‘Toy Story 5′ Should Have Made the New Buzz Lightyears Look and Sound Like Chris Evans’ Version

Toy Story 5 will surely continue the franchise’s near-perfect streak of incredible movies. However, there’s a reason the streak is only near-perfect rather than flawless. There is a notable blemish on the beloved saga’s record that will probably never be redeemed. The upcoming movie certainly had a chance of righting that wrong, but it doesn’t appear to have taken it. Instead, Pixar seems content with just leaving its failed Toy Story spin-off out in the cold after its failure three years ago.

Released in the summer of 2022, Lightyear wasn’t an objectively terrible movie. However, its overly-complicated concept didn’t align all that well with what Pixar was trying to pull off. For those who don’t know or remember, Lightyear actually exists as a movie within the Toy Story universe, and it was what made Andy want a Buzz Lightyear action figure. The ambitious project flopped at the box office, and fans were left disappointed after what had been four phenomenal Toy Story movies to that point. So, Lightyear basically hasn’t been acknowledged since its cinematic run ended, and that trend seems to be continuing with Toy Story 5.

How ‘Toy Story 5’ Could Have Fixed ‘Lightyear’s Weird Creative Decisions

As mentioned, Lightyear was supposedly what made Andy want the toy that caused so much drama in 1995’s Toy Story. This means Tim Allen’s Buzz Lightyear is merchandise from the 2022 effort – although Lightyear would have been released in the 1990s in Toy Story canon (See? It’s wild). The biggest issue with this is that Tim Allen’s Buzz looks and sounds nothing like Lightyear‘s main character, who was voiced by Chris Evans. So, Allen’s character either isn’t very good Lightyear merch, or he’s merch from something else. One of the leading theories is that he’s based on the Buzz Lightyear video game, which is seen at the beginning of 1999’s Toy Story 2. Characters are often redesigned for games, so maybe Lightyear simply kick-started a franchise in the Toy Story universe, but was itself overshadowed by its spin-offs and adaptations. Alternatively, maybe the movie was based on the original toy, which was Allen’s version.

Bringing things back to Toy Story 5, the upcoming movie is set to feature a horde of “commemorative” Buzz Lightyears, all voiced by Tim Allen again, all stuck in toy mode. They’ll also be villains. It’s currently unclear exactly what the Buzzes have been made to commemorate, but it stands to reason that it’s an important anniversary of the toy’s and/or Lightyear‘s release. Therefore, Toy Story 5 missed the chance to make these new Buzzes all look and sound like the Chris Evans version. If the Lightyear Buzz has actually been eclipsed by the more recognized, successful version, then it would give them an in-built motivation to be bad guys. Plus, it would have finally answered the question of why Allen’s Buzz is seemingly such a poor copy of the iteration seen in Lightyear.

It’s Not Too Late for ‘Toy Story 5’ to Feature a Cameo From Chris Evans as Buzz

The Toy Story 5 trailer has revealed some of the story beats for the upcoming sequel, but there is still a lot to learn about what’s in store. While the movie opted to cast Allen as all the rogue Buzzes, that doesn’t mean Evans’ version of the character can’t show up in some capacity. With some kind of big milestone happening for the Buzz Lightyear franchise in the world of Toy Story, it’s only logical that the failed Pixar movie be referenced in some way. It hasn’t been retconned, so it’s still part of the main canon, albeit in an unconventional way.

Due to this in-universe occasion, it’s not unreasonable to assume that the Buzz Lightyear franchise as a whole is being celebrated, including the Chris Evans movie and any sequels it may have received. Even if this isn’t particularly central to Toy Story 5‘s plot, it could be cool if we got even a brief cameo from a toy that looks and sounds like Lightyear‘s title character. It wouldn’t just provide a full-circle moment and clear up some of the biggest questions in this respect, but it would also fit in with what sounds like will be a really cool Toy Story 5 subplot.