Producer Galyn Susman reveals Pixar's Lightyear used OnStar voice actress Mary McDonald-Lewis for Buzz's spaceship navigation system. Chris Evans is leading the cast of the film as Buzz Lightyear, the intrepid Space Ranger and Star Command hero who would go on to inspire a franchise within the Toy Story universe and lead to the introduction of one of Andy's favorite toys. Alongside Evans, the cast for Lightyear includes Taika Waititi, Keke Palmer, Dale Soules, Peter Sohn, Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Lightyear finds Buzz and many of his fellow Star Command trapped on an alien planet after a mission to explore the galaxy goes awry and their colony ship crashes, leaving their hyperspace fuel cells damaged. In the hopes of escaping, the scientists elect to try and recreate the fuel with planetary resources, though the initial mission fails, propelling Buzz five years into the future without aging a day while the rest of the colonists have begun developing a station and new lives on the planet. Unwilling to give up, Buzz continues to try and find a way to get everyone back home, incidentally putting him on the path of the evil robot, Emperor Zurg.
In a recent press event attended by Screen Rant for the film, producer Galyn Susman shared some insight for the cast of Pixar's Lightyear. Though keeping mum on some of the ensemble roster of the movie, Susman did reveal that the Toy Story prequel cast OnStar's voice actress Mary McDonald-Lewis for the voice of Buzz's spaceship navigation system. See what Susman shared below:
"I did want to mention Mary McDonald-Lewis as the voice of the spaceship's onboard computer, IVAN, which means Internal Voice Activated Navigator. Mary has done a lot in her career, but if you think you recognize that voice, it may be because she is the voice of OnStar, your car's onboard computer. We just kinda get a kick out of that."
For those who don't own a General Motors vehicle, McDonald-Lewis is also a well-known name within the voice acting community, having first rose to stardom for playing Lady Jaye in the animated G.I. Joe TV shows and movies of the '80s. In the years since, the actress has provided her voice to a variety of major titles, including Batman: The Animated Series and Archer. McDonald-Lewis has also starred in a handful of live-action roles over the years, including the hit supernatural series Grimm as Hexenbiest Frau Pech during the NBC show's second and third seasons.
Interestingly, Lightyear is not the first animated family adventure movie to utilize a notable computer voice for a system in their story. The Lego Batman Movie turned to Apple's virtual assistant Siri to provide the voice of his various computer systems, to which he simply refers to as 'Puter. Audiences will get to hear the memorable voice of OnStar's McDonald-Lewis as Buzz's navigational assistant when Lightyear soars into theaters on June 17.