Tim Allen has sent a message to Toy Story fans after sharing that he has been recording the upcoming sequel for five hours.
The comic actor who has played the role of Buzz Lightyear since the 1995 original film has shared that he has already returned to the recording booth for the fifth instalment. He also confirmed that Tom Hanks is set to also reprise his character of Woody in the Pixar made film.
Allen, known for other television and film roles including Home Improvement and The Santa Clause, is set to star in a brand new sitcom opposite Kat Dennings. Shifting Gears will see Allen play a widowed owner of a car restoration shop in the series set to air in 2025. It will be broadcast on ABC and stream on Hulu in the US, which usually follows with a Disney+ release in the UK, but that is yet to be confirmed.
While promoting the show, Allen was asked whether or not production had started on the next Toy Story movie, which led him to reveal he has already recorded new lines for Buzz Lightyear. Speaking to Collider, he admitted: "Well, I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. Yes, I just did the first five-hour session for Buzz, probably a week ago."
None of the four Toy Story films have dipped below 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the first two titles both achieving a perfect score. Pixar have already shared that the fifth film is aiming for a 2026 release and from Allen's comments, it looks like production is running smoothly.
He also issued what sounded like a promise to fans worried that the series could finally falter. He added: "It’s a very, very clever story. Do you wanna do five of these? I don’t really believe it’s about the money. I’m sure they want it to be a success, but that’s not why they did it. Had they not come up with a brilliant script, they wouldn’t have done it and they wouldn’t have called me and Tom (Hanks).
"It’s really clever. It was really a struggle to get, and then maybe two hours in, I was doing Buzz. I’m so blessed to be Buzz Lightyear, to be honest. It’s gonna be fun. I think we’re a year out. I’ve gotten up to the third act. We’ll do the third act. And then, we’ll go back and clean it. And then, I’ll do it about five more times. It’s a really good story, guys. It’s really good."
Story details are currently limited but the studio has said that the toys including Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the rest of the gang will have to go up against new technology threatening their play time. The film will be written and directed by Andrew Stanton, who worked on Toy Story 1 and 4 as well as Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
Toy Story 1-4 is streaming on Disney+.
