Every hero has an origin story — especially ones that launch a line of toys. But even those heroes need someone who believes in them first.
"Lightyear," Pixar's latest time-twisted tie-in to the "Toy Story" franchise, now playing in theaters nationwide, tells the origin story of Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) through the context of a sci-fi adventure film. The Space Ranger protagonist in turn inspired a line of toys, including the one Pixar audiences were introduced to in 1995.
Directed by Angus MacLane, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jason Headley, "Lightyear" explains in its opening scrawl that it is the movie Andy from "Toy Story" saw that made him excited for a Buzz Lightyear toy. But beyond that meta framing, the film's straightforward story follows Buzz as he becomes so fixated on undoing a mistake that derailed his mission and the lives of his shipmates that he refuses to slow down enough to notice that he's missing out on all other aspects of life.
