Some might remember the most recent Pixar film released last year – Lightyear. Directed by Angus MacLane, the film was a science fiction interpretation of one of the main characters – Buzz Lightyear – from the beloved Toy Story franchise. Unfortunately, the film was not deemed a financial and critical success. Comicbook states, “with a reported budget of $200 million, the film made $218 million globally, with just $118 million of that coming from domestic theaters.”

The film’s concept was confusing to the average moviegoers because the titular character was already so well associated with the Toy Story franchise, which Lightyear had nothing in common with other than a character. The film was also a deviation from the “true” Buzz Lightyear’s story, as a TV show titled Buzz Lightyear of Star Command from 2000 aired on the Disney Channel, which depicted Buzz fighting evil off in space. Many fans of that show would be disappointed to find little in common with their childhood nostalgia.

On the topic of the film’s success, Pete Doctor, Pixar COO, told The Wrap:

We’ve done a lot of soul-searching about that because we all love the movie. We love the characters and the premise. I think probably what we’ve ended on in terms of what went wrong is that we asked too much of the audience. When they hear Buzz, they’re like, great, where’s Mr. Potato Head and Woody and Rex? And then we drop them into this science fiction film that they’re like, What?

Doctor’s response not only demonstrates his humbleness in recognizing the potential faults that were committed, but it also shows that based on a popular and established franchise, the film was made to explore creativity.

For the future of Pixar, it was recently announced that Toy Story 5 was in production, and Pixar’s newest original film, Elemental, will be out on June 16, 2023!