‘Toy Story 4’ star Tim Allen opens up about ‘intelligent’ quintessence of most recent installment: ‘I got choked up’

Tim Allen has returned to expedite the funny on the big screen!

The funnyman makes his arrival to the fourth installment of the legendary “Toy Story” franchise – voicing the boisterous Buzz Lightyear of Star Command – in a role that Allen says was hard to get past this time around because of the film’s profundity and the mind-boggling feeling encompassing the storyline.

“It’s a very different Pixar movie. It’s not somber, but very reflective, layered. I put too much into it because I’m involved in it. I’m too close to it,” Allen, 66, told Us Weekly in an interview published on Friday. “I literally had a tough time watching it, because it brought up some of my own personal stuff about loss, change, moving on. It’s heartwarming. A little tough, but essentially pays off.”

“All the stories to me are human in nature – it’s masking human stuff with animated characters. This is even more of that, and has deeper themes about how we treat each other, and what’s worth something and isn’t worth something.”

The ““Last Man Standing” star opened up about the famous characters of Woody and Buzz and the historical backdrop of their companionship. With the first film in the series debuting in 1995, Allen said the relationship and connection the cowboy and Space Ranger share is a comparable parallel to his “Toy Story” counterpart, Tom Hanks, who voices the courageous sheriff.

“They’ve kind of become Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck of a certain generation. I really take a large leap by saying that we’re that iconic, but it does feel that way. They’re immortal; they’re toys — they don’t have a life span,” said Allen.

“There’s a very short scene that both Hanks and I had trouble with because I thought there were more pages. It ends, and I got choked up. I literally had a hard time saying it. He did too. We both had the same reaction. Twenty-five or so years of friendship between Woody and Buzz has morphed into a very close friendship with Hanks and I.”

“It’s just peculiar as life imitates art.”

Whenever inquired as to whether the fourth iteration in the Pixar series would be its last, Allen played coy – yet made a striking film comparison to another long-running franchise that may have likely had its very own culmination.

“I can’t give that away. There’s very little to suggest that this isn’t, at the very least, [part of] a much bigger world,” Allen explained. “It reminds me of the ‘Avengers’ movies – there are not only offshoots of characters that have simultaneous stories, but the world itself got much bigger.”

“My sense is it’s done. My creative side says, at the same time things end, there’s a new beginning. I would find it difficult not to just continue.”

“Toy Story 4” hits theaters Friday, June 21.