THE AD: Toyota ran two spots during Super Bowl LX, each with a different approach.
“Superhero Belt,” which aired at halftime, opens decades ago inside a first-generation RAV4, where a grandfather convinces his young grandson to buckle up by reframing the seatbelt as something cooler: a “superhero belt.” Decades years later, the moment comes full circle. The boy is now a grown man driving a 2026 RAV4, gently teasing his grandfather into fastening his own “superhero” belt.
Toyota’s second spot, “Where Dreams Began,” pairs Team Toyota athletes—NFL wide receiver Puka Nacua, Paralympian Oksana Masters, and NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace—with younger versions of themselves, rewinding the clock to moments before trophies, titles, and spotlight.
MY TAKE: One of Toyota’s ads has a point of view, but the other takes a more familiar route.
“Superhero Belt” works because Toyota resists almost every Super Bowl reflex. There’s no celebrity overload, inane humor, or motivational voiceover. It tells a simple story, makes a clear emotional point, and gets out.
That restraint does the heavy lifting. In night packed with spectacle, “Superhero Belt” stands out by trusting a simple, human idea to carry the message. The superhero metaphor is playful but grounded, turning safety into care rather than instruction. And the generational story lands because nothing competes with it for attention.
“Where Dreams Began,” by contrast, is perfectly serviceable—and instantly forgettable. Athlete origin stories are a Super Bowl staple, especially for automotive brands, and this one doesn’t meaningfully subvert the formula. The craft is solid, the sentiment is earnest, but the ad feels interchangeable with a dozen others that celebrate perseverance, belief, and the long road to greatness.
That contrast only highlights why “Superhero Belt” clicks. One ad feels observed. The other feels assembled.
Toyota’s best move this year is the quieter one—proof that a single, well-told story can outshine a perfectly polished montage.
Toyota also avoids turning nostalgia into spectacle. The emotion is earned, not engineered, and the payoff doesn’t rely on a big laugh or a viral moment. It relies on recognition—the quiet click of memory snapping into place.
In a Super Bowl where many ads mistake scale for impact, “Superhero Belt” is a reminder that sometimes the smartest move is to keep an ad short, skip the celebrities, and let a clear story do the driving.
