Lightyear is — and Chris Evans cannot stress this enough — NOT about Buzz Lightyear the toy. It’s the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.
If you were also confused about what the hell that December 2020 tweet from the sweater-wearing Knives Out actor meant, maybe the trailer will help clear things up?
Pixar released the first full-length trailer for the Toy Story spin-off about Buzz Lightyear’s origin story on Oscar nominations morning (a painful reminder of what should have been for the First Man stans among us). There’s no Woody, or Bo Peep, or even the Little Green Men — but there is an alien, the evil Emperor Zurg.
“Buzz’s world was always something I was excited about,” said director Angus MacLane. “In Toy Story, there seemed to be this incredible backstory to him being a Space Ranger that’s only touched upon, and I always wanted to explore that world further. So my Lighytear pitch was, ‘What was the movie that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy?’ I wanted to see that movie. And now I’m lucky enough to get to make it.”
Lightyear, which also features the voices of Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez, and Isiah Whitlock Jr, opens on June 17.