Based on one theory, Toy Story 2 accidentally predicted that Lightyear would not perform well at the box office. Based on the popular Buzz Lightyear toy and character from the Toy Story franchise, Lightyear is Pixar’s latest animated film. The spinoff serves as a movie within a movie, meant to be the film that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Despite its connection to Toy Story, Lightyear underperformed at the box office, earning only $51 million during its opening weekend. This may have been due to Lightyear’s somewhat confusing premise or parents growing accustomed to Disney releasing animated movies on Disney+ instead, such as Turning Red and Luca.
In contrast, Lightyear seemed to be very popular within the Toy Story universe. At the beginning of Toy Story, Andy was excited to receive a Buzz Lightyear toy for his birthday and later themed his entire bedroom around the space ranger. In Toy Story 2, Andy’s toys traveled to Al’s Toy Barn to try to rescue Woody. While there, Buzz found an aisle filled solely with Buzz Lightyear toys, suggesting that many children wanted the action figure.
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However, one theory (via Twitter) states that Al’s Toy Barn had a different reason for having so many Buzz Lightyear action figure toys in stock. Instead of Lightyear being wildly popular in Andy’s world, the animated film still did not perform as well as the studio expected. Due to this, not many children wanted toys from the movie, resulting in Al’s Toy Barn having a surplus of Buzz action figures. Andy was one of the few children who did love Lightyear, so he was uniquely excited to receive a Buzz Lightyear toy. In this way, Toy Story 2 foretold that Lightyear would fail long before the spinoff was in development. However, this theory might not entirely hold up to scrutiny. As pointed out in the comments below the original Twitter post, this theory is challenged by one of Barbie’s lines and multiple other explanations for Al’s Toy Barn’s abundance of Buzz Lightyear action figures.
Contrary to this theory, Tour Guide Barbie drove many of Andy’s toys onto the Buzz Lightyear aisle, stating, “In 1995, shortsighted retailers did not order enough dolls to meet demand.” This means that Buzz Lightyear action figures were so popular that shops did not have enough toys at first, which could explain why Al stocked so many in his Toy Barn during Toy Story 2. If toy stores were struggling to keep Buzz action figures in stock, then Lightyear was probably very popular in Andy’s universe. Due to this, Andy was able to get other Lightyear merchandise as well, including the bedding, posters, and video game in his room. This also fits well with Stinky Pete’s explanation that cowboys went out of fashion due to the sudden rise of popularity in space-themed stories and toys. Based on Barbie’s line, In the Pixar shared universe, Lightyear was part of this trend.
Additionally, there are several other explanations for why Al’s Toy Barn’s had so many Buzz Lightyear toys. First, the Buzz Lightyear toy line had an aggressive commercial campaign, which Buzz saw on television during Toy Story, to boost sales. Second, the Buzz action figures in Toy Story 2 had a new utility belt. With this slight alteration, toy makers would have been able to release a new Buzz Lightyear line to spark a second round of purchases. Third, Al’s Toy Barn could have just received a shipment of Buzz Lightyear action figures, especially if it was a new toy line, so the store temporarily had a large stock. While none of these explanations necessarily disprove the theory, they suggest that Lightyear was much more popular in the Toy Story universe than in real life, leading Al’s Toy Barn to carry many Buzz Lightyear action figures.
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