Though Lightyear was full of references to Toy Story and other Pixar films, it was missing the iconic aliens that first appear in the Pizza Planet claw machine in Toy Story. One of the Little Green Men (a.k.a. LGMs) ends up going with Buzz and Woody to Sid’s house. In Toy Story 2, Mr. Potato Head rescues three LGMs in a Pizza Planet truck, and they join the gang, appearing in Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4. The LGMs also appear in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the original Buzz-centric movie, and series, in which they also work for Star Command.
It would have been easy for the LGMs to appear in Pixar’s Lightyear as residents of the alien planet Buzz and his crew end up stranded on. But Lightyear director Angus MacLane had a reason for not including the LGM in the new film. “They’re from Pizza Planet, and they were included with the Buzz Lightyear TV show, but that always felt wrong,” he told The Digital Fix.
MacLane is right, Buzz and the LGM don’t seem to recognize each other in the Pizza Planet claw machine. But does this explanation really work?
Lightyear’s Missing Alien Explanation Makes Sense… Kinda
At first glance, MacLane’s reasoning for the aliens being missing from Lightyear is logical. However, Toy Story 2 proves him incorrect. If toys from the same universe recognized each other, then Woody would know who Jessie and Bullseye are right away. Instead, they have to teach him about “Woody’s Roundup,” which they only know about because of Al’s collection. This proves that Buzz and the LGM could exist in a cinematic universe together without recognizing each other as toys.
Wait, The Aliens ARE In Lightyear’s Universe
In fact, the Little Green Men do make a small cameo in Lightyear. Between his many jumps through time, Buzz witnesses in short scenes the life of his best friend, Alisha Hawthorne, one of very few LGBTQ+ Pixar has created, who has children. In one shot of her family and home, there is a drawing of an LGM, presumably drawn by her son, pinned to the wall. This raises more questions than answers, though. Did Hawthorne’s son make up this alien? Or maybe the LGM drawing is a reference to another alien in another movie that exists in the Toy Story multiverse.
Ultimately, the Little Green Men could have had a bigger role in Lightyear without disrupting Toy Story continuity, but the film didn’t need them. The alien’s Buzz encounters in Lightyear aren’t as sentient as the LGM, which may have distracted the audience from Buzz’s story. Maybe if Pixar makes a Lightyear sequel, MacLane will reconsider and include the Little Green Men as real characters.
