Four Toy Story movies exist along with several short animated films. There was also a 2000s cartoon called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, which lasted for four seasons. It was moderately successful for a Disney cartoon.

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Despite Woody seemingly being the main character of the Toy Story franchise, it seems like Buzz is the more marketable character. It was still surprising to see Buzz get his own CG movie, Lightyear, outside of the Toy Story films. What exactly is this film about and how does it tie into everything, if at all?

There will be spoilers ahead for Lightyear and all other Toy Story-related media.

7 Lightyear Is A Movie In Toy Story

A scene featuring characters in Lightyear

The marketing for Lightyear has been confusing. Why is Buzz so different from the version in Toy Story? Is this a spinoff, not connected to those movies at all? No one knew what to expect until opening night.

There is a text scrawl at the beginning of this movie that solves all of these riddles though. Lightyear is a movie Andy watched in 1995. That’s where the Buzz Lightyear figure came from. Weirdly, this detail is never mentioned in Toy Story. Lightyear existing now as a movie is a bit of a retcon situation.

6 Buzz’s Weaponry

Buzz fighting aliens in Lightyear

Buzz, in Toy Story, has one weapon only as he can shoot laser blasts from his gauntlet. It was not effective since he was just a toy but it would seem that the “real” Buzz was supposed to have wrist guns too.

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Buzz’s arsenal in Lightyear is a bit different. He begins the film with a pistol and a sword that is reminiscent of a lightsaber. The weaponry is also reminiscent of a video game. It’s too bad Lightyear didn’t get a video game tie-in as it could have been cool. Eventually, Buzz gets a wrist weapon via Izzy, and the suit he gets at the end of the 2022 movie resembles the Toy Story version better.

5 Buzz’s Jetpack

Buzz from Lightyear

The aforementioned new suit Buzz gets at the end of Lightyear also has the wings the toy version has. Before this, Buzz is flightless. The first homage to these wings happens when Buzz is trying to help his crew enter back into the atmosphere.

When he ejects out of his spaceship, the seat attaches wings to his space suit. They’re a bit wonkier than the final version but they are wings nonetheless. They probably helped inspire the engineers to add the more classic wings to Buzz’s new suit. Buzz can barely fly in the Toy Story movies though. He needs a rocket in the first film to truly make it work.

4 Buzz’s Spaceship

Buzz’s ship from Lightyear

There are a couple of different spaceships in the movie that aren’t shown in any of the Toy Story films. The beginning plot follows Buzz and Alisha who awaken aboard their colony ship which he nicknamed The Turnip. After crashing on a foreign planet, the rest of society wakes up to help set up a new colony.

Buzz’s spaceship looks more like an X-Wing. Since that’s part of the Disney brand now, the similarities might not be accidental. The box Buzz comes in in Toy Story resembles the final ship at the end of Lightyear, so it does eventually make an appearance.

3 Buzz’s Stealth Mode

Buzz from Lightyear

One of the best jokes in the Toy Story films is how ignorant Buzz is that he is a toy. He tries to reach Star Command via his radio and thinks his laser gun still works. He even tries to activate stealth along with some other buttons on the front of his space suit.

In Lightyear, the stealth works. Anyone that uses it will go completely invisible for a few minutes. While the idea is present in the main movies, it exists for real in Lightyear.

2 Buzz’s New Crew

A scene featuring characters in Lightyear

Buzz’s universe is not built up that much in Toy Story as he exists by himself in the original movie. In the sequel, Emperor Zurg appears, but that’s as far as the lore goes in terms of characters. The cartoon adds a lot more, but none of those characters make it into Lightyear either.

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There are a lot of new characters in Lightyear who Buzz interacts with. Mo, Izzy, and Darby all belong to a sub-rookie task force that Buzz eventually takes under his wing. There is also Sox, the robotic cat. Weirdly, these characters weren’t toys either. Sox would have sold like hot cakes in the first Toy Story movie.

1 There Are Two Buzz Lightyears

Zurg from Lightyear

The biggest revelation in Lightyear is that Emperor Zurg is not just a robot like he’s presented in Toy Story 2. He is Buzz from an alternate timeline or more like a Buzz that went too far into the future. The protagonist is voiced by Chris Evans while the older version is portrayed by James Brolin.

Why their voices don’t resemble each other, or Tim Allan from the Toy Story movies, is beyond anyone’s guess. This might be the biggest retcon in Lightyear besides the idea of the movie existing in the first place.

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