Buzz Lightyear is headed back to space.
Disney and Pixar just launched the first teaser trailer for a new origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the iconic Space Ranger from the "Toy Story" film franchise and it's packed with stunning space action.
"To infinity and … 🚀 Experience the origin story of a Space Ranger in Disney and Pixar’s #Lightyear, in theaters Summer 2022," Pixar wrote as it unveiled the trailer on Twitter and YouTube today. The film will launch into theaters on June 17, 2022.
The trailer, set to a stirring soundtrack of "Starman" by David Bowie, starts off with a younger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Chris Evans) suiting up in a spacesuit very different from the winged green and purple hard suit we saw in the "Toy Story" films. He then launches into space in a sleek space plane that appears to whip around a star.
Related: Cosmic Toy Story: Buzz Lightyear in Space (Photos)
"The sci-fi action-adventure presents the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear—the hero who inspired the toy—introducing the legendary Space Ranger who would win generations of fans," Pixar wrote. The film is directed by Angus McLane ("Finding Dory," "Toy Story of Terror") and and produced by Galyn Susman.
The "Lightyear" trailer shows Buzz Lightyear as an astronaut, not a toy. It includes stunning scenes of spaceships, a vast spaceport and a touching unveiling of Lightyears' Space Ranger spacesuit. He also appears to team up with an adorable cat that just might be a robot (it says "beep, boop" and spins its head around) and a female partner who suits up in a Space Ranger suit of her own by the trailer's end.
All in all, the trailer offers a tantalizing glimpse of what "Lightyear" will bring to Buzz Lightyear's legacy.
It's worth a mention to say that Buzz Lightyear the toy is no stranger to space.
NASA launched a Buzz Lightyear action figure to the International Space Station in May 2008 on the space shuttle Discovery. It was returned to Earth in August 2009 and now is on display as a real-life space artifact at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2012.
Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin, the astronaut Buzz Lightyear is modeled after, even recorded a video to "train" the Buzz Lightyear action figure for spaceflight.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.