Lightyear is not a Toy Story movie, at least not in the conventional sense. Woody, Jessie, Bo Peep, Mr. Potato Head, and the rest of Andy’s toys are all absent. The Buzz who does appear in the movie is, as star Chris Evans famously tweeted, “the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on.” This Buzz goes on the sort of space adventure — to infinity and beyond! — that Toy Story’s Buzz only dreamed about.
Still, Pixar has been putting Easter eggs into their movies since the very first Toy Story back in 1995, like the A113 license plate that referred to the CalArts classroom where many of the studio’s animators studied. That tradition absolutely continues with Lightyear, which refers back to all the previous Toy Story movies, along with several other Toy Story spinoffs like the 2D Buzz Lightyear cartoon and other science-fiction movies that have nothing to do with Pixar at all.
Below, you’ll find our 15 favorite Easter eggs in Lightyear. There are definitely many more we missed. How much you want to bet Woody is in the movie somewhere, if you know where to look?
Toy Story References in Lightyear
The new Pixar movie includes a lot of hidden Easter eggs from previous entries in Pixar’s Toy Story franchise.
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