that's enough TV on the iPad. I would say that is her only relationship.

29:34She doesn't do anything else on the iPad. No. She doesn't even really know how to use the iPad. Like, I know that that happens at a certain point that they kind of like start to be like, oh, I get that if I, you know, scroll over to this and press this, I can read Politico. The most she can, which she loves. ProPublica. And I'm just like, no, like, you know, you can't read that stuff like Daily Wire. That's where you're going to get your news. Fair and balanced. Newsmax. Yes. Right. No. She doesn't even know. She knows that if she, she knows how to press a button to make the next episode play. Okay. That's the most she's learned so far.

30:06Yeah. You know, when fricking Peppa Pig is, you know, been spooling up. What is, what is the, the angle on Peppa? Why is that stuck around? I don't see the appeal. I don't either. Yeah. I'm not a fan. I don't like Peppa. She's, I, I, she's. Oh, Peppa herself? Yeah. She's all right. She seems like a nice girl. She's a bit naughty. Oh, okay. Well, now, interesting. She's a troublemaker? Well, she likes jumping in muddy puddles. Yeah. So, there you go. I get it now. I get it now. It's just one of those things with Peppa Pig where she's like, what do you like? And I'm, I'm, I'm like making eggs in the morning, you know, for everyone.

30:38And I'm just like, I like jumping in muddy puddles. I'm like saying it to myself. I'm like, it's all she fucking likes. She says it every time she does. It's like her catchphrase. It's like, I'm Peppa Pig and I like jumping in muddy puddles. Yeah. I just really respect that they're, that the animation style for Peppa Pig is so crude. Yeah. It sure is. It's an interesting design style. I love that. It's got its thing. As we're getting more and more like uncanny valley shit, like. Well, yeah, that, right. I don't, I don't truck with the, right, the weirdly like low stake CGI human people. That sucks. Well, my friend Spike often refers to as a cartoon shows that look like shampoo bottles.

31:12Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Just human slop. Yes. Whatever you want to. Like Peppa Pig. Yes. So I'm like, this is artfully made in its way and it's got its bit. And I find it a little grating, but I'm not like, this is evil, like Cocomelon or whatever. I'm like, it's fine. Yeah. They're British. From what, what kind of region? What's their accent? They seem to sort of live in the countryside. Okay. I also just find the dad kind of annoying. I don't like that. He's kind of a buffoon. I don't like that he has the hairs. I don't like the hairs either. He needs to shave. It makes sense because he's a pig.

31:42On his chinny chin chin. Exactly. He's got the kind of like spiky hair. Yeah. I don't like it. Yeah. Ben likes it. Ben likes it. You know, I'm so, you know, I'm a Bluey loyalist and Bluey is just so much better than Peppa, but Peppa's fine, you know. She's fine. I like Peppa. I like Gabby. Like, I mean, I don't like Gabby, like, I don't like to watch it. Gabby is in like Gabby's dollhouse. Yeah. But I mean, like, my daughter likes Gabby and I'm like, Gabby's fine. She's all right. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's a little, again, a little loud. When you leave the room, Gabby's like, listen, they're out to get us. The great replacement theory.

32:12I guess that wouldn't make sense for Gabby. Gabby is a person of color. Yeah, right, right. Ben, as someone who's going to, you know, start a family in the future, like, screen time is really something that, like, terrifies me. It's like, I'm like, do I become Ted Kaczynski the minute I have children? Why not just moderate? Why must you be Ted Kaczynski all of a sudden? Well, I mean, as a parent, I really am interested. It's not that hard. No, it's not hard now because she can't read.

32:44Well, she's getting there, but yeah, sure. It's going to get harder when she's, like. You just don't let him have the tablets. And you can put parental controls on it. I was so upset by the group chat. Yeah. It really, though, affected me. It made me feel, like, so much empathy, especially for younger generations. Of course. And that this is just, from day one, they're growing up with dealing with all of this shit. Cyberbullying. I will say, just to provide the more measured take as the only parent in the room, I think that the worst of it kind of already happened when there were parents who had no experience of their own with Ted Kaczynski.

33:25I think you're right about this. And we're kind of just letting kids, because it's like, oh, your friends have a cell phone. You can have one, too. And now there's a lot more awareness. And, like, my parent generation is a lot more kind of, like, those things are like cigarettes. Like, you know, we're going to keep them away as long as possible. Cool, and you should do it. Right. Awesome. Not addictive. Makes you badass. You can get up anytime. Doctors recommend. Right. And, like, there's just a lot more hyper-awareness about that. Your kid, you know, obviously, this movie depicts essentially, like, very low stakes, but mean bullying, right?

33:58And, like, your kid will experience social stuff at school anyway. That sucks. But, yeah, obviously, nobody should be socially networked. I shouldn't be. None of us should be. None of us should barely be. So, you see how they behave? If this movie had been made 10 years ago with this subject matter, it would have been a nightmare. I think this is the right point to make it because of what you're saying, where we are in the cultural bell curve. And it's sort of in this, like, we've all now kind of engaged with the worst of what this can be. It's also not going anywhere.

34:29I always say this to, like, my friends who I made on Twitter, including this loser. This is true. The podcast wouldn't exist. Like, I'm, like, I'm, like, in the future going to say to my daughter, like, oh, yeah, you know, I made all these friends on Twitter. And she'll be, like, the website that's illegal that elected Donald Trump? This is a little hell. The website that's, like, in history books is, like, you know, a low point in society. And I'm, like, yeah, but, you know, sometimes, like, there'd be good memes. It's, like, there's a lot of funny stuff on there. Drill was there. Drill, yeah. You don't even know about horse e-books.

35:00Oh, my God. Horse e-books. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. And it'll be, like, you know, when our parents are, like, oh, yeah, back in the day, you would just leave the house at the age of five with a gun. Right. And, you know, you'd just get on your horse and ride into the woods. And the parents assumed they'd see you later. You'd do a quick stand by me. You'd learn something from it. What was everyone's screen names? I was Brother Fallout. I still am in a lot of things. Oh, yeah. That's who you are on Reddit. Yeah, Brother Fallout. That's me. When I was really young, my first, my hotmail address was KingDazza2000.

35:32Yeah, there you go. This is what I'm talking about. KingDazza2000. That's, uh, they let a 13-year-old pick his own email. Yeah. Right. It came up in our recent Patreon episode, but after the release of A Bug's Life, I was briefly FlickLover98.

35:47That's a little preview for free. And the full discussion can be found on Patreon. And you can. You can episode just post. Please subscribe. Please subscribe. But then I very quickly pivoted to I Am A Fool Are You One Too. Oh. Yes. What's that? Is that a song lyric or something? It was a bit from a, I think, Mad Magazine had, like, a counterfeit money drawing, and that was the serial number on it. And I thought it was really funny. I Am A Fool spelled out, and then letter R, letter U, number one, number two, which when

36:17I got older, read as, I Am A Fool Are You 12. And then, of course, in high school, I changed it to Fly Brewster Fly. Yeah. Right. That's it. And that's it. Which was my original Twitter handle. David's opening five at the loudest bag. I need some blood sugar. Can we get that Papa John's order in? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, Marie and I are going to record some social videos after this. These are terrible. What are they? What are you eating? Cookie dough bites? Cookie dough bites. Jesus. No, thank you. Papa John's has three promotional pizzas right now, and I will read them.

36:48Space Ranger Roni, an intergalactic pizza mission awaits. This out-of-this-world personal pizza. That's what makes it intergalactic. That it's out-of-this-world. Has double pepperoni cheese and pizza sauce on original crust, served with root and toot and ranch. So, the pizza itself sounds pretty normal, other than, of course, that hyper-special root and toot and ranch. The root and toot and ranch. Okay. Then we got reach for the pie. This ain't just any- Not bad. Not bad at all. This ain't just any personal pizza. It's got Italian sausage, banana peppers, cheese, and pizza sauce, served with, you guessed

37:19it- Root and toot and ranch. Only in U.S. markets. And then the third pie is Sheriff's Roundup. This personal pizza's got grilled chicken, onions, cheese, and barbecue sauce on original crust. And, interestingly enough, it comes with a side of, let me check my notes here, root and toot and ranch. Only in the U.S. and Canada, it's replaced with special garlic sauce. You guessed it, Frank Stallone.

37:42Can you guessed it, root and toot and ranch, be my new, you guessed it, Frank Stallone, with any cast list? Yeah, that's good.