It's official: Toy Story 5 is happening. It has been revealed that three major sequels are now in development at Disney, and a fifth Toy Story is among them alongside Zootopia 2 and Frozen 3. While the previous four films have all been highly successful, it may still surprise some fans that Toy Story 5 is entering production, as the fourth installment seemed to cap off the story in a fairly conclusive way.
In any case, the toys are coming back, and this will include the same old Buzz Lightyear fans have gotten to know in the first four films. After the news broke, Tim Allen took to Twitter to post an image of Buzz Lightyear and speak about his return to the role. This confirms that Allen is back as Buzz, and that also seems to officially put an end to the speculation that he was totally finished with playing that character.
Allen's tweet reads, "See ya soon Woody, you are a sad strange little man and you have my pity. And off we go to a number 5! To infinity and beyond!"
Tim Allen Returns to the Role with Chris Evans' Run Likely Already Done
One reason fans may have figured that Allen's time in the role of Buzz Lightyear was over was that big changes had been made with the character following Toy Story 4. Last year, Buzz was the star of his own unconnected spinoff, Lightyear, but this version of Buzz was notably not the action figure that was gifted to Andy in Toy Story. Rather, the film was presented as an in-universe Buzz Lightyear movie, the kind that would have inspired the toy line that created the more familiar version of Buzz.
In that film, Chris Evans voiced Buzz Lightyear. Even before the movie's release, this decision had been met with controversy, as so many fans had grown so accustomed to hearing Allen as the voice of Buzz. Even with the film following a different version of Buzz, the disconnect was there, and that may have contributed to Lightyear bombing at the box office. The film's shortcomings have likely killed any tentative plans there might have been to do Lightyear 2, and perhaps that's also led to Disney reversing course and heading back to the old well with the Toy Story franchise.
Toy Story 5 does not yet have a set premiere date.