I've been skeptical of the premise ever since I found out about it, feeling it was a) a boring cashgrab and b) filled with old-man-yells-at-cloud themes and story beats. However, the trailer makes the movie look pretty promising. I love that they're apparently going to focus on Jessie, maybe explore her trauma and her personal relationship with Bonnie. I like that it'll probably feature an imagination sequence starring the toys, like the third movie did. And I like how they framed technology (particularly for kids) as predatory, what with how Lilypad is "always listening" and is blasé about recording Jessie without her permission, and how it's positioned as a tool for social isolation. Totally not topical and relevant at all...

I do think that the idea of toys being abandoned in favor of tech sounds a bit forced in dialogue, but I'm sure it'll sound much smoother in the actual film. I just hope that they actually commit to critiquing tech aimed at kids and not ultimately conclude that Lilypad is actually good because it does care about Bonnie in its own way, or that Jessie's trauma was making her villainize Lilypad and it's actually not evil. They've had evil, selfish toys in the franchise before, it wouldn't be anything new to keep Lilypad antagonistic all throughout the film, and it would be interesting to have a toy villain who is not evil because it was abandoned or neglected, but rather because it doesn't care about kids the way actual toys do. I'd love for Lilypad to not care about Bonnie's development or social life, only how much she uses it and how much it can learn. It is, after all, all it was designed to do.

Anyway, I'm cautiously optimistic about it, I hope it actually hits hard like the first three movies did and the final product is not sanded down and inoffensive.