As the director and co-writer Angus MacLane has admitted in interviews, though the film began production before the pandemic, this global event couldn’t help but influence and affect the filmmakers. If this seems like a perfect metaphor for the last two years living during the pandemic, you’re not alone. Unfortunately, with each failed test flight that spans only minutes for Buzz, four years pass in regular time until his final successful test that lands Buzz more than 60 years in the future.
Though not his fault, Buzz puts the blame squarely on himself and seeks to atone for his mistake by embarking on various test flights in order to crack a new formula for interstellar travel so that they can all finally return home.
The story finds Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans this time around instead of Tim Allen) marooned on a hostile alien planet with his fellow Space Rangers of Star Command. This is that movie.” If nothing else, six-year-olds are guaranteed to enjoy this film, so the filmmakers got that right.
Perhaps to address some of the confusion regarding how Lightyear connects to the original Toy Story, the film succinctly opens with the following: “In 1995 Andy got a toy. In the case of Lightyear, it falls somewhere between the two. For every Inside Out or Soul that breaks new ground in the art form with innovative storytelling, Pixar inevitably churns out more standard commercial fare like Cars 2 or Monsters University.