If a token is exiled and then returned to the battlefield, does it enter as a new token or cease to exist in exile?

Tokens are a special kind of permanent created by spells and abilities. Under Comprehensive Rule 110.5f, a token that has left the battlefield ceases to exist as a state-based action — specifically, it is removed from the game the next time state-based actions are checked. This means the moment a token moves to any zone other than the battlefield (including exile), it ceases to exist in that zone.

So when a token is exiled, it does not persist in the exile zone as a card would. It simply stops existing. Because of this, any effect that would return it "from exile" to the battlefield has nothing to retrieve — the token is gone. You cannot return it because there is no object there to return.

It is important to note that if an effect creates a new token (rather than returning an existing one), that token does enter the battlefield as a brand-new object. But that is a fresh creation, not the same token coming back. There is no continuity of identity with the original token, which ceased to exist.

Concrete example: Your opponent controls a 1/1 Saproling token. You cast Oblivion Ring, which exiles it. The Saproling token immediately ceases to exist in exile. Later, when Oblivion Ring leaves the battlefield and tries to return the exiled card, it finds nothing there — the token is gone, so nothing re-enters the battlefield.

This behavior is defined by CR 110.5f, which states tokens that are in any zone other than the battlefield are removed from the game by state-based actions (CR 704.5d). No exception exists for exile, so tokens cannot return from exile regardless of the effect attempting to retrieve them.