New trailer for 'Lightyear' shows Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear, but not in the same iconic role Tim Allen played in 'Toy Story'

• Disney released a teaser for a new animated sci-fi film called "Lightyear," starring Chris Evans.
• The movie is a "Toy Story" spinoff, but Evans isn't replacing Tim Allen as the voice of Buzz Lightyear.
• Instead, Evans plays a fictional "real" human named Buzz Lightyear, who inspired the toy-version.

Disney's 2022 movie slate includes "Lightyear," a spinoff from the "Toy Story" universe, starring Chris Evans - but not in the role people are assuming.

"[Lightyear] is the definitive story of the original Buzz Lightyear," the official Pixar account tweeted last year. "Voiced by [Chris Evans], get ready to go to 'infinity and beyond' with Lightyear."

Evans isn't playing a younger version of the Buzz Lightyear toy character from the "Toy Story" movies, who has always been voiced by Tim Allen. Instead he's playing "the human who Buzz Lightyear was based on" within the fictional universe of "Toy Story."

When the movie was first announced, "Tim Allen" became a trending topic on Twitter as people ran with the belief that Evans was voicing Allen's character for a new "Toy Story" movie.

-Sonof Mosta (@Sonof_Mosta) December 11, 2020

-thatstarwarsgirl77 (@thatstarwarsgrl) December 11, 2020

-April (@ReignOfApril) December 11, 2020

-Alex Loves The Original Trilogy (@alexismenacing) December 11, 2020

-Charlotte Clymer ️‍ (@cmclymer) December 11, 2020

Chris Evans had to post a follow-up tweet, clarifying his role in the new movie

"Just to be clear, this isn't Buzz Lightyear the toy," Evans wrote. "This is the origin story of the human Buzz Lightyear that the toy is based on."

-Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) December 11, 2020

As Insider's entertainment correspondent Kirsten Acuna reported, Disney announced the "Lightyear" movie as "a science-fiction film unlike anything they've done before."

It's "not a 'Toy Story' film," but instead the "definitive origin story of the real Buzz Lightyear."

To be extra clear, Buzz Lightyear was not a real human. Instead, Disney means the "real Buzz Lightyear" inside the fictional universe of the "Toy Story" movies.

But the confusion wasn't helped by the first still from the movie, which shows an animated man who (of course) looks like the toy-version of Buzz Lightyear.

-Charlotte Clymer ️‍ (@cmclymer) December 11, 2020

A post shared by Chris Evans (@chrisevans)

"Working with Pixar is a dream come true," Evans wrote on Instagram in 2020. "I've been a massive fan of their films since the very beginning. My team could barely contain their excitement when they told me that Pixar had a pitch for me. All they said was 'Buzz Lightyear.'"

"I didn't know what that meant, since Tim Allen is Buzz Lightyear, and no one could ever touch his performance," Evans continued. "I needed to know how this character was different and why this story was worth telling."

The actor goes on to say that he "didn't stop smiling through the ENTIRE pitch" and that "everyone can rest easy."

"Trust me when I say that they REALLY know what they're doing over there," Evans wrote. "This one is gonna special, and it doesn't step on a single thing."

"Lightyear" is scheduled to premiere in June 2022. You can watch the first trailer for the movie here.