Sometimes, love finds a way. One week after Pixar’s LGBTQIA+ employees and their allies sent a strongly-worded letter to Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek objecting to his decision not to push back more forcefully against Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, the studio’s parent company has already reversed course about a same-sex storyline in the animated blockbuster Lightyear.
According to Variety, the upcoming Toy Story “sidequel” features a kiss between two female characters that was originally cut from the film. Now, that kiss has reportedly been restored after the employees’ letter revealed that Disney had cut scenes featuring “overtly gay affection” from previous Pixar films.
Lightyear stars Chris Evans as Buzz Lightyear — the “real” version of the Space Ranger toy that Tim Allen voices in the Toy Story series. Orange Is the New Black sta Uzo Aduba voices one of Buzz’s fellow Rangers, Hawthorne, who is depicted as having a “meaningful relationship” with another woman.
It’s the second time that a lesbian couple has been overtly alluded to in a Pixar movie. The 2020 animated hit Onward featured Lena Waithe as Officer Specter, who talked about co-parenting her “girlfriend’s daughter” in one scene from the film. (Specter’s girlfriend and her daughter were never shown onscreen.)
Variety‘s story suggests that Disney didn’t object to the identity of Hawthorne’s partner, but did overrule Pixar on including a kiss. After the employees’ letter, though, the scene was added back to the film, which premieres in theaters on June 17.
While the scene will be a first for Pixar, Lightyear is following in the footsteps of the Disney-owned Star Wars franchise, which famously featured its first same-sex kiss in 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Similarly, Marvel’s recent hit, Eternals, included that studio’s first same-sex kiss. And while fans cheered both moments, they also made those movies targets of overseas censorship. It’s likely that Lightyear will face a similar challenge when it flies into theaters around the world during the summer months.
Lightyear premieres June 17 in theaters.
