Sign up for Disney+ and you’ll be able to stream "Lightyear" starting August 3rd.
Disney/PixarThe fifth movie in the popular Toy Story franchise was released in theaters last month to a lackluster opening at the box office. "Lightyear" missed projections by around $20 to $30 million domestically but still grabbed the No. 2 spot in the country behind only the newest "Jurassic World."
But, don’t worry, you won’t have to go to the theaters to see it if you wait a couple more weeks. Disney is releasing Lightyear for streaming on Disney+ starting August 3rd, so everyone who’s signed up for the streaming platform will be able to watch it without leaving the house.
With this movie, Pixar and Disney took a slightly different route than they have with previous Toy Story movies and other franchises in general. It’s a prequel to the other movies, sure, but Lightyear doesn’t tell the origin story of Buzz Lightyear like many fans were expecting it to.
Instead, it’s more of a movie within a movie – it’s like the Inception of the Toy Story franchise. In short, it’s the in-universe movie that ended up leading to the creation of Buzz Lightyear toys. So it doesn’t actually follow the same Buzz Lightyear we’re all familiar with, but rather the story that inspired the toys in the first place!
For the first time, Tim Allen didn’t reprise his role to voice the animated astronaut. Instead, after putting down the shield as Captain America, Chris Evans voices the main character. In the movie, you’ll follow the Evans-voiced Buzz Lightyear as he tries to return to Earth after ending up more than 4 million lightyears away after getting lost in space with this robot companion.
After being a bit of a dud at the box office, it’ll be interesting to see what Disney and Pixar do moving forward. "Lightyear" is only the second film in the last three years from Pixar ("Onward" in 2020) that had a theatrical release before being released on Disney+. And after falling short of projections, Disney may revert back to simultaneous releases in the theaters and on the streaming platform.
To go to infinity and beyond without leaving your couch, you just need to sign up for Disney+ and you’ll be able to stream "Lightyear" starting August 3rd.