Lightyear is Pixar’s latest entry into the universe of Toy Story. When it was announced, many, myself included, wondered why Pixar was tapping that well again. However, I was cautiously optimistic. When Toy Story 2 came out, I was too young to know that few sequels live up to the original, so I was excited to go on another adventure with Woody, Buzz, and the gang. But by the time Toy Story 3 came out, I had been burned a few times, so I was pleasantly surprised when that film felt like a perfect wrap, the coda, with Andy going off to college and the toys themselves moving onto their next great adventure. It felt like we all grew up together. Flashforward to the Toy Story 4 announcement, and I was unsure what more story they had to tell. They already tied everything up in a nice bow. But then they introduced Forky, and I loved his existential crisis. It nicely built on things they touched upon but hadn’t voiced. So, what does Lightyear bring?
First, it must be noted that Lightyear is not a prequel or a sequel. It is a bit meta. So, if nothing else, it creates a conversation. The concept of the film is that within the world that Toy Story stems from, there was a movie “Lightyear,” it was Andy’s favourite movie, and, in 1995, Andy got a Buzz Lightyear toy (voiced in all the Toy Story films by Tim Allen) based on the character Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) from “Lightyear” (the movie in question), thus kicking off the events of Toy Story (the movie). Easy enough to follow, right? So, essentially the movie Lightyear is a movie that exists within the universe of Toy Story. So should Woody or Jesse, or even Buzz himself, get plopped down in front of a TV playing it, they could watch it. This would actually probably be a funny bit should they explore it in a short down the line because “toy” Buzz is unlikely to recognize “human” Buzz as his likeness and accuse the Buzz on the screen of stealing his lines.
Plotwise despite surface differences from the other films in the Toy Story franchise Lightyear still explores many of the familiar themes. There is still a character futilely trying to hold onto the past (go back to what was), keeping them from finding joy in the present. And there is, of course, the found family made along the journey. While it’s trodding familiar themes, I did not find myself bored or wondering about where we were in the run time. This was probably because the film introduced some fun new characters, including the always fabulous Keke Palmer (voicing Izzy Hawthorne) and Taika Waititi (voicing Mo Morrison).
This movie is canonically meant to have been created before 1995 when Andy received his toy, so the fact that Buzz’s best friend Alisha Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba) marries and kisses another woman is a specific, conscious, choice. Now, we only see the wife and the kiss in a silent montage. It’s content that can be easily cut for markets that aren’t LGBTQ+ friendly. However, even having it is still a small victory. While I would love there to have been LGBTQ+ representation that was uncuttable, I was surprised to have any at all because of the premise of Lightyear itself. A queer kiss, even one that can be edited around, was unheard of in an action movie in my actual pre-1995 reality. So, it’s a small victory as far as representation goes in Pixar’s reality of the world (though, if they’re on a trajectory to Wall-E’s future, the future is bleak). While this was a start in LGBTQ+ representation, I hope Pixar goes further and gives voice to it in the future. To infinity and beyond.
Lightyear is currently in theatres and arriving to Disney+ on August 3rd.
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