Tim Allen Confirms His Return To His Greatest Role
Tim Allen has confirmed he will return as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 5.
Over the years, Tim Allen has proven to be a very divisive figure. He was an almost universally beloved actor in Home Improvement and parlayed that into a movie career, with his most famous movie role being that of Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story series of movies. But since Chris Evans stepped in to play the role in Lightyear, some wondered if Allen (who never shies away from getting political online and was recently accused of exposing his penis to Pamela Anderson) was getting replaced by Disney, but the star recently took to Twitter to confirm he’d be reprising his role as Buzz Lightyear for a fifth entry in the Toy Story franchise.
As far as major announcements go, Tim Allen kept this one short and sweet. He promised to see his screen partner Woody again “soon,” which implies that Tom Hanks will be returning to his own iconic role as everyone’s favorite toy cowboy. So far, though, Allen is the only big name from the original cast of characters who has announced he will be coming back for Toy Story 5.
Interestingly, Tim Allen and Tom Hanks seemed to have different feelings about the likelihood of a sequel just a few years ago. For example, Hanks told Ellen DeGeneres that he wasn’t sure if the franchise was over, but noted how the franchise had gone out of its way to say goodbye to Andy as well as saying goodbye to Bonnie’s room, and he noted specifically how the series had bid a fond farewell to Woody and Buzz. Meanwhile, the slightly more pragmatic Allen pointed out in a different interview that since the series had already gone past the point of a trilogy, there was no reason not to pursue a fifth movie, and that’s exactly what he would do.
As it turns out, Disney executives clearly thought Tim Allen had a point, and they were not only ready to do a fifth movie but ready to make sure Allen was there again to provide Buzz’s famous voice. The very fact that Disney and Allen are seeing eye-to-eye is a bit surprising since many felt the studio casting MCU vet Chris Evans to play a different version of Woody in Lightyear meant that he was getting replaced due to his strident conservative views. However, it looks like the House of Mouse is fine with keeping Evans for potential Lightyear sequels but (like most of the fans) felt they could not continue the original series of films without bringing back the voices that made these characters famous.
While our own hype for getting another Toy Story movie has reached infinity (and beyond), we don’t know when to expect this latest entry in the franchise nor who will be directing it. Still, Toy Story 4 proved that a different director, Josh Cooley, was able to replicate the magic of John Lasseter, who directed the first three films in the series. Whether it’s Cooley, Lasseter, or someone else entirely, we can only hope the filmmakers and Tim Allen find a way to make this movie soar rather than simply fall with style.
