It stars Chris Evans as the voice of the title character, with Keke Palmer, Peter Sohn, Taika Waititi, Dale Soules, James Brolin, and Uzo Aduba in supporting roles.

The film follows Lightyear who, after being marooned on the hostile planet T'Kani Prime with his commander and crew, tries to find a way back home while encountering a threat to their safety.

MacLane, an avid science-fiction fan, pitched the idea of a film featuring Buzz Lightyear at Pixar, after finishing work on Finding Dory (2016).

However, after a four-minute test flight, Buzz finds that four years have passed on T'Kani Prime, due to the effects of time dilation from having traveled at relativistic speeds.

During this time, the colony develops, with Alisha raising a son with her wife Kiko, subsequently dying of old age, while Sox improves the fuel's composition, allowing it to obtain faster-than-light speeds.

Buzz and Sox meet up with members of the colony's defense forces; Alisha's now-adult granddaughter Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison, a fresh, naïve recruit, and Darby Steel, an elderly paroled convict.

While initially reluctant to work with them, Buzz eventually warms to them after they escape from a nest of insects and investigate a mining facility to repair their ship.

MacLane, a science fiction fan, had felt attracted to the character of Buzz since he started working at Pixar, feeling that the film's story was very "personal" for him, whose favorite movie since childhood had been Star Wars (1977).

[8][9] An aspect present in the Toy Story films that Lightyear explores is Buzz's disagreement over the nature of reality, which, coupled with his heroic ideals, made an amalgam of sci-fi clichés that MacLane intended to make more than just a punchline.

[8] Evans credited Allen as his guideline and also wanted to "create his own understanding of the character, and try to make some fresh tracks in the snow while paying homage to his work in the film".

[22] Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr. were reported to have been cast in supporting roles in February 2022, following the release of the official trailer.

[29] According to Lee, a 3D animator, who also worked on Toy Story 2 and 3, said "The director wanted to make a film that felt true so he asked for a much more toned-down version of Buzz's personality.

[31] Jane Yen, who served as the film's visual effects supervisor, spoke to /Film stating that the team had developed virtual IMAX cameras to shoot the sequences in 1.43:1 and then would be cropped to standard-definition.

[36][37] The marketing campaign for Lightyear began on October 27, 2021, with the release of a teaser trailer, set to David Bowie's "Starman", that received 83 million views in its first 24 hours.

"[42] Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter had stated "The Lightyear trailer reveals that Buzz is sent on a rescue flight after he and a group of people are stranded on a planet.

"[52] CNBC's Sarah Whitten compared Sox, with K-2SO from Rogue One and Baymax from Big Hero 6, attributing the character with a "dry sense of humor and blunt vocal delivery and also an innocence and caring nature".

[55][56] After Sox's character in the film received praise from insiders, Mattel created "an animatronic interactive version" which costs $80, apart from the plush and action figures.

[69] Lightyear was banned in the Muslim world (including Bahrain, Brunei,[70] Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan,[71] Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia,[72] and the United Arab Emirates)[73][74][75] due to a scene featuring a same-sex kiss between Uzo Aduba's female character Alisha Hawthorne and her partner Kiko.

[88] The movie was released under the ratings of 18+ for Malaysia and 21+ for Indonesia (both Indonesian and Malaysian equivalents of the adults-only NC-17), with mature content warning included prior to the start of the film.

[107] Both Deadline Hollywood and Variety attributed the performance to competition from Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick, though ultimately noted it as a disappointment given the brand strength of both Pixar and the Toy Story franchise.

[109] Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that, in addition to competition from Jurassic World Dominion and Top Gun: Maverick, the lackluster opening was attributed to brand confusion in the film's marketing.

[110] McClintock, Martha Ross of The Mercury News, and The Washington Post's Sonny Bunch also questioned if the response from people over the inclusion of a lesbian couple kissing and the decision not to cast Tim Allen in the role of Buzz Lightyear were the reasons for the film's low opening.

[108][113] Some box office analysts theorized that family audiences were reluctant to attend theaters in general due to COVID-19 concerns, although this was disproven after Minions: The Rise of Gru opened to $107 million in the U.S. and Canada two weeks later.

The website's consensus reads: "Lightyear settles for being a rather conventional origin story instead of reaching for the stars, but this gorgeously animated adventure ably accomplishes its mission of straightforward fun.

"[119] David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter called it "a funny spinoff with suspense and heart, a captivatingly spirited toon take on splashy live-action retro popcorn entertainment.

[122] Valerie Complex of Deadline Hollywood stated: "Lightyear does not rely too much on Toy Story lore to build its world, but it would have benefited from showing some connection to that part of the franchise instead of using title cards."

The art department put their all into designing this universe and its characters and robotic villains," but criticized the screenplay saying "sometimes the story becomes convoluted and drags on, almost like there was a need to pad the runtime, causing Lightyear to get into even more trouble and creating a never-ending slew of trampling obstacles.

"[124] In contrast, BBC's Nicholas Barber wrote: "The story is thin, repetitive, and almost entirely dependent on the heroes being clumsy" and gave the film two stars.

And while screenwriters Jason Headley and Angus MacLane need that push-pull in order to tell a story about reconciling the lure of nostalgia with the potential for something new, it's hard for a movie to sell us on living in the moment when every scene feels like it's settling for less.

"[126] Kaleem Aftab of Time Out called the film "a franchise low, Pixar's meta Toy Story spin-off gets lost in space.