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Toy Story fans, including Tom Hanks, were confused when Chris Evans was announced to be voicing the role of Buzz Lightyear in the new movie Lightyear and not Tim Allen. “How about that? I actually wanted to go head-to-head with Tim Allen and then they didn’t let Tim Allen do it. I don’t understand that,” the legendary actor told CinemaBlend.
Tim had voiced the character of Buzz Lightyear in all 4 Toy Story movies, just as Tom has done with the character of Woody. The latest Toy Story movie was released in 2019 and made over $1 billion at the box office.
When Chris replacing Tim as the voice of Buzz in Lightyear was brought up, Tom said, “Yeah, yeah, I know. Here’s the thing: I want to go back in the theater with a bunch of strangers and leave with something in common.” He added, “That’s what I want to do and, going to see a movie with [Allen] — I’m looking forward to that.”
However, Lightyear isn’t technically about the toy that Tim voices in the Toy Story films. When Lightyear was announced in 2020, the Captain America star explained how his version of Buzz is different — but connected — to the one Tim voices in the Toy Story franchise.
“And just to be clear, this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on,” Chris tweeted. The title card at the start of Lightyear even reads, “In 1995, a boy named Andy got a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday. It was from his favorite movie. This is that movie.”
Tim recently broke his silence about Chris voicing this new version of Buzz. “It’s a wonderful story, it just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy,” Tim told Extra. “It has no relationship to Buzz. It’s just no connection, I wish there was a better connection.” He also noted that the Lightyear team is a “whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies.”