Tim Allen recently opened up about the sharp feedback he received from Pixar executives as he reprised his iconic role as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 5.
Allen, who originally brought the lovable action figure to life in the franchise’s first four films, was notably absent from the 2022 spinoff, Lightyear, where the character was voiced by Chris Evans, known for his portrayal of Captain America.
This casting change led to an uproar among fans, with many speculating that the decision had political undertones. While Evans is recognized for his liberal stance, Allen is known for his conservative views.
Social media buzzed with claims that Disney, perceived as progressive, had sidelined Allen due to his political affiliations, notably his attendance at Trump’s inauguration in 2017.
Addressing these rumors, Evans explained that the decision was not politically motivated. He noted that he was chosen to voice a different iteration of Buzz Lightyear—the human inspiration for the toy character Allen had always voiced.
Unfortunately, Lightyear did not perform well and was considered a major flop. As a result, Pixar is returning to the beloved Toy Story saga. The upcoming fifth film, slated for release next Friday, will see the return of familiar voices like Allen, Tom Hanks, Joan Cusack, and Wallace Shawn.
Tim Allen shared the blistering criticism he received from his Pixar bosses while he returned to his beloved role of Buzz Lightyear for Toy Story 5; pictured at the film’s Los Angeles premiere
Now Allen, 72, has revealed that when he stepped back into the part of Buzz, he was given a note that spurred him to undergo retraining, via Us Weekly.
‘In their nicest way, Pixar said: “Buzz sounds a little old these days,”‘ Allen disclosed, laughing and noting he sought help from an opera singer in order to fix the problem.
‘I’d never warmed up before, but the longer you do this, you just can’t start off; you have to do warm-ups,’ the stand-up comedian acknowledged.
The original Toy Story, led by Hanks as the cowboy action figure Woody and Allen as Buzz, revolutionized Hollywood as the first totally CGI animated film.
Released in 1995, the movie proved a thunderous box office smash and catapulted Pixar to an exalted position at the cutting edge of cinema technology.
Three further Toy Story movies were released in 1999, 2010 and 2019, all of them fronted by Hanks as Woody and Allen as Buzz.
However, amid the turbocharged political tensions of 2020, it was announced that a Lightyear movie was in the works with Chris Evans in the lead instead of Allen.
The news was greeted with an explosive online uproar from fans who assumed that Allen, a self-described ‘fiscal conservative,’ had been jettisoned from the franchise for partisan reasons.
Outraged Toy Story fans poured scorn on the project online, posting livid tweets like: ‘There is no Buzz Lightyear without Tim Allen.’
He voiced the goofball action figure in the first four films in the franchise, the first of which (pictured) was released in 1995 to thunderous success
Allen was replaced by Captain America star Chris Evans for the 2022 spin-off Lightyear, sparking a furious fan outrage; Evans pictured in 2025
Lightyear (pictured) emerged as a catastrophic flop and Pixar has reverted to the main Toy Story series, reuniting cast members from the previous movies
Evans swung into damage control mode, posting a clarification that the reason he was cast had to do with a character change rather than politics.
He explained on what was then Twitter that ‘this isn’t Buzz Lightyear the toy. This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.’
Further fuel was flung on the fire when it emerged that the movie would contain a lesbian kiss involving a character voiced by Orange Is the New Black alumna Uzo Aduba.
News of the kiss prompted an online furor, after which the kiss was removed, resulting in another furor, after which the kiss was restored as Disney positioned itself in public opposition to Florida’s controversial education law.
The legislation, which was backed by Governor Ron DeSantis and banned ‘classroom discussion’ of sexuality and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade in public schools, was dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law by critics.
Throughout the promotions for his spin-off, Evans was fulsome in his praise of Allen’s iconic performance as the original Buzz Lightyear.
‘Look, Tim Allen is Buzz Lightyear,’ Evans said during an appearance on Good Morning America. ‘What he did in those movies is so iconic and so loved, and I’d be a fool not to incorporate some of his choices into this role.’
At the premiere of the film, he explained that his approach had been to develop his ‘own interpretation while still using Tim Allen as the blueprint,’ via Variety.
Buzz Lightyear is pictured with Tom Hanks’ character Woody in Toy Story 5, which is slated for release in theaters next week on June 19
‘The first time you have to do that iconic line: “To infinity and beyond,” you just kind of do a shameless Tim Allen impression, because it’s intimidating.’
Lightyear performed so dismally at the box office that it was estimated to have lost $106 million for Disney and Pixar, according to Deadline.
As the movie cratered financially, Allen confessed he had ‘stayed out of’ the project entirely as it had ‘nothing to do’ with his character, via Extra.
‘It’s a wonderful story,’ said the Home Improvement star. ‘It just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy, and it’s a little…I don’t know. It just has no relationship to Buzz. It’s just no connection. I wish there was a better connection.’
The following year, Allen spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail and took another dig at the ‘peculiar’ idea behind Lightyear, which was apparently supposed to be the movie that inspired the action figure that appears in the Toy Story films.
‘They were two completely different movies. And Chris did a great job doing an ancillary part,’ Allen added. ‘It was very confusing to all of us on the Toy Story movie side, which was real? I’m a script guy, so if Buzz is real, then Chris’s version of it was, as an actor doing it, real confusing to me.’
