The Toy Story spin-off Lightyear just hit theaters, so fans are asking one thing after the movie is over: does it have a post-credits scene?
Disney Pixar’s summer offering is the Toy Story spin-off Lightyear, which claims to be the film the Buzz Lightyear toy is based off of in the Toy Story saga. Chris Evans voices Buzz Lightyear, and is joined by a ragtag group of untrained soldiers as they attempt to save their base from Zurg’s invading robots. The film’s voice cast is full of stars, with Chris Evans voicing Buzz, Taika Waititi as bumbling soldier Mo Morrison, Keke Palmer as the resourceful and hopeful Izzy Hawthorne, Uzo Aduba as Buzz’s former Space Ranger partner Alisha Hawthorne, and Josh Brolin as the evil Emperor Zurg. While critics remain divided over how the film delivers Buzz’s action-packed backstory, it has its fun and heart-warming moments that are bound to make any Toy Story fan thrilled.
Pixar and Chris Evans fans turning out to the theater this weekend for Lightyear might be wondering if the new movie has a post-credits scene. Following in a similar fashion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other Pixar films, Lightyear has not just one but three post-credits scenes. The first two are more comedic and light-hearted, but the third opens the door for a possible sequel to this Buzz Lightyear solo film. Let’s break down each one and how they connect to the movie or a possible sequel.
The first of Lightyear’s three post-credits scenes comes after the top billing sequence. It’s of Commander Burnsides, who took over the base’s operations after Alisha Hawthorne’s passing, sitting at his desk when one of the planet’s bugs flies at the window and gets zapped by the laser shields surrounding the compound. He chuckles to himself when he hears the electrical zap and approvingly says that the laser shields were a good idea. The scene connects back to his previous comment about how the science team and the community they’ve built while marooned for generations are here to stay with the laser shields keeping them safe from the planet’s murderous bugs.
After the credits are over, audiences are treated to another goofy post-credits scene of the DERIC droid still giving Buzz, Mo, Izzy, Darby and Sox directions on how to locate the mining base where they can get a replacement coil for their damaged spaceship. Earlier in the film, the droid kept stumbling over the directions and messing up, having to start over. It’s a funny scene meant to make the audience laugh, much like the Pizza Poppa post-credits scene from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
But Lightyear’s shocking post-credits scene comes immediately after the Disney and Pixar title cards play. Zurg and his robots float through space after Buzz and his team blew up the Zurg ship, seemingly dead and destroyed. Suddenly, Zurg’s mask powers up and his eye lenses flash bright red. The post-credits scene implies that Zurg is still alive and ready for vengeance against Buzz, who refused to give him the special hyperdrive fuel cell that would allow him to time travel.
With the reveal that Zurg is still alive after the third act battle, a Lightyear sequel could depict his mission of revenge on Buzz and his team. The two comedic post-credits scenes show that the compound is well-established and going on with life as usual, so they clearly have a home they think is worth defending from invaders. A sequel could show them and Buzz’s new Space Ranger Corps fighting Zurg and sci-fi baddies throughout the galaxy. All of the post-credits scenes for Lightyear show that Pixar isn’t ready to drop Buzz, Zurg or any of the Space Rangers for future movies.
