A graph pair $(Γ, Σ)$ is called stable if $\aut(Γ)\times\aut(Σ)$ is isomorphic to $\aut(Γ\timesΣ)$ and unstable otherwise, where $Γ\timesΣ$ is the direct product of $Γ$ and $Σ$. A graph is called $R$-thin if distinct vertices have different neighbourhoods. $Γ$ and $Σ$ are said to be coprime if there is no nontrivial graph $Δ$ such that $Γ\cong Γ_1 \times Δ$ and $Σ\cong Σ_1 \times Δ$ for some graphs $Γ_1$ and $Σ_1$. An unstable graph pair $(Γ, Σ)$ is called nontrivially unstable if $Γ$ and $Σ$ are $R$-thin connected coprime graphs and at least one of them is non-bipartite. This paper contributes to the study of the stability of graph pairs with a focus on the case when $Σ= C_n$ is a cycle. We give two sufficient conditions for $(Γ, C_n)$ to be nontrivially unstable, where $n \ne 4$ and $Γ$ is an $R$-thin connected graph. In the case when $Γ$ is an $R$-thin connected non-bipartite graph, we obtain the following results: (i) if $(Γ, K_2)$ is unstable, then $(Γ, C_{n})$ is unstable for every even integer $n \geq 4$; (ii) if an even integer $n \ge 6$ is compatible with $Γ$ in some sense, then $(Γ, C_{n})$ is nontrivially unstable if and only if $(Γ, K_2)$ is unstable; (iii) if there is an even integer $n \ge 6$ compatible with $Γ$ such that $(Γ, C_{n})$ is nontrivially unstable, then $(Γ, C_{m})$ is unstable for all even integers $m \ge 6$. We also prove that if $Γ$ is an $R$-thin connected graph and $n \ge 3$ is an odd integer compatible with $Γ$, then $(Γ, C_{n})$ is stable.