‘Lightyear’ same-sex couple is part of an evolution at Pixar

When Chris Evans talks of LGBTQ representation in Disney/Pixar animation, the word “overdue” comes up more than once.

Evans is the titular voice in the latest Pixar feature “Lightyear,” the spinoff prequel to the Toy Story franchise that opens Friday. And when speaking by phone this month about the film, he points to its relationship between Lightyear’s best friend, space ranger Commander Alisha Hawthorne (voiced by Uzo Aduba), and her wife, Kiko — the most significant same-sex relationship yet in a Pixar feature. Their scenes will include the studio’s first acknowledged same-sex kiss in a feature, as Pixar continues to take steps toward more prominent representation.

“It’s an excellent sign of the times that things are moving in the right direction, but you can’t help but feel like there’s bitter aftertaste [when] acknowledging the fact it is even worthy of discussion,” Evans says of such representation 27 years after Pixar’s first feature film, “Toy Story.” Doing so “reveals the fact that it’s long overdue, and reveals the fact that it’s something that is still not the norm. So there’s still a long way to go.”

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