How Lightyear Pushed Pixar to Infinity, Beyond Where Toy Story Went Before

Chris Evans was not the only person involved with Lightyear who had to push their skills to infinity and beyond. The actor was backed by Pixar veterans, such as director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman in telling the story of Buzz Lightyear as it exists in the Toy Story world where Buzz Lightyear is Andy's favorite toy. According to MacLane, who worked on the previous Toy Story films with Susman but not as a director, the feats which Pixar filmmakers accomplish with Lightyear would not have been possible back in 1995 when the first Toy Story movie was set out into the world. 

"I don't know what we could have done," MacLane told ComicBook.com when asked if Lightyear could have been made as it has today 27 years ago. "Pretty much in every department there have been technological advances, but also educational advances. The animation style is really, really challenging and it's only because of the people that worked on the film have had such experience doing all these other movies and then taking that and taking what and applying it to a totally new style for this film. That goes for, I would say, all the departments." 

MacLane worked in animation on previous Toy Story films and co-directed Finding Dory but Lightyear is the first time he worked as the only director on a Pixar feature. It seems to be the perfect fit for the longtime animator, as Buzz Lightyear has long been one of his favorite characters. "Angus really has always been a Buzz guy," Susman said. "He was pretty quick to jump into this idea of, 'I just wanna make the movie that is Buzz Lightyear in that universe, and frankly, like, I don't remember it as well as he does because all I focused on was, 'We're gonna make a sci-fi movie!' That to me was... I just was over in the moon."

Pixar has touched on sci-fi in the past but never like this. The level of Pixar-meta on display is impressive, pulling from its own IP as source material for a feature film is something brand new. Still, the sci-fi element was a sticking point for the creative team when it came to their enthusiasm. "That was the spirit of it, just like, 'Why don't we just make something fun?'" MacLane recalled. "Like I'm like, it's great that we, we, these very poignant movies and that they're very heartfelt, but I wanna make something that's both emotional and has awesome sci-fi thriller action, adventure kind of moments in it." If the reactions to Lightyear are any indication, they accomplished their mission.

Everyone involved seems to be handling with care when it comes to adding to the Toy Story franchise. "We made them, we worked on all of them," Susman pointed. out. "We didn't really have to watch them as much as you might think because we sort of live and breathe Buzz."

In defining the character as he inspired the Toy Story toy, the creative brains really wanted to examine Buzz. It's a fun story which offers up some surprises so big that some cast members were not informed of them until they absolutely had to be. At the heart of the film, though, is Buzz's journey and inability to focus on anything other than his mission as a Space Ranger. "He has a disagreement with reality basically," Susman pointed out. "In the first Toy Story, he thinks he's a Space Ranger, he's actually a toy. And this is something that repeats through all of the Toy Story mythology and it's something that makes him very entertaining and charming. So, it was that element that we really pulled forward, making him in disagreement with the reality of his universe by being out of time." From there, Susman, MacLane, and their Lightyear team examined ways to fill out Buzz as a main protagonist, rather than the supporting character the toy has been in the past. 

Buzz Lightyear was voiced by Tim Allen in the Toy Story films but for his feature film which inspired that toy, Marvel veteran Chris Evans steps into the role. He earned quite a bit of love from his director for how quickly he found the perfect voice for Buzz. It happened, "right away," MacLane recalled. "It was like, 'This is gonna work.' The thing that surprised me was his ability to do on the fly ADR action, which is basically watching a whole scene and then just performing the grunts and the action noises from it." In fact, thee acting skill was not the only thing the creative team was impressed by with the Avengers star. "Because he's so gregarious and so friendly, you forget, and you're like, 'Oh yeah, you're really, really good at this because he's so charming,'" MacLane added. "But when push comes to shove his technical prowess as an actor is incredible."

As for whether or not this is just the beginning of a whole new Toy Story saga, Evans is on board with Buzz for the long haul and MacLane admits it would take "several years," to bring a sequel to life if Disney and Pixar decided to call out for one. For now, it's all about introducing the world to a whole new side of Buzz Lightyear, one which will change how they view Toy Story forever. 

Are you excited for Lightyear? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter! ComicBook.com's full interview with MacLane and Susman can be seen in the video above. Lightyear is now playing in theaters.