Lightyear

Pixar’s next foray in essence imagines the movie that Andy, the boy from Toy Story (1995), may have seen to inspire him to want a Buzz Lightyear toy in the first place. It’s a clever way to expand and extend the Toy Story franchise, not unlike what films such as Solo have done for Star Wars; the interest is unapologetically steeped in nostalgia, while also being used as a base for something new.

The first twenty-four seconds build up to the launch of Buzz’s spaceship (with the date card—2022), and the introduction of a rousing orchestral score. The movement in major key between the tonic and subdominant (from C to F on a piano, for instance) is hymn-like, with the strings energetically arpeggiating in synch with the action on screen. Notice how Buzz’s interactions with aircraft controls around 0:34, for instance, fit pretty nearly to the beat, or the ship going into warp drive being met with a drum roll.

At 0:48 it becomes clear that this orchestral arrangement is a trailerized rendition of David Bowie’s “Starman” (1972). While it’s maybe an obvious choice, it has a blend of epic sensibility as well as style and fun that the film’s look also seems to be going for. It’s also handled well, with the visual edit taking advantage of numerous opportunities to coincide with both the lyrics and music. At 0:55 we have Buzz flying on the lyric “waiting in the sky”. Later, at 1:20, we see the iconic spacesuit from the Toy Story movies revealed on the lyric “let the children use it”. It’s an evocative, unusual lyric, and it gains a new dimension in the context of this film—a story about an individual we’ve only really known to be a toy. It’s a story that represents imagination made real.

When the main title card is revealed, the movie reverts to the original 1972 version of the song, emphasizing the fun and lighthearted side of the film that clearly underpins it, despite also demonstrating epic sensibilities. Finally, at 1:31 notice how the classic catchphrase “to infinity—and beyond!” is curtailed at the final word; similarly, the music ends on the leading tone—the note immediately before the home note, remaining unresolved. It’s a parting tease, playing on our expectations on multiple levels.

Lightyear arrives in theatres next year.

— Curtis Perry