Tim Allen is teasing the return of Buzz Lightyear and Toy Story 5.
The actor says he’s reprising his role in the saga and praised the Pixar project.
“It’s a very, very clever story,” Allen told Collider. “Do you wanna do five of these [movies]? I don’t really believe it’s about the money. I’m sure they want it to be a success, but that’s not why they did it. Had they not come up with a brilliant script, they wouldn’t have done it and they wouldn’t have called me and Tom [Hanks]. It’s really clever.”
“I just did the first five-hour session for Buzz, probably a week ago,” Allen added. “It’s really, really weird to get back in it.”
Asked which of the four existing films is his favorite, the 71-year-old replied, “There’s nothing like Toy Story 1… that was such an amazing experience. It’s hard to say. I’d probably give it to Toy Story 3.”
Previously, Chris Evans took over the character’s voice for the 2022 stand-alone film Lightyear, a move which caused some consternation among fans. “This is a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies,” Allen was quoted as saying at the time. “The short answer is I’ve stayed out of this ’cause it has nothing to do [with his character].” He added that the Lightyear movie seems to have “a wonderful story, it just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy.”
Toy Story 5 is produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The film is written and directed by Toy Story saga veteran Andrew Stanton, co-directed by McKenna Harris, and produced by Jessica Choi.
“This time around it’s Toy meets Tech,” reads the film’s official description. “Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the rest of the gang’s jobs get exponentially harder when they go head to head with this all new threat to playtime.”
Allen is currently promoting his return to network TV in the upcoming ABC sitcom Shifting Gears, which centers on “the owner of a car restoration shop who gets a chance to reconnect with his estranged daughter [Kat Dennings] and his grandchildren.”
Toy Story 5 is slated for release on June 19, 2026.
