Parenthood and breaking the cycle

This is fresh air. I'm Tanya Moseley. And my guest today is Ali Sadik. He's a comedian, but that word undsells it What he really does is tell stories, true ones from his own life, and he's told so many of them that while watching his specials I realize Sadik is giving us a memoir delivered one set at a time For instance, a few years back, he went viral with a story about surviving a prison riot edk served six years for cocaine trafficking arrested four days after his nineteenth birthday He started doing stand upp after he got out And neearly thirty years later, he's got more than a dozen specials, most of them independent on YouTube with millions of views in his twenty twenty two series Domino effect He traces his life growing up in Houston, starting at ten The year he went to live with his father and first got into trouble all the way through the choices that landed him in prison This month, he has a new special called My Father. It's about everything that passed between Sadk and his dad before his father died in twenty eighteen It premieres on YouTube june twenty first ere's a clip. My dad had a thing about My he dress. My dad always wore Taylor Me S. This is when he was When he was on his note, when he was on his note, 'cause he it's not a lot of men can say how they felt about D pops. I really wanted to look like this man. He was tall, dark, jet black, had a lot of charisma about hisself But he just wasn't an ideal Father. My dad asked me one time. I'm sitting at his house and my daddy said it Man, why you don't never say nothing bad about your mama on stage? Hlly Sadk, welcome to Fresh air. Thank you for having me. Ben your timing is great. And I was thinking when I was watching this that there is really nothing like remembering something funny about somebody after they're gone. It's like the truest way, the most purest way to grieve them. But I was just wondering, Watching this, if your dad felt some kind of way about being in your act, what do you think he'd say about you doing this entire special about him He never actually felt any type of way in my act. He just wanted to know when I was gonna say something negative about somebody else and not just him. so. you know, u I get a lot of views, but it's definitely ten views, fifteen views that I missed because my dad would go to the library and he would, u me up on and watch all of my stuff and he would call and tell me. I just seen something else. I watched it about fifteen, ten, fifteen times. So I'm always missing those ten or fifteen views that I know that I would get from him You say straight up, I'm a responsible man because of my mother But I'm a good man because of my daddy Explain that U My mom, she would think that it was her, but it's really him because for some time, I u I felt a certain type of way about him not being there or The things that I would see from other people's, you know fathers or what I view from TV, I was judging him based upon that and what I thought and I had certain feelings towards him And I didn't want my kids to ever feel like that. I I't want my kids to think that anything else was more important than them, not being in the streets, not women, not gambling, not hustling, not anything. I didn't want them to ever think that anything that I was doing was more important than them. And my father made me at times feel unimportant to him You know, I played sports, he went to one game. out of all the sports that I play, he went to one game You know, he came to one basketball game You know, I I don't remember ever doing anything father and son with my dad So that's another thing I just knew Becoming a father, I would never be like that. Like my kids are going to see me actively at their games or at their recitals or at their whatever they may be doing, I'm going to actively be there. If you know, if you need something, I want you to be able to call me. so I've always made myself available for that type of effort that I was making, I always made myself available for them. so they would never feel a type of way towards me like I felt for my father for a couple of years more than a couple of years. Your daddy, he left when you were three, but you'd see him every blue moon. but then around ten, he comes back into your life. You went to live with him. And it seems like he was very much Do as I say, not as I do. When when did you first understand that contradiction. Oh man Probably the first year I lived with him. Like my dad was my dad was Like I say, I don't think he was ready. I don't think he was ready to have his son with him. But yet he asked for you to live. He asked but I don't think he was ready. You know, people ask for a lot of things they're not ready for. And then like not not a human though. I didn't think I didn't think a human was a part of that, but he definitely defefinitely wasn't ready yet You know, because he couldn't have been. Like when I look back at it, I'm like, Yo, b, there's no way that you was ready for me to come live with you Because you hadn't calm down yet. you know, just the story of him waking me up saying that he was getting ready to go to San Antonio. And I'm ten, I gotta go to school tomorr.m like, Yo, Bad, like was like, what do you think, what am I supposed to do that you're going go to San Antonio? He said, just do what you've been doing. Get your stuff up, get you ready to go to school You know how to A bra That's not how this go, man. I've never been in a house by myself before. to. Ali, I mean, is it true that, okay, you tell this story about him putting cocaine on a sore wisdom tooth. And I was wondering, is this true or is this just for lack? one hundred percent true. one hundred percent true That's why I describeed it so vividly. See, that's the thing about when I tell a story. I want people to understand I I I describe all the even little things So people understand that this is a true story because you can't It's hard to make up little things. You know, you can make up big things, but little intricate details about something like You know who was there James and Ivory And James was the one that saw me sitting on the steps And he was like, what's up? Be my dad name is Limberg. And and he called me Lber, Le bird, what's going on And and I said, I told him about my two And then my daddy call me over and send let me see And put that cocaine on my tooth. I said, this man I didn't even know that's what it was. I just knowew it was the stuff that was in The cool whip tub that was in the refrigerator. Wait, he kept the cocaine in a cool whip tub in the refrigerator. And ye the big cool whip thing, you know, how cool whips coming in a little container that big container. Yeah And you reuse them. Yeah, and he put it in that's where the cocaine was inside the refrigerator. And then as I thought about that earlier, like I told the story and I never even realized how suuper irresponsible he was. I am Ting. You don't think I like cool wh No Things that could have happened, you know? The things that could happened. If I would have dipped becausecause he always had strawberries. My dad loves strawberries. I always had strawberries in the house. And I was like, yo thought about it if I would have just took one of those strawberries. put it in that cool whip bowl thinking it was cool whip. because I still would have ate it, even though I would have thought the cool whip was bad. I'm like, Oh the cool. it's fizzing out. And then I'm like, that's what it would have looked like to me. I said, is he was so, so irresponsible. It's crazy Okay, he dips he dips a little cocaine on that sore wisdom tooth What happened to you neverever had a problem that wisom truth can Never even needed to have it taken out, huh? I probably still got that tooth in my mouth right now. It never had a proble I don't even remember getting my wisdom taken out M Luckily I never I don't have an addictive personality. I can just stop doing stuff. L hopefully that was it because my dad was insane And I had told that story before before I ever before it ever aired on anything And I remember he was at the show when I did it Hm And he was like I can't believe you remember that Do you feel like you're working out that relationship on stage. I mean, I think the obvious is yes, but like, How are you working it out? What is it doing for you aside from just making us laugh think that with with The relationship with him. O the relationship with my little sister or my things that I that I had problems with as a young person I don't u hold on to things. I releaseem ups and downs of me and my dad are really molding of me and it's also healing for me to be able to say these stories So I think that's the biggest part of it that I take the stories and me reliving them in front of people or revisited them In front of people is a I can't even say a bit healing, it's a lot of healing. It's a lot of healing that goes on with me with that I want to ask you about something that you do on stage that is feels like maybe like a centering. you know, most comics When they go on stage, like everybody does it different, but most of them like kind of come out swinging, they like run or walk in or they like take in the applause. You sit in a chair You wait for the crowd to die down And then you always start with Hey Tell me what you're doing with that paying homits to The first time I was ever on stage first time. so I went to this comedy club, just joking comedy cafe is where I started at nineteen ninety seven December the fourth was the first time I was ever on stage, I walked on stage. And I said, Hey, and the whole entire crowd booed me I didn't say nothing But hey, No jokes, No nothing And this is because I started at Apollo Kight and they were instructed T boo the next person that was coming on stage. So I happen to be that next person So I waited To weeks I came back to just Jokeking comedy Cafe A two weeks brought me up did well They brought me, I came and then I start coming every week And then by February, I start in December. By February, I was the co host of that Apollo Kight. And I always start with hay Why do you think you need to be reminded of that particular night Thirty years later Yeah to to Understand that I had I made the right decision when I first went up I wasn't in the room for saying, hey, It's a lot of things that keepe me grounded in this in this business I'm never too and I'm never T down. I'm always even kill And The attention that I didn't get the first time, I said, hey is what people wait on Now When I say hey, the whole entire audience say, hey bab Let's go back to young Ali Sedk before the comedy. You are fourteen years old You start selling drugs You like to joke on stage, you say I was a pharmaceutical sales rep By the time though the Feds got you, you were nineteen, you were in college at Texas Southern University, This is the ironic part You were actually planning to stop selling drugs when you were caught. How close were you to quitting? I had stopped actually. I was done. I was wrapped up and I got a phone call to Come help, assist, you know and I went out of me feeling obligated to, okay,, you know, I hold get back. But I was I was done. it had become Like, man, what am I doing You know, because you started in the first place because you you wanted money. You wanted to you want it your own money. Yeah and I think I fight so hard now to explain that It was a character flaw. It was like no manhood or responsibility in that because I could have just worked for money You know, I could have just did something else. I could have it's so many things that I could have done versus being so destructive to a community. I remember being asked Ali, when do you think that you're going to blow up? And my honest answer was when I pay back there I got I got A this world something Because you sold drugs, like you owe you owe back because of that harm you did. That's interesting When I pay back society for for the destruction And I think that When you are a person that has really done things and you have really changed your life And you you think back on these things. You can't help but to have a heavy heart. I remember I was in San Francisco the The homeomeless population is so crazy And I'm at this comedy central festival, It's a comedy festival And I'm walking from a hotel to the festival And I'm there for days and I keep trying to find different ways to get that not to run into homeless people And I didn't walk five blocks down, ten blocks down, ten blocks this way. I walked every which way and couldn't. And I remember it was in the morning And I was on my way to um ay and I just stopped in the streets And I just started sobbing. And I remember saying, how much of this is my fault because I have been so destructive and reckless in my behavior I just don't understand like Obviously this is not the first generation, this is the generation that was affected by the first generation of what I did. You can't conceive the magnitude of destruction that you do when you sell drugs in a community You know, it's people doing things that they would probably never do in order that's ruin their relationships that what child didn't get fed because their mom or their father decided to do this and what uncle or aunt stole something? Like what did I do Did you and your dad ever talk about this because you know I mean, he sold drugs and then you went on to sell drugs We never talked about it because my dad ended up using drugs That was the lick that society took back. I remember a story that I told about someome young guys I come on come on the block and they had told me they had robbed these old guys And I looked at the stuff that they had and I made them put it in a bag. Be I recognizeed the stuff. And then I went and took my dad and his friend and stuff back And I said, man, what a Well man, what were you doing over there And my dad blamed on his friend and my mom' over there with him, He got me robbed. And my mom, I told my mom about it later. And my mom said she's probably using Drugs. And I said, No, he told me you wasn't using on drugs. And that's what she told me I put your dad in rehab twice since we've been apart. And so I went back and told him, I said, hey I thought you said you wouldn't use the drugs mama and he said who told you that your mama, your mama, violate my Hiba rights. Look at this man is nuts. Like he's so even when he's doing something crazy, he's still funny. He's so crazy. So the u Unfortunately the Rom around while my dad, um, is gone' is an overdose and I don't believe that. I think that that's what people wanted to say, but I don' not believe it either. The rumor that he died because of an overdome. Yeah Yeah. where he had a heart attack? And um I know he hadn't been. So if you hadn't been doing something and then you decide I'm going to do it one at time. You know, you don't know what your heart can take on that. So My dad just I had a heart attack out of nowhere Our guest today is comedian Ali Sadig. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Toni Moseley, and this is Fresh Air My guest today is comedian Ali Sadk His new stand upp special, My Father, explores his relationship with his dad who died in twenty eighteen Sadik has released more than a dozen specials on YouTube, including two filmed inside of jails. He himself was arrested at nineteen for selling cocaine and served six years of a fifteen year sentence Part of his work includes talking with prisoners about accountability and the realities of recidivism This past spring, he released Ali Sadk from inside, shot in a county jail in Charlotte, North Carolina where he talks to inmates for almost two hours straight about the experiences of being locked up and its lasting psychological effects Here he recalls his inmate number, which he calls a spin number As the old heads that' been here before I do they remember, they were original in no This the that haunts me I've been out for twenty five years, almost twenty six years sixty seven, ninety three, forty six Can't forget this number It's ingrained in my head likeike my social security number It's my slavery number sixixty seven, nine, three, forty six Thatest my guest, Ali Sadig in his YouTube special from Inide, a conversation with inmates. And what goes on to happen afterfter you rattle off your number, the guys start blurting out their numbers too. What does it signify that you can remember yourour spin number thirty years after you are out of prison that you did not get out of the situation unscathed. You may have survived it But you still have wounds I've been out twenty nine years at this point Even if I'm at home by myself, I'm gonna lock the bedroom door I still know this number So It's stille things that you may survive, but you don't get out unscathed. You're gonna lose some skin in this game And I think that these psychological wounds O different than my physical wounds. My physical wounds start to fade Why haven't these wounds faded yet There was this powerful thing you said during that talk with those inmates that also is kind of sticking with me. You were saying When you get locked up, your people get locked up too. and I wanted you to explain what you meant by that My mom evenven though she wasn't physically there She's there in mind. Like, it wasn in no days that my mother didn't think about me When you're inside Your sister is concerned, your mother is concerned, your dad is concerned, your grandmother is concerned. It is all of these people that's concerned about you because you're in a position of Danger You're in a dangerous place and there's no guarantee that you will make it out of this place There's no. You can get a year doesn't mean that you're coming home. You can get two years does not mean that you're coming home Nothing about place says I'm going to survive I want to know about I think you call it your sarcastic nature. because It's not like you started doing comedy in prison, but you did find that your humor could serve you well there. And I wonder what ways you used your sarcastic nature and comments when you were locked up because I was such a violent person from the beginning. The first two years I was insane. Like I was literally a mad man. Wh Because where you like that out of prison before you got? I'm in the streets. is what happens in the streets, You know, and I'm still hurt Prom My sister I'm very far pro.. And things that I never revealed to people that four months later that my first son passed as well. So I never I'm dealing with a lot of pain at this time. And so my whole thing was to minister pain towards people Wh? just was in my way. You just in my way. You know And I'm inviting this type of behavior. L it's like, hey, Briad, this all this is going be bad for you. You know, So then, you know, I got told and it's always the older wise person that comes to you and say that really care about you, you know, just letting you know how life goes or see something in you Hey, man, you keep doing your time like this, I' might don't kill you And they're going't ke because they scared at you. They don' know what youre going to do. so they't kill you. They're gonna set you up whether it's a group or whether it's one person' they going gonna kill you. So you might want to do your time a little different and plus you're better than this. like you could really be a different type of person and you can get out of here. You know, you're not here forever You know But I'm doing my fifteen years, like I'm doing fifteen years. L I'm not thinking about paroleing I doing the whole fifteen years. Yeah. Then I became this jovly sarcastic person about everything. Like anything that the person was gonna do that was gonna get them in trouble, I was gonna say something about And I remember this dude was about to do something. and I said, I thought you said that you didn't steal that stuff. L that that you was innocent is because because you're doing really guilty behavior. I'll be so sarcastic and I remember this is one of my classic sayings that I was like, I guess I'm the only one that hit guilty 'causeuse it seemed like everybody else is innoc They're like this is a part of no accountability. but y' don't have no accountability for nothing. And so And If people was about to fight, I would just I would always say something like, Oh, y'all about to fight? Wow. That's interesting. You do know somebody going to lose this fight twice And ain't like, what are you talk about? I, one of y'all going win and then the CO going come in here beat both y'all. somebody got to be willing to lose this fight twice. likeike y'all got I got to make a decision. And I would say so much sarcastically jovial things that they were like, M always got something to say Yes, I do I read that you know, as you're doing your time, that's when you started to think, when I get out of here, I could probably have my hand in comedy. And I was wondering where they Were there people that you were also like watching or studying or thinking about as you were thinking about what type of comic you want it to be Not at all When I when I saw doing stand upp, I actually didn't even know. to even start. It's like When I think about this journey I literally started from a place of zero. L I had zero information on how to become a comic zero information on where to go. zero I was at scratch And so when I think about Like I'm I don't ever not feel successful because I'm like, yo, I did what I said I was going to do when I got out, I was going to become a comic, not knowing how to do it. When you get out of prison though, how do you make that leap to like truly making this a profession? What was your first stop H Just joking, comedy Cfe you know, just I learned a lot. there. And I remember when I first got my first payment. It was thirty five dollars and it was in Fives and wands. and I thought it was a lot of money. I was like, boy, I came up. And the comedy Cafe is in Houston.'s a place. It was, it was on Richmond. then I went through this dilemma of people not saying that you're not a real comic ' you don't do it for a living And I remember asking Bruce Bruce about it. I say man Bruce Bruce he is a comedian in another comic. I asked Bruce Bruce I say, Hey man, are you u this is when he was the host of Cic View Man, I asked him, hey, u People say that you're not real comic unless you doing it for full time for a living. And he said, man, I'm gonna give you some advice, brother I worked for Fedo L, I'm saying, until my comedy start making more money for me consistently did my job And once that happened, then I quit my job. You say, don't quit your job until until your career start making more money consistently being your job And And what were you doing? Like what was your job I was selling clothing. I was working in a men's apparel store, you know in the mall and I worked at sunglass Hut. You know, I used to be a street pharaceutical, but then I went to being a sales rep. Ain't that Did it take the same amount of skill? like the selling selling? Aount of skill. The same thing. I need to find somebody who addicted to suits and shades. I'm saying? So to make my commission If you're just joining us, my guest is comedian and storyteller Ali Sadik. His new standup special is called My Father, and it's about his relationship with his Dad. It premieres on YouTube june twenty first We'll be right back after a break. This is fresh air I want to talk to you briefly about Parenthood about you being a father. You're telling me earlier that You just want to not make the same mistakes that your dad made with your children And I mean h joke about this a lot, but your kids are getting a very different father than you got, which I actually want to play a clip from your latest special where you talk about taking your son, Hassan to a concert to the elements, earth wind and fire when he's eleven. Let's listen I know that I am Better father than my father ones And I'm supposed to be. I'm supposed to be. just by my son's first concert in my first concert with my father My son Hasan She's eleven His first concert wasas Earth win and fire And he asked to go asko my son came in to me and said, Father ' he's very upp across He said, I would like to attend a concert I said, Hassan What concert would you like to attend He said, I would like to go see The elements And I teaered up, I teaered up. My son want to go to see the elements. And I said, wait Who are the elements Hassan Is it some low white internet group that you've been listening to H son said, No father They're formerly known as Earth wind and fire I immediately ran and got them tickets. I wanted to get them tickets for son Me and my son going to see Earth Windire. He is eleven He's eleven years old. we went to this first concert Me and him, we go. We get to the concert. Hassan is the youngest person in this whole entire concert. And I know that for facts because I am the second youngest person That was my guest today in his latest special, My Father. And Oie that whole special. you marveling at your bougie kid, you know. You have built a soft life for him on purpose. But I wonder this because I mean, as a parent who also grew up a certain way, do you ever look at your son and worry that the thing that made you some of the positive things, you know, not all that challenging stuff you went through, but like positive stuff Um, might also be the thing like you're keeping from him too. that. ft the softness of his life now, I hope that he continues to desire that. and You know, he goes through his own certain struggles, you know, because it's a certain struggle that happens in softness as well. but You know, whether he want oysters or crab, you know, it' a dilemma for him. So he got to, you know, you know, choices, choices. But yeah he I love how he's living I love the way that he lives. lause them and I just hope that, you know, He comes out on the other side and always is like this and and loves being a kid and then gives his children the opportunity to be a kid and always have a softness for me. I need somebody to roll me around when I get old. so hopefully hopefully he's there, you know, taking me to go eat oysters and, you know, asking me, do I want to go to a Bonie James concert or something you know, I didn't love him, I didn't love the softness of his life. All right, you are a Houston boy born and bred. Do you feel like you might have ever missed out or lost out or it taking you longer than Maybe it would have if you hadn't moved to a place like LA and New York. And, you know, you could have taken your kids with you I don't think that that's thing, I think that There's no opportunity that has been lost You know,s it's only all gained and it's a certain protection of being in your in your home spaces. You know, my mom's From I have what maybe forty relatives in California. But who's to say I was gonna go to California and make something of myself 'cause multiple comies have done that as well and never, you know, arrived in their perspective, you know, same in New York, sameame in Atlanta You know, I think that what makes me unique is being home Oh, this has been such a pleasure, Ali, and thank you so much and best wishes as you continue on your tour Are there particular cities that you love the most? you know, you're a Houston boy. so Are there other places throughout the country where it's like, oh yeah, they get me. It feels like a homecoming so many places Chicago, DC, Baltimore U Detroit, New York Um, Atlanta elphia, Appalucius There's too many places to even name. I'm so connected to the earth that when when I come somewhere all of it feel like home. That's who's coming and that's who I have a connection with. Now what's crazy is I don't think that Corpus Christie gets me. It's right down the street. Corpus Christie, Texas, It's crazy. It's right down the street. I don't think Corpus is really fool with me. They're fishing town. They're like, is he talking about mass? Ali Sadk, it has been such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you so much for this special and your time. pleasure is all mine. I thank you very, very much. Alis Sadk's new special is called My Father. It premieres on YouTube june twenty first. He's also currently on his international custom fit standup tour Coming up, film critic Justin Chang reviews Toy Story five opening in theaters this week. This is fresh air More than thirty years after the first Toy Story launched, the Pixar Animation Renaissance, Toy Story five is opening in theaters this week In this latest adventure, Jessie the cow Girl, teams up with Buzz Lightyear and Woody to fend off the rise of digital devices, which are taking over the minds and attention spans of kids everywhere The movie was directed by Andrew Stanton of Wai and Finding Nemo Fame and features new voice work by Conan O'Brien, Greta Lee, and Bad Bunny Our film critic Justin Chang has this review A lot has happened since the first Toy Story in nineteen ninety five cowboy sheriff doll named Woody Voiced by Tom Hanks worried that a space Ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyar voicice by Tim Allen would replace him in the affections of their young owner, Andy Every Toy story since has touched on similar themes. about the fickleness of kids The inevitability of change and the totanic power of the toys we grew up playing with By the end of Toy Story four Woody himself had decided to move on along with his beloved Ba Pep. He set off into the wild and embraced the life of a lost toy leaving Buzz and their friends in the care of their new owner. A sweet girl named Bonnie. As someone who was pretty mixed on Toy Story four I can't say I was looking forward to yet another sequel. whichich just goes to show you should always keep an open mind Toy Story five is a significant improvement And at its best, a delight Things seem to be going well for Bonnie and her toys as the movie gets underway But of course, it's only a matter of time before a new phase of childhood begins. bringing with it a fresh threat to the toys's idyllic existence Bonnie's having trouble finding friends her age to play with And that's because the other kids in her neighborhood are all glued to their screens Nobody cares about toys anymore. It's all about digital tablets and other devices, with their games, group chats, and virtual worlds ure enough, when her parents buy her a frog themed tablet named Lily Pad Bonnie is immediately hooked In this scene Jesie the cowgirl ragdoll Voiced as ever by Joan Kusack Conronts Lily Pad who's sharply voiced by Gretta Lee from past Lives Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you Sleep mode, you know? Now Eh, forget it. It's just gonna hop on the charger. Battery could use a little refresh? I wantan to talk to you, device. Please. Call me, Lily. Now look here, me and the toys have been working all summer to try and get Bonnie to make friends with the Jordan twins across the street. Yeah. But then you had to ruin it with all your stupid You're not even listening to me. No No, I was listening. I'm always listening. See, now look here, me and the toys have been working all summer to try to get Bonny to make friends with the Jordan twins. No in Spanish as a rap and the toyys been working all summer trying to get Bonny M this concerns me ethically The movie was directed and co written by Andrew Stanton. who has mocked the perils of too much screen time before in his two thousand eight Pixar classic, Walli I suspect that Toy Story five will strike a chord with any parent who, like me. has ever yelled at their kids to get off the iPad and read a book Iningeniously, the film takes one of the foundational ideas of the Toy Story universe. that inanimate objects can secretly think and move by themselves and uses it to tap into our paranoia about what our devices might be doing when we're not looking Rest assured that this is still a Pixar movie So there's a limit to just how dystopian things will get. Thankfully, Barnie doesn't fall victim to an internet stalker though she does learn a valuable lesson about bullying and peer pressure Lily, eager to boost Bonnie's social standing connects her with some other girls online and even start sending texts and images without Bonnie's knowledge At one point, Lily, pretending to be Bonnie arranges for all her old toys to be boxed up and stored in the garage And so it's up to Jessse to save the day. With some help from Buzz and eventually Woody happily cutting his retirement short. Bonnie's toys wind up at another kid's house in the area where they meet a bunch of lower tech devices None funnier than smarty pants, an electronic toy designed to help kids with toilet training He's voiced by Conan O'Brien gamely spouting more potty jokes than you could find in the past four Toy story movies combined It's here though the story starts to go a little soft. After confronting the ways in which tech is taking over our lives Toy Story five pulls pack and suggests that devices and toys can coexist and that devices themselves are no less susceptible to being neglected forgotten and tossed aside for the fancy new models Maybe it's in the nature of Pixar movies to reassure us delve deeper into feelings of grief and impermanence than studio animated films typically do then offer us consolation in return Toy Story five may look boldly forward but it also peers lovingly backward One funny subplot features an army of digitally souped up Buzz lightightyear action figures, callback to the sight gag in Toy Story two Buzz encountered multiple versions of himself on a store shelf And although much has been made of the new Taylor Swift tune on the soundtrack The most memorable musical bit here is a gentle refrain of Randy Newman's song When She Loved Me Also from Toy Story two. which told the heartbreaking story of Jessie's separation from Emily herer original owner Stanton beautifully revisits and deepens that story here rememinding us that loss is a part of life. and that we are never truly forgotten. By those we love Justin Chenang is a critic for the New Yorker. He reviewed Toy Story fiveive Freshher's executive producer is Sam Briger Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phllis Myers, Roberta Shorak, Anne Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krinel, Teresa Madden, Monique Nazareth, Bea Challiner, Anna Bauman, and Nico Gonzaales Whistler Our digital media producer is Molly CV Nesfper. Susan Aakundi, directed today's show With Terry Gross. I'm Tanya Moseley