Chris Evans only utters one syllable in teaser for Pixar’s Toy Story spin-off Lightyear
Chris Evans voices space traveler Buzz Lightyear in this origin story film
Aux News toy story
We’ve seen the fictional children’s toy Buzz Lightyear take on daring adventure in four Toy Story films, but now it’s time to meet the legend behind the mass produced commercial action figure. Taking over from predecessor Tim Allen, Chris Evans takes on another role as a stoic and indoctrinated tool of a government body in the origin story of Buzz Lightyear, titled Lightyear.
“The phrase ‘a dream come true’ gets thrown around a lot, but I’ve never meant it more in my life,” Evans says in a statement. “Anyone who knows me knows that my love for animated films runs deep. I can’t believe that I get to be a part of the Pixar family and work with these truly brilliant artists who tell stories unlike anyone else. Watching them work is nothing short of magic. I pinch myself every day.”
While Evans voices the title character, the only moment we actually get to hear his voice in the trailer comes at the very end when he utters a single, solitary “and.” Nope, not “To infinity and beyond”—just “and.”
We do get to see Lightyear as a Space Ranger—instead of as the sentient and delusional toy version of himself from the Toy Story films— fly through space and fight off aliens as David Bowie’s “Starman” rings out.
Angus MacLane, veteran Pixar animator and co-director of Finding Dory, helms Lightyear in his solo directorial debut. As reported by Collider, Pete Docter, the chief creative officer of Pixar previously explained the inspiration behind the backstory feature.
“Back when we created the first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic blockbuster film,” Docter says. “Well, all these years later, we decided to make that film.”
Upon his casting last year, Evans could hardly contain his excitement in a post shared on Instagram. “Trust me when I say that they REALLY know what they’re doing over there. This one is gonna be special, and it doesn’t step on a single thing. I can’t even put my excitement into words. I smile every time I think about it.”
Lightyear is set to touchdown in theaters on June 17, 2022.
146 Comments
A W E S O M E !!
You know what I was perfectly fine with? The Toy Story characters living on in little shorts or TV specials, not more movies.
Good thing none of them are in this then.
Ah yes, Buzz Lightyear, a character who is famously never associated with Toy Story.
You’re thinking of the other one. Classic mistake.
Spoiler alert: At the end, there will be a pull-back to see all the toys watching the movie, with Buzz sulking in the corner saying, “They didn’t get my voice right!”
Yeah, I don’t think this is really a Toy Story movie.But also, Angus MacLane directed Small Fry and Toy Story of Terror! So if you liked those . . .
I do!
Disney didn’t buy Pixar to NOT make more movies.
Yeah, that would have been a bad business model.
Last time I checked, Pixar is more than capable of making original movies.
This one is original too. It’s not based on a book or other work.
This is a Toy Story movie in the same sense that a war movie with a G.I. named Joe in it is a you-know-what movie.
so its GI JANE?
Rom the Space Knight? I hope it’s a Rom the Space Knight movie.
You mean none of the producers checked with you first? That sucks, when they called and asked me if it was ok, I told them I was fine with it either way.
Good for you.
Good thing nobody is making you watch it.
I’m fine as long as they don’t move in next door to me or go to the same school as my kids.
I dunno, I personally and looking forward to a live action movie about the inspiration behind Lightning McQueen
Oof. That looks terrible. What would have been wrong with making a light-hearted space romp?
One, it does seem lighthearted, IMHO! It might be all magic hour-coloured, but it’s about an astronaut having space adventures still. I’m down!Two, if you need it to be even MORE lighthearted? Friend, you got sixty two episodes of animated fun to slake your thirst (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzz_Lightyear_of_Star_Command). Sure, the Mouse hasn’t put it on the Plus yet, but we of the Internet have our ways. And who knows? Maybe they won’t think that it conflicts the brand too much and put it on the service BECAUSE of this movie!
Based on the trailer it looks like they took a name, a suit, and a catchphrase into an otherwise original movie. Are you really that offended that Disney didn’t make their kids’ space movie challenging enough?
I’ve always found Pixar’s trailers to really miss the mark in terms of tone. It probably wasn’t until Incredibiles that I started started to trust them enough to not expect the movies to be awful based on the trailers.
Incredibles was awful though.
I don’t think it looks terrible, but the tone (and concept?) is baffling.
yeah, like it looks fine, borderline fun, for what it is, but i can’t believe what it is
This doesn’t seem light-hearted to you?
In a weird way, having a different voice actor makes sense. Allen is the toy Buzz while Evans is the actual character.
And Tim Allen fucking sucks while Chris Evans is good.
Evans isn’t without his detractors either though. People gave him major shit for having John Bolton of all people as his expert guest speaker on Iran in his podcast focusing on Middle Eastern politics (which was also accused of having a distinct lack of Middle-Eastern voices anyway, along with a generally interventionist political stance toward the region).
That’s small potatoes in the overall bigotry contest, but given that Evans has vocally fostered an active broadly liberal profile (and corresponding fanbase) otherwise, it’s pretty significant for him specifically.
That too.
Eh, no one who sells cocaine can be all bad.
And Patrick Warburton is the Saturday morning cartoon version!
And it’s still not on Disney+
Is it on Disney XD or something? They need content on those other channels to keep them afloat (in their estimation, I’m sure). Though I assume at some point they’ll cull their “classic” cable channels down to two… then one maybe at some point. Or give them over to ABC, ESPN or something – they’re cable real estate if nothing else at this point.
Might be on Hulu
I fully expect Allen and Warbuton will have cameos, possibly as grizzled old members of Star Command’s governing council.
Right? Like, what’s the continuity going to be with the cartoon? And will the LGM still be as awesome/adorable?
The movie that the toy is based on would have to have a much more vintage look to it, since Toy Story was in 90’s and Buzz Lightyear would have to be older. So, perhaps, this is a reboot, therefore, no need for Tim Allen?
I’m not sure it makes that much sense. Wouldn’t the toy try to have a voice that sounded at least *a little* like the guy in the film it’s promoting?
Not necessarily.
As any fan of Power Rangers toys can tell you: Hell no.
I had quite a few, but none that talked 🙁
The current Power Morpher by Hasbro has recycled audio from the TV series for their morphing soundsBut most of the Bandai toys had very bad sound-alikes. The only exception was Megaforce/Super Megaforce, which had Gosei’s VA voice all the lines. The most hilarious one were the Lost Galaxy figures, which had all their voice clips recycled from the In Space figures, so you have the Lost Galaxy Red Ranger shouting “Let’s Rocket!,” the morphing call from In Space.
When you crashed your Evel Knievel stunt cycle back in the day, he didn’t even scream like the actual Evel Knievel. Or break his pelvis, for that matter.
Good point – the toy version of Stretch Armstrong sounded much different than the real guy.
That does make sense, but having grown up with the first two Toy Story movies (the other two came out long after I was no longer a child) it’s going to be weird not hearing Tim Allens voice.
“Angus MacLane, veteran Pixar animator and co-director of Finding Dory, helms Lightyear in her solo directorial debut.”Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely think more women should be directing at Pixar (and big-budget movies in general). But MacLane is a guy.
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command was a perfectly fun show and a perfectly good premise for a perfectly good movie.But sure?
Came here to say this. I would watch Buzz Lightyear of Star Command while preparing to go to work, in the mornings, back in late 2000, and it was a really enjoyable show. Fun riffs on Sci Fi, some interesting plots, and a host of good characters.
You’re right. They should just do that.
“Buzz Lightyear of Star Command was a perfectly fun show and a perfectly good premise for a perfectly good movie.”
And this seems different than that?
That’s what I wanted, just a live action Star Command movie. This movie could still be an origin for that though.
Buzz is a test pilot about to fire up humanity’s first FTL drive. A malfunction propels him way farther than he should’ve gone, and he comes across a consortium of technologically advanced but reclusive aliens. He convinces them to help him get back home to Earth, and in the process they stop to help other aliens along the way. Inspired by his selfless, altruistic, outgoing attitude, they decide to form an alliance with the Earthlings. With their advanced technology and the humans’ idealism and curiosity, they form a new organisation called Star Command. From now on they’ll be active participants in the galaxy, exploring and going on humanitarian missions together. After credits teaser for Zurg. Boom, new cinematic universe.
I guess they had to find a new way to keep on making Toy Story movies
“Back when we created the first Toy Story, we designed Buzz
Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool
character from an epic blockbuster film,” Docter says. “Well, all these
years later, we decided to make that film.”
But I always got the impression Buzz was based on a cheesy 90s Saturday morning cartoon.Like, they even MADE that cartoon.
At this point I feel like there are enough Toy Story-related movies that they start to feel a little cheap, even if this is pretty much a standalone movie with the name in common. I also don’t like the main character design, it’s so creepy and uncanny valley. That said, the animation looks nice in this teaser, and it’ll be interesting to see where they take this story, especially since Pixar hasn’t done any sci-fi since Wall-E.
Surely Incredibles 2 is a sci-fi movie
It probably does count, but I was thinking the superhero aspect overshadowed the science fiction elements, whereas this is in the future and/or with advanced technology, in space, potentially including aliens.
The uncanny valley thing is interesting because I think I feel it too? I mean, he’s no different from how Disney/Pixar usually design their humans, but… is there something kind of “off” about him looking like Buzz Lightyear in a ‘real-world’ setting?
What’s hilarious is fascist Twitter melting down because they think Disney/Pixar “canceled” Tim Allen.That alone makes this seemingly unnecessary movie worth it.But will we get a Woody origin story, and who will be the not-Tom-Hanks actor to portray the cowboy?
Matthew McConaughey.
All right, all right, all right…
For the sake of balance, Tim Allen being replaced by Chris Evans means Tom Hanks will be replaced by Gina Carano.
And if she’s not available, Scott Baio or James Woods.
Based on the fact that his Twitter feed alternates between being a maga idiot and hocking vitamins and freedom phones, My bet is they could get Kevin Sorbo really cheap
Technically the Woody Origin Story was Toy Story 2.
Chet Haze.
This feels weird. Firstly, Chris Evans repeatedly stating this is about ‘the real human the toy was based on’ makes very little sense, but I suppose it hard to succinctly say ‘this is set in the fictional world that the toyline was set in, like a movie about Woody the sheriff who fought cattle rustlers and road a horse’.Secondly, it’s just so reverent of something silly. The costume, the catchphrase, the chin, it’s all there but played for Insterstellar like sincerity. Not saying it can’t work, but it’s a truly bizarre expansion of ‘Tim Allen voices of a Star Wars action figure who doesn’t know he’s a toy’.
“Back when we created the first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic blockbuster film,” Docter says. “Well, all these years later, we decided to make that film.”
Right? This is Buzz Lightyear, not First Man.
I *sort of* think it looks fun, but I would be more into it if it looked a little more Flash Gordon and a little less Ad Astra.
Yeah, Buzz Lightyear always struck me as being in the vein of sci-fi from the 40s and 50s – big fishbowl helmets, ray guns, retro rocket ships, etc. I feel like this might’ve popped a bit more if they went retro instead of modern.
Thinking about it Disney probably has an unofficial moratorium on the retrofuture aesthetic following Tomorrowland.
Yeah, that would’ve been great, the cool video game guy! Sort of a cross between the 1950s “realistic” SF series MEN INTO SPACE
and THUNDERBIRDS.
it would be cool if they based it on the actual buzz lightyear ad
Instead of just Ad Astra think The Right Stuff, Outland, even a tad Ridley Scott. I think they ven-diagramed all the Sci-Fi and stuck their peg here.
The look of Ad Astra wasn’t the issue I had with the movie.
Me neither, but I don’t really want a Buzz Lightyear film reminding me of it at all.
I’d be really curious to know the creative process for this movie. Did someone with pixar want to make a space exploration movie but Disney would only fund it if it had the obvious nostagia bait and toy selling potential of Toy Story or was someone tasked with making a Toy Story prequel and came up with this?I kinda like what the trailer is giving us but can’t understand why this is at all related to Toy Story other than to grind every last cent out of a piece of existing IP.
“Back when we created the first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic blockbuster film,” Docter says. “Well, all these years later, we decided to make that film.”
Literally WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED?
The creative process was Disney and National Geographic had a deal: If The Right Stuff gets cancelled, they’ll pay it forward in another IP
It seems pretty clear that they’re trying to make it not about the toy. I’m not 100% sure how the “real person” thing is going to work unless that’s Chris Evans not being fully accurate. We know Woody’s origins were from a TV show. Maybe Evans actually means, it’s the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command origin story which led to the toys.
It seems pretty clear that they’re trying to make it not about the toy. I’m not 100% sure how the “real person” thing is going to work unless that’s Chris Evans not being fully accurate. We know Woody’s origins were from a TV show. Maybe Evans actually means, it’s the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command origin story which led to the toys.
I dunno- for me, I think the fact that it’s being so reverent about something so silly is part of the joke.
For it to be a joke, they’d need to undercut it at some point and they don’t. Instead they end the trailer at a fever pitch by letting the audience fill in an unspoken catchphrase (like Kirk saying ‘To bold go…’)
“(like Kirk saying ‘To bold go…’)“
So it’s like Kirk not knowing the line?
It’s…a…TRAILER!
Just wait until we get the movie about the dog who inspired Slinky
Or the freakish lab-grown mutant vegetable that inspired the Potato Heads.
“Firstly, Chris Evans repeatedly stating this is about ‘the real human the toy was based on’ makes very little sense”
Why? Is the human who owns the toys in Toy Story not a “real human” because it’s animation?
Guess what? All those people you see in movies? They aren’t really who they’re pretending to be either.
There’s this thing called acting…
this is not whimsical. at all! it looks like every other stupid superhero movie.
i hate it, and i will act like a petulant child until i *sigh* go and see it when it comes out.
It’s a bizarre concept but then again so is the Cars universe.
I think this is all from footage of the first 10 minutes of the movie, cut to resemble something serious like an Apollo drama/documentary. I highly doubt a Toy Story spinoff will be this serious or generic.
I suppose it hard to succinctly say ‘this is set in the fictional world that the toyline was set in, like a movie about Woody the sheriff who fought cattle rustlers and road a horse’.What if Buzz Lightyear was real?
I mean, in fairness, they did sell action figures of various Apollo 11 astronauts and Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong made all sorts of pop culture appearances so I don’t think it’s totally outlandish to suggest that there’s a universe where someone made a Saturday morning cartoon about a super famous astronaut.
Chris Evans takes on another role as a stoic and indoctrinated tool of a government body in the origin story of Buzz Lightyear, titled Lightyear. Yes, if Captain America is about anything, it’s about how he’s an unthinking government stooge who never disobeys orders or challenges authority. Nailed it.
Better clean up those strawmen before you go all James Cagney.
I’m exaggerating slightly, but how is there much difference between “indoctrinated tool of a government body” and “unthinking government stooge”? Given his depiction in both the comics and the MCU films, do you agree with the author that Captain America is an indoctrinated tool?
Easy. Indoctrinated doesn’t mean brainwashed.Tool doesn’t automatically assume lack of reflection.
Indoctrinate and brainwash are literally the closest synonyms to each other. It was an unnecessary and dumb thing for Gabrielle to add to the article for snark, and it doesn’t need defending. Just pretend she was talking about John Walker and you’ll see an actual good fit for that description.
indoctrinate: “to force somebody to accept a particular belief or set of beliefs and not allow them to consider any others”“to teach (a person or group) to accept a set of beliefs uncritically.”(https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/indoctrinate)indoctrinated synonyms: “brainwashed,” “persuaded,” “programmed”
(https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/indoctrinated)tool: “a person who is used or controlled by another person or group”(https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/tool_1)
LOl @ everyone spamming me with synonyms.We can parse all day and you still won’t get the point.
I get your point, but your point depends on you not understanding what certain words mean, so yeah, I guess we’re at an impasse.
“but your point depends”No, my point depends on the radical idea that you don’t need to disassemble every thing you read on the internet, especially when the content you’re parsing is *checks notes* the adjectives used to describe a fictional character.
I mean, if your argument is really that people shouldn’t make snarky comments on the internet then I’m afraid you’ve already lost that battle.
There you go again. I didn’t mention snark once.
Cap makes it very clear that his opposition to the Axis is not based on broader American ideology, to the point of openly expressing this to authority figures. In the one scene where he displays any concern about someone for identitarian reasons, it’s a launching pad for a dissection of German identity versus Nazi ideology. This is consistent with the comics, where Cap has been openly critical of everything from US interventionalism to the war on drugs, to the point that the US government (who are categorically NOT good guys in most of Marvel Comics) make their own jackass Captain America, US Agent, to do their dirty work abroad. So yeah, the critique of Cap here is way off base.
IDK, I don’t recall any of this side of him in the movies.
That news vendor’s expression really says, “Yup, that’s a powerful point, Cap. You, uh, gonna buy anything today?”
If anything, original post doesn’t go far enough in criticizing this take on Captain America. Lieb already explained why the “indoctrinated tool of a government body” is incorrect, but what about Steve Rogers, a dude who throws all logic out the window the instant his friends need help, reads as “stoic”?
Nerds parsing every atom of someone else’s writing is a tale as old as the internet.As is them getting pissy and defensive when you do that to them.
As is trotting out the “yeah, well you’re just a nerdy nerd who spends too much time on the internet, you dumb nerd” line when you lose an argument.
Bud, it’s okay that both you and the reporter are wrong about how a comic book movie character is portrayed. This isn’t parsing, it’s basic understanding of the language and character, and it isn’t worth digging your heels in and trying to insult folks over.Yikes.
Seems fairly reasonable in this case, though, since ‘indoctrinated’ implies a certain degree of passive and unquestioning acceptance of the orders / ideology of those in charge, whereas the Captain America films are fundamentally about Steve Rogers demonstrating his willingness to question and challenge the orders / ideology of those in charge when they clash with his own. That’s not really being nitpicky, that’s challenging what seems to be a pretty big misunderstanding of the character and films. Steve Rogers is a soldier, certainly, but to describe him as an ‘indoctrinated’ one is pretty questionable.
What makes you think she was talking about Captain America? Clearly she referring to Evans’ role as Curtis in Snowpiercer.
I mean, she did embed a link to Breihan’s Age of Heroes piece on Captain America, so I’m guessing that’s who she meant.
‘What you just witnessed was a dramatic interpretation of the evil Cap from episode….. 79….”The Enemy Within.”’
To be fair, his first movie was about how he was a government stooge, following orders from his uniformed masters to… let me check my notes here, … stop the Nazis from taking over the world.
1:02 “wait I’m a woman in the future why am I sitting at a computer console like a secretary from the 1950s wearing spectacles that make me look like a dork with a Bride of Frankenstein bouffant hairdo from a carhop at a drive in diner from a George Lucas movie about how wonderful it was to grow up in a small rural town in California in the 1960s before the Civil Rights Act why does my name tag say ‘Chastain’ who the fuck is this nigger with all the medals and no fucking sense of personal space at all and why does he get to push the buttons while I just get to sit here looking intimidated and doing nothing?” “because this a Disney Pixar movie where white men are heroes black men are rapists and little girls should learn to stay where they belong at home playing dress up in Disney Princess dresses playing with easy bake ovens and preparing for the only career they’ll ever have in the United States of America of the future housewife and mother of future Disney heroes besides have you ever watched Jessica Chastain in a interview she looks like a fucking idiot” mean
I’ll be happy just as long as Buzz says, “That is Star Command’s ass.”
Good one, Liebkartoffel!
This is one of the only times an origin story doesn’t seem like a huge mistake to me. They can’t shoehorn in a bunch of Toy Story references because that would make zero sense. They actually have to start from scratch (besides the Saturday morning cartoon) and only have a few catch phrases that they can use as nostalgia-bait. I haven’t had much faith in Pixar in the last decade but I am way more willing to give this a chance than another Monsters Inc. or Nemo sequel.
This raises about a million questions about the Toy Story universe.
The Claw is not a myth!
Once they had a child grant sentience to a spork, I realised that whatever answers this universe has, I don’t want them.
Based on the trailer, I think this is the Toy Story world’s equivalent of the 20teens live-action reboot of the 1990’s Buzz Lightyear cartoon. Like, Andy is taking his 2 year old to see this for sure.
Well this is weird.
This could be good but it’s still the most bizarre concept for a movie in a franchise I’ve seen.
I’m up for a Pixar space adventure film. I don’t even care about its ties to Toy Story.
In a discussion for another article I made a joke about Toy Story 10 but I see I wasn’t that far off.
I’m gonna love this one.
“Back when we created the first Toy Story, we designed Buzz Lightyear with the idea that he was a toy based on some really cool character from an epic blockbuster film,” Docter says. “Well, all these years later, we decided to make that film.” Really? I mean I am not saying hes lying but Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story feels less like a movie tie in character and more like just a super popular toy and maybe cartoon show. He feels far more like He-Man or Optimus Prime then he does Luke Skywalker or Han Solo.
The in-universe ad in the original film exposited that he was from an existing (in-universe) ip, rather than being a toy-line first.
A real blockbuster space epic wouldn’t call their character “Lightyear”. It does sound more like a cartoon character.
Wait, so is Chris Evans voicing an actor who plays Buzz Lightyear in a film that the toy is based on, or is Chris Evans voicing the “real” Buzz Lightyear and this is stuff that actually happened to him? My miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind!
I’m so down with this. It’s a perfect idea. I just hope the execution is just as perfect, but it’s Pixar. I’ll bet it’s pretty darn close.
This makes very little sense to me unless it’s like an in-universe live-action movie which we see as animated from outside the universe. Also, why not just make an updated Buzz Lightyear movie? I’m sure they made in-universe movies based on the toy where he’s not a toy (like their version of the Transformers movies). To be honest it feels like Pixar had a spaceman script and Disney told them to tie it in.
I kinda hope this isn’t seen as a total dismissal of Tim Allen. I mean, he’s an ass, but he has always done just fine as Buzz. I did notice he was hardly in Toy Story 4, but it wasn’t Buzz’s story anyway. It makes sense to have a different person playing the “real” Buzz Lightyear. And personally I think the idea of making the movie that launched a thousand Buzz Lightyear toys is a good one. Here’s hoping.
This looks amazing. A devastating parody of how we’ve turned the bright, happy of toys of childhood into dreary commodities that all seem to fit into the same easy to digest shape. What was once the purview of children is now for sad adults and what a more ridiculous character to try and adapt into the style of a cinematic drudgery we’ve been forcefed for a decade than Buzz Lightyear?
Now to hit post fully confident that this is not an earnest film.
Hoping this turns out to be a lot of flat earth propaganda.
Um…I think I might be down for this.
So, the trope of “ponderously remixed classic rock song in the trailer” is widely derided these days, and deservedly so, for being a cliched and transparently obvious way of trying to force some kind of emotional resonance into the movie.But nevertheless. Gotta say. That version of “Starman” they use kicks ass.
I look forward to the live action remake of this film to come in five years.
But — are they saying Buzz Lightyear is the real Zefram Cochrane?