Lightyear Trailer Goes to Infinity and Beyond With Pixar’s Spinoff Movie

Collider

First ‘Lightyear’ Trailer Goes to Infinity and Beyond With Pixar’s Spinoff Movie

By Ross Bonaime

Published Oct 27, 2021

The inspiration for the Buzz Lightyear toy gets his own movie on June 17th, 2022.

Image via Pixar

Pixar has released the first trailer for Lightyear, the Toy Story spinoff that focuses on the in-universe astronaut that inspired the character of Buzz Lightyear. Lightyear marks the first spin-off film for Pixar, and while Disney showed off a quick glimpse of Lightyear at last year’s Disney Investor Event, this is the first time we’ve seen any footage from the film since.

Back at the Disney Investor Day, Pete Docter, the chief creative officer of Pixar said of Lightyear, “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. Well, all these years later, we decided to make that film."

Lightyear comes from director Angus MacLane, who previously directed the Pixar shorts BURN-E, Small Fry, and the television special Toy Story of Terror! MacLane also co-directed Finding Dory with Andrew Stanton.

toy-story-4-image-carnival — Image via Disney

Since Lightyear will focus on the character Buzz Lightyear is based on, as opposed to the toy Buzz Lightyear, this new character will be voiced by Chris Evans instead of Tim Allen. When discussing his casting in the role, Evans said on Instagram:

“Trust me when I say that they REALLY know what they’re doing over there. This one is gonna 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.”

Toy Story began as Pixar’s first feature-length film in 1995, and Toy Story 2 was the first sequel for Pixar. 2010’s Toy Story 3 wrapped up the original trilogy with a goodbye to Andy, the owner of the toy characters, while 2019’s Toy Story 4 was more of a goodbye for Woody. If Pixar has proven one thing over the decades, it’s that Toy Story is one of their most successful and beloved franchises, and that it doesn’t seem like they’d make this spin-off if the company didn’t have a great idea for the adored character of Buzz Lightyear.

Lightyear comes to theaters on June 17, 2022. Watch the first trailer for Lightyear below.

KEEP READING: Pixar's 'Toy Story' Origin Movie 'Lightyear' Recasts Buzz with Chris Evans