Toy Story Director Hates A Spinoff
The director of the first two Toy Story movies, John Lassiter, is very critical of the recent spinoff, Lightyear, not a fan of what Disney did to the franchise.
Lightyear just can’t catch a break. The Toy Story spinoff disappointed at the box office, it was banned in middle eastern countries, and it was widely considered the worst Pixar film ever released. Now, according to The Direct, Toy Story director John Lasseter has come out as extremely critical of the film.
Lassiter, who directed the first two Toy Story movies along with A Bug’s Life, and the first two Cars films, absolutely hated what Pixar has done with his creation. He was also overheard being critical of the direction Disney and Pixar have taken their animated films in general — an opinion that appears to have been shared by audiences, who have generally avoided seeing their films in theaters this year.
The exact reasons that Lassiter disliked Lightyear have not been revealed, but it’s possible that it has to do with how little the film has to do with the movies it spun off from. Lightyear presents itself as the popular sci-fi film that the Buzz Lightyear toy is based on in the Toy Story universe. However, it takes on a serious tone that is completely unlike the bombastic, over-the-top personality that Buzz Lightyear has in the Toy Story movies.
Lassiter, of course, isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue in the world of Hollywood. While his role in the creation of Toy Story and other Pixar hits led the studio to the top of the animated world, it was reported during the height of the #MeToo movement that Lassiter had a history of sexual misconduct with Pixar employees. While no lawsuits or criminal charges came about from the allegations, Disney announced in 2018 that Lassiter would leave the company after his contract expired at the end of the year.
After leaving Pixar, Lassiter joined Skydance Animation to create the disappointing 2022 film Luck. The movie, which received a 47% on Rotten Tomatoes, was seen by critics as inoffensive but boring, a mere shadow of the movies produced during Lassiter’s heyday.
Of course, while Lightyear was poorly received, that’s not indicative of the quality of Pixar’s releases since Lassiter left the company. Besides Lightyear, every film since Lassiter left the company, from Toy Story 4 to Turning Red, has received great ratings. According to Rotten Tomatoes, the studio’s worst post-2018 film besides Lightyear was Onward, which was awarded a high (though not outstanding) 88% score from critics and a 95% audience score.
Though Lassiter has been involved in creating several animated classics, such as Toy Story and Up, his reign at Pixar hasn’t been perfect. The studio had its fair share of stinkers under Lassiter’s guidance. For example, despite its box office success, the Lassiter-directed Cars 2 has the lowest Tomatometer ranking out of any Pixar movie at 39%. The Good Dinosaur, for which Lassiter was executive producer, was a box office bomb and has a Tomatometer rating that’s just one percentage point higher than Lightyear.
Lassiter is currently involved in two more animated films: The Search for WondLa and Spellbound. It remains to be seen whether he can rekindle the Toy Story spark at his new studio.
