Lightyear director Angus MacLane cleared all this up (via Newsweek) by saying Chris Evans was “ the natural choice” for the role and that they needed a new voice to separate the movie from Toy Story, and in an interview with USA Today, MacLane explained he didn’t want to cast an Allen impressionist or a “ superheroic type” for Buzz and was instead looking for someone with “ a commanding presence” who could also “ be funny without being goofy”.Ĭhris Evans was a fitting choice for Lightyear’s Buzz given the different tone of the character and movie, as it was more serious than the lighthearted and comedic tone of Toy Story and its version of Buzz Lightyear, but for some critics and viewers, Tim Allen’s style was missed. With Lightyear following a different Buzz from the one seen in the Toy Story saga, it makes sense that Tim Allen wasn’t brought back and instead Pixar cast a different actor, as this further helped separate Lightyear’s Buzz from Toy Story’s version of the Space Ranger – however, there was a lot of speculation and rumors about why Allen wasn’t brought back, with many believing it had to do with the various controversial moments Allen has been involved in. Given that it’s a story separate from the Toy Story saga yet in the same universe, characters like Woody and other toys are not part of Lightyear, and to further separate it from the Toy Story series, Pixar recast Tim Allen and instead Chris Evans voiced Buzz in Lightyear, and while the latter did a great job, this decision drew some criticism.

Related: Pixar 'Fixed' Buzz Lightyear In The Worst Way Buzz and his crew then try to find a way back home, but these attempts lead him to jump many years into the future, where he meets a new crew and comes across the evil Emperor Zurg, who hides a big secret.

Lightyear follows Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear and his commanding officer, Alisha Hawthorne, and their crew as they explore a habitable planet, but after some dangerous encounters with the planet’s hostile lifeforms, they end up stranded on this planet.

Lightyear is the movie that a young Andy watched in 1995 that made him a fan of the now famous Space Ranger, and that’s its place within the Toy Story timeline.

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