Lightyear (2022)
Trivia
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Spoilers (4)
The Space Ranger suit that Darby wears throughout the film reads "Tempus". This is a reference to "Tempus from Morph", one of the names being considered for Buzz Lightyear early in development of the original Toy Story (1995). The "Tempus from Morph" name was used in the 1992 test footage for that film.
Chris Evans shares the same birthday with Tim Allen, who voiced Buzz Lightyear in the "Toy Story" franchise; both were born in June 13th (Evans was born in 1981 and Allen was born in 1953).
Bill Hader is the only actor to appear in a Toy Story film as well as Lightyear. As he played Axel the Carnie in Toy Story 4 (2019) and in Lightyear he plays the rookie, Featheringhamstan.
At the film's premiere, Chris Evans (jokingly) apologized to James Brolin for beating up his son Josh Brolin in Avengers: Endgame (2019).
Taika Waititi voices a character called 'Mo Morrison'. This is a nod to Waititi's fellow New Zealand actor, Temuera Morrison, best known internationally for playing the role of Jango Fett in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and several more recent spin-off television series.
The names for most of the characters share names with Portland, Oregon bridges: Hawthorne, Burnside, Morrison, Steel, and Sellwood.
For the film's IMAX release, this is the first animated feature film in history to have its aspect ratio opened from 2.39:1 to 1.43:1 for select sequences of the film.
This film is rated PG by the MPAA, unlike all four main Toy Story films in the franchise, which were rated G. However, due to the brief same sex kiss, it became the first children's animated film to be given an NC16 rating in Singapore, equivalent to a R rating in the US.
This is the first animated film for actor James Brolin.
Pixar's first spinoff and second prequel after Monsters University (2013).
On Buzz's ship, there's a piece of technology that gives him trouble. He pops out a cartridge, blows into it to clear out the dust, and sticks it back in, upon which it miraculously works, similar to the original Nintendo Entertainment System this was absolutely the way to make game cartridges cooperate.
The ship's internal voice activated navigator (IVAN), the equivalent of a GPS, acts like a real-world, misbehaving GPS. It's voiced by Mary McDonald-Lewis who's also the voice of OnStar's navigation system.
The robot cat character, SOX, is possibly based on Comet, a character from the cancelled Circle 7 version of Toy Story 3 and the cat sidekick to the main antagonist of said version of aforementioned movie, Daxx Blastar.
Pixar regular John Ratzenberger does not appear. While he appeared in every Toy Story entry, he similarly did not appear in the spin-offs Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000) and Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000).
The film deliberately borrows plot points and imagery as nods to several classic science fiction films , notably the original Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), Alien (1979), Star Trek (2009), Lost in Space (1998), 200: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2010; The Year We Make Contact (1984), The Black Hole (1979) and even the original Thunderbirds (1965) television series.
Shane Sweet played a kid in the original Toy Story, now she returns to a Toy Story property in Lightyear as providing additional voices.
Pixar's first film to be based on already existing animated media and the first Pixar film since Brave (2012), to be based on already existing work.
Pixar's second theatrical release in the 2020s decade with the first being Onward, leaving Soul (2020), Luca (2021), and Turning Red (2022) as the only three Pixar movies to be Disney+ original movies since they three skipped theaters.
Izzy Hawthorne tells Buzz, "On you right!" paying homage to Captain America saying *On your left!" In Captain America Winter Soldier.
This is the second Toy Story spin-off after Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000).
James Brolin, who voices Zurg is the father of Josh Brolin who played Thanos in Marvel Cinematic Universe films, Chris Evans, who voices Buzz Lightyear played Captian America in the same franchise.
James Brolin admitted that he had never seen any of the previous Toy Story movies so knew nothing about any of the characters in this film. He said he agreed to voice Zurg purely on the grounds that '...the Pixar guys have good judgement'.
Third film that Chris Evans and Taika Waititi have appeared together in after Avengers: Endgame (2019) and Free Guy (2021).
Buzz Lightyear attempts to evade capture from Zurg by hiding under the floor in vent shafts. This is similar to what Newt did in Aliens when she was trying to evade capture from the Queen Alien. Each time Zurg lifts a floor vent cover, Buzz Lightyear goes in a different direction, just like Newt did in Aliens.
When Buzz first encounters Izzy, Izzy's suit has the number "42" on it. This could be a reference to the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, from Douglas Adams' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, frequently used in science fiction, or a reference to Jackie Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers uniform number as the first African American to play Major League Baseball.
DERIC's front panel has the same inscription that Vasquez wore in Aliens: El Riesgo Siempre Vive. The Risk Always Live.
At around the teasers thirty-three second mark, when Buzz's Cool Starship is entering space, you can see the Pixar lamp in the background as a constellation of stars
The fourth theatrically released animated prequel after Puss in Boots (2011), Monsters University (2013), and Minions (2015).
Marks the second time Michael Giacchino have scored an installment to a Pixar film franchise that is traditionally scored by Randy Newman, after Cars 2 (2011). Earlier, Giacchino have previously scored the two television holiday specials Toy Story of Terror (2013) (the former of which is also directed by Angus MacLane) and Toy Story That Time Forgot (2014).
Buzz Lightyear is seen wearing space uniforms with the abbreviation "SC" marked on them for "Star Command". "SC" was also seen on another character who was played by Buzz Lightyear; Scott Calvin/Santa Claus, when they were seen wearing their pajamas. This time the "SC" stands for "Santa Claus" or "Scott Calvin" instead of "Star Command".
The fifth theatrically released animated spin-off after Puss in Boots (2011), Penguins of Madagascar (2014), Minions (2015), and The Lego Batman Movie (2017).
Spoilers
When doing his Mission Logs, Lightyear says the same Reoccurring line from the Toy Story Movies when landing on "Another Planet": "Buzz Lightyear to Mission Log. There appears to be No Sign of Intelligent Life anywhere." Every instance of this Line is also interrupted in some way.
Lightyear (2022) and Toy Story (1995) share a similar character arch for Buzz, in which he alienates his adventure partners at the beginning and then eventually accepts them until becoming a real team.
Lightyear (2022) and Toy Story (1995) have a similar introduction of Buzz. In both movies he recites the exact same opening line while recording his mission logs when arriving to an "unknown planet". He also gets interrupted by a character who ends up becoming his best friend.
