‘Toy Story 5’ Co-Director Kenna Harris on Going From Jessie Superfan to Pixar Filmmaker — and the Two-Week Rewrite That Reshaped the Sequel

Pixar co-director Kenna Harris says a two-week rewrite helped reshape “Toy Story 5” after early versions failed to make Jessie’s story emotionally compelling. The change made Bonnie’s loneliness, and Jessie’s effort to help her find a friend, the film’s central concern.

Harris joined director Andrew Stanton in late 2022 and also sought a screenplay credit, despite having no feature-writing experience. The team decided that Jessie would lead the story, with Blaze taking on a more important role; they dropped an ending in which Jessie reunited with an elderly Emily in favour of a quieter climax at the tree from “Toy Story 2”. Harris also argued for a perilous action sequence ending in a kiss between Jessie and Buzz.