The trickiest part of turning Buzz Lightyear into a sci-fi hero 

By now, it’s fairly clear that Pixar’s Lightyear isn’t a Toy Story sequel or a film about the true human Buzz Lightyear; it’s a fictional movie that will’ve come out within the Toy Story universe, that includes a science fiction house hero named Buzz Lightyear, who would later encourage the toy that Andy treasured.

That signifies that all Buzz’s little quirks within the Toy Story films — his mission logs, his costume, and his severe demeanor — would all theoretically come from this film. Whereas it was enjoyable to determine simply how Buzz’s hair regarded beneath that purple snood, the filmmakers struggled to include one among Buzz’s most iconic components: his signature catchphrase, “To infinity… and past!”

“To start with, ‘to infinity and past’ was a joke, like you’ll be able to’t transcend infinity and you bought into that type of factor, which then Key and Peele riffed on for Toy Story 4,” director Angus MacLane recounts to Polygon. “So then, it was similar to a saying that each one House Rangers had and Buzz wasn’t a House Ranger on the time or one thing like that. [He was like] These guys are dumb. After which he embraces it by saying on the finish. That didn’t fairly really feel proper.

“After which we had simply this gesture,” MacLane says, whereas demonstrating the finger contact that Buzz and his finest pal Alicia do as a kind of secret handshake. “It was not ‘to infinity and past,’ that was simply what Alicia and Buzz did to point out they had been collectively. After which they had been aside. It was a tragic second. After which one among our editors, Chloe, she’s like, simply have them say ‘To infinity and past.’ And I used to be like, Yeah, okay, nice. That’s excellent.”

Picture: Pixar Animation Studios

“The fascinating factor is that it ended up having two totally different meanings over the course of the movie,” producer Galyn Susman says. “As a result of in the beginning, it’s speaking extra in regards to the subsequent journey and the subsequent one and the subsequent one, and on the finish, it’s far more about being collectively and being right here within the current.”

Buzz’s signature catchphrase, then, grew to become a touching tribute to his closest friendship, as an alternative of a rallying cry to discover the huge expanse of house. And since Alicia goes on to reside a complete life, whereas Buzz continues his futile missions again and again, it additionally takes on a extra poignant that means. Does that make it an odd alternative to show right into a toy’s catchphrase? Possibly so. However on a extra meta stage, the Toy Story films have an underlying message in regards to the restricted time we’ve with our family members, so maybe the bittersweet undertones of “To infinity… and past!” completely match inside the higher overarching themes.

Lightyear is out in theaters now.