‘Toy Story 5’ Deleted Scene Shows Jessie’s Reunion With Older Emily and Why It Was Cut

A deleted scene from ‘Toy Story 5’ offers fans a glimpse of a heartfelt reunion that almost took place between Jessie and her former owner, Emily. This emotional moment was intended to help Jessie confront a painful chapter of her past, but directors Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris ultimately decided that the story required a different conclusion.

Entertainment Weekly exclusively unveiled the deleted scene, which was crafted as a storyboard animatic. In this scene, Jessie, Bullseye, and the Buzz Lightyear army encounter Emily years after she gave Jessie away. Now an adult and a grandmother, Emily is enjoying time with her baby grandchild in her backyard.

Initially hesitant to approach her old owner, Jessie feels nervous about the reunion. However, Bullseye takes matters into his own hands by pulling Jessie’s drawstring, revealing her to Emily.

The reunion quickly turns emotional as Emily recognizes Jessie and begins to share stories about the beloved toy with her grandchild. This moment would have allowed Jessie to see that her previous owner had not forgotten her.

Harris explained that the idea stemmed from the filmmakers’ desire to provide Jessie with a meaningful emotional resolution. “We love Jessie and from the beginning we always wanted to make sure she had a very satisfying catharsis at the end of this film,” she said.

The directors aimed for Jessie to address two significant issues. As they noted, “Jessie deserves closure on her past” and she also needed “to love herself and not see herself as broken.”

Ultimately, the filmmakers concluded that bringing Emily back was not the best way to achieve that emotional resolution. Harris described the idea as “a great instinct,” but noted that the scene was “not quite the way to express that for the movie.”

Instead, ‘Toy Story 5’ discovered another method to provide Jessie with closure.

After parting ways with Bonnie, Jessie and Bullseye return to the house that once belonged to Emily. There, Jessie finds several reminders of her past, including a message on a nearby tree and a lunchbox filled with cherished items.

Among these treasures is a birthday card from Emily to her daughter, featuring the touching message, “You will always be my little cowgirl.”

For Jessie, this discovery holds profound significance. She realizes that she doesn’t need to have a direct conversation with Emily to understand that their time together was meaningful. Learning that Emily named her daughter after her provides Jessie with a different form of closure.

Stanton agreed that the deleted reunion helped the filmmakers identify what Jessie truly needed, even though the actual scene was not included in the final film. “It proved that what we were mining for was a worthy goal,” Stanton stated. “We just had to find it another way.”

The deleted scene illustrates how deeply the filmmakers considered Jessie’s backstory while creating ‘Toy Story 5’. Rather than simply relying on nostalgia by bringing Emily back, the team aimed to allow Jessie to move past the pain of her abandonment.

‘Toy Story 5’ has emerged as a significant box-office hit, grossing approximately $1.1 billion globally and ranking as the second highest-grossing movie of 2026 thus far. The film is also set to be released on digital platforms on August 18.

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments!