A friend and neighbor, who is a retired engineer and has knowledge and
experience with things mechanical, including cars, told me just now
that he broke in his 1999 Ford 150 Lightning truck by changing the
original factory oil at 1000 miles and then again at 2500 and then at
5000 and has kept to 5K, with synthetic, for changes since.

I know that engines are machined to greater tolerances than those of
20 years ago, which then included a free dealer oil change at 500
miles to flush out the metal filings etc, but would you agree that it
makes sense to use a break in sequence, such as this, at this time,
with our new Toyota 4Runner - rather than the published approach,
which is to just do nothing until 5k miles and then change to
Synthetic, if I wished to ?

I don't mind the extra expense, even the cost of synthetic, and filter
changes, in exchange for any benefits that breaking in in a preferable
way would provide, if they so exist. It is possible that such a break
in sequence would be a bit too daunting or complex for non machine
minded consumers and Toyota, although it might so prefer it this way,
just leaves the change at 5K miles to simplify things.

Thanks,

Forrest