How Lightyear's Toy Story Ties Actually Hurt The Spin-Off
Though Lightyear was conceived as a Toy Story spin-off, its relationship with the Pixar franchise actually backfired significantly, hurting the film's chances for success. The Toy Story franchise is one of the most beloved animated franchises of all time, enjoyed by audiences of all ages across the globe. Its massive success and relevance to pop culture cannot be understated, and this is something that helped secure Pixar's reputation as a titan of modern animation and led to the creation of Lightyear.
In that regard, making more movies within the franchise makes perfect sense. Audiences are given a more in-depth look at its world and its characters, and the connection to the Toy Story movies, as well as Pixar's involvement, should secure a sizeable box office. Put simply, making another movie within a successful franchise is a relatively safe bet for the studio — and this seemed to be the case with Lightyear, too. Billed as the story behind the toy from Toy Story, Lightyear was not just an opportunity to explore a different element of the Toy Story world, but also to recast one of its iconic roles, with Chris Evans voicing Buzz for the spin-off.
Related: Pixar «Fixed» Buzz Lightyear In The Worst Way
However, the Toy Story connection actually proved to be far less beneficial for Lightyear than one might have originally suspected. Though the link actually proved to be less substantial than it initially appeared, Lightyear still had impossible Toy Story standards to live up to, and that effectively doomed the spin-off. As Lightyear is visually and thematically distinct from the Toy Story movies, the issue is actually far more complex than it seems at a glance, but ultimately, Lightyear's links to Toy Story proved to do
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