{"id":245394,"date":"2026-06-10T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/tim-allen-gets-candid-about-fatherhood-sobriety-and-the-success-of-the-toy-story-franchise\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T12:00:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T12:00:56","slug":"tim-allen-gets-candid-about-fatherhood-sobriety-and-the-success-of-the-toy-story-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/tim-allen-gets-candid-about-fatherhood-sobriety-and-the-success-of-the-toy-story-franchise\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Allen Gets Candid About Fatherhood, Sobriety and the Success of the \u2018Toy Story\u2019 Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"


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More than 30 years after first suiting up as Buzz Lightyear, Tim Allen<\/strong> <\/a>is still finding new adventures. This summer, the actor returns as the beloved Space Ranger in Toy Story 5<\/em><\/a>, the latest chapter in a franchise that has become a touchstone for generations of families. Looking back, Allen is struck by the enduring success of the Pixar phenomenon, which premiered in 1995<\/a> as the world\u2019s first fully computer-animated feature film. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing part of my life,\u201d the 73-year-old actor tells Us Weekly<\/em>. \u201cBuzz has become such a part of me, and vice versa.\u201d<\/p>\n

In part five, Buzz, Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks<\/strong><\/a>) and the rest of the gang compete against the allure of tech after their owner, 8-year-old Bonnie, acquires a tablet named Lilypad. The passage of time since the original wasn\u2019t only reflected in the storyline \u2014 Allen admits he received some constructive criticism when he sat down to film the new installment. \u201cIn their nicest way, Pixar said, \u2018Buzz sounds a little old these days,\u2019\u201d he says with a laugh. The actor worked with an opera singer from New York to learn how to relax his voice. \u201cI\u2019d never warmed up before, but the longer you do this, you just can\u2019t start off; you have to do warm-ups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buzz is just one of many iconic characters<\/a> the stand-up comedian has portrayed during his impressive film and TV career. After starring as Tim Taylor in the hit \u201990s series Home Improvement<\/em>, he went on to do nine seasons of Last Man Standing<\/em> <\/a>and, in 2025, he struck sitcom gold again with Shifting Gears<\/em><\/a>. (He portrays a widowed dad who owns a classic car restoration business \u2014 Allen is a car enthusiast in real life, too. Season 3 begins filming in July.) \u201cThe fact that Shifting Gears<\/em> is a success\u2026 I don\u2019t sit with that very often, because who cares, really?\u201d he says, adding, \u201cLooking in the rearview mirror is a recipe for disaster. I just love entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dad of two (he shares Kate<\/strong>, 36, with ex-wife Laura Deibel<\/strong>, and Elizabeth<\/strong>, 17, with his wife of 19 years, actress\/producer Jane<\/strong> Hajduk<\/strong>, 59) chats with Us<\/em> about family life<\/a>, his offscreen bond with Hanks and the latest on a Home Improvement<\/em> reboot.<\/p>\n

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AUSTIN HARGRAVE\/DISNEY<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Congrats on Toy Story 5<\/em>! What can you tell Us<\/em> about the movie?<\/strong>
When we did Toy Story 4<\/em><\/a>, I said, \u201cWe need a little more Buzz in this.\u201d I was kidding, so it was very startling when I saw the storyboards. I said, \u201cOK, you took that seriously.\u201d It was very challenging to be that many Buzzes, and then it got very confusing [as to] who\u2019s talking to who, and I\u2019m not sure exactly how they smoothed it out, but it was very funny to be part of that. [The film features a whole cargo container of Buzz Lightyear toys becoming part of the action.]<\/em><\/p>\n

The first film came out in 1995. Why do you think the franchise has been able to span multiple generations<\/a>?<\/strong>
Essentially, it\u2019s a story about a wonderful friendship. Kids recognize it, and adults recognize it, and they\u2019ve added a whole color palette with the other toys, so it\u2019s like a little community. I think [if it were with] stick figures, it would still be very popular.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best part about playing such an iconic character?<\/strong>
Seeing a kid\u2019s face when I say, \u201cTo infinity\u2026 and beyond!\u201d Tom taught me this trick \u2014 we\u2019ll have [kids] shut their eyes and turn around, and then we do Woody and Buzz, and to see the look on their faces\u2026 What these characters have done for them is what Mickey and Donald Duck did for me at a certain time in my life. I think it\u2019s time to [do] a high-end Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse [project], because those two were Woody and Buzz for me when I was a kid.<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>‘Home Improvement’ Cast: Where Are They Now?<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tDoes everybody know what time it is? That was the famous phrase that came out of Home Improvement, the ABC sitcom that aired from September 1991 to May 1999. The 30-minute comedy followed Tim \u201cThe Toolman\u201d Taylor (Tim Allen) as he hosted a home-improvement show titled \u201cTool Time,\u201d even though he\u2019s not at all a [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Is it cool when young family members discover you\u2019re Buzz?<\/strong>
My niece just had her second child, and it\u2019s amazing when the kids realize their uncle is Buzz Lightyear. I try to explain I\u2019m not actually Buzz Lightyear, but then it gets creepy, like, \u201cHow come you sound like him, and you look like this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you have any idea the franchise<\/a> would become so successful?<\/strong>
When we first saw Toy Story<\/em>, everybody was in the room going, \u201cI don\u2019t know what to make of this.\u201d [The] powers-that-be were very unsure it would [translate]. [They] thought, \u201cMaybe we just go right to DVDs.\u201d<\/p>\n

This film pits the toys against tech. What did you think of that angle?<\/strong>
I\u2019m amazed Pixar did this. They\u2019re into tech, and yet they\u2019re putting a light on their own tech. That scene where all the kids are on their phones in the houses, everybody got very quiet in the screening room. It was courageous to re-encourage kids to play.<\/p>\n

Disney has said it plans to keep the franchise going. Where would you like to see Buzz go in the future?<\/strong>
I always thought it would be interesting if Buzz realizes where he was built. I love the indication that all of us can reinvent ourselves. I still have my girls\u2019 stuffed animals. They throw them away for a while, but my daughter, every now and then, she still picks up this bear.<\/p>\n

Do you remember watching your kids play with any toys for the last time?<\/strong>
I do. I got my daughter a lion rocking horse from FAO Schwartz when she was really little. She played with it, then she put it in a corner of her room, then it\u2019s in the living room, then it\u2019s just become [like a] sculpture. My daughter will watch the nieces, nephews and everybody\u2019s kid play with it the same way she did. My mother \u2014 who\u2019s really failing at 97, she can\u2019t see or hear anything \u2014 [was over for] our big Thanksgiving dinner, and out of nowhere she goes, \u201cThat lion still looks at me.\u201d I don\u2019t know how she remembered it.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Spicer\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You\u2019ve accomplished so much in your career. Do you ever have pinch-me moments?<\/strong>
Yes. There was a poster that said [I had the] No. 1 book, TV show and movie, and it all happened on a Monday. It\u2019s funny, my publicist didn\u2019t know it, Disney didn\u2019t know it, ABC didn\u2019t know it \u2014 but there was a Monday when Home Improvement<\/em> and The Santa Clause<\/em><\/a> were No. 1 and I\u2019d done a book [1994\u2019s Don\u2019t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man<\/em>]. I\u2019ll always look back and be content with that. Some great high-profile actor who I know saw me at an event and said, \u201cYou just keep reinventing yourself,\u201d but I never look at it that way. I love what I do, so opportunities come up, and I take them.<\/p>\n

Are there challenges to working in the biz at this point in your life?<\/strong>
I\u2019m getting too experienced. I\u2019ve done so many things that when we start a new project, it\u2019s challenging to hear new people tell me how the business works. I\u2019m respectful because they\u2019re either bosses or higher-ups, but the comic [inside me] wants to say something outlandish. There\u2019s a point where you\u2019re too mature for something [so you just say,] \u201cYou guys deal with this, and I\u2019ll deal with something else.\u201d There are moments where I lose my patience, but I don\u2019t want to be rude. I don\u2019t want to be like, \u201cDon\u2019t look me in the eye.\u201d I\u2019m a successful actor because of the people who watch and because of the people who do all the real work, from craft services to camera people.<\/p>\n

Your daughter Elizabeth played your daughter in the Disney+ series The Santa Clauses.<\/em> What was that like?<\/strong>
We did Zoom auditions for the other actors, and [the producers said], \u201cWho\u2019s that reading with you?\u201d And I said, \u201cThat\u2019s my daughter, but she\u2019s in school, and I don\u2019t even want to think about [that].\u201d Eventually, they said, \u201cCan she read for the big role?\u201d and she ended up playing my daughter. She\u2019s really good at school, and her mom and I wanted her to finish that. But there was a scene where she was very upset [and] dare I say, she\u2019s a natural. I hugged her as Santa Claus, but it was Dad and daughter there, and I told her as I walked away [feeling] very emotional, \u201cThis is going to sit with me forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

You\u2019re close with Tom Hanks and Jay Leno. How important are those friendships to you?<\/strong>
When I\u2019m around all my showbiz friends, there\u2019s a camaraderie because they know exactly what it\u2019s like [to be famous]. So then it\u2019s about, \u201cWhat are your kids doing?\u201d It levels [things] off.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about fame?<\/strong>
I\u2019m more of an introvert than I thought I was. I don\u2019t really like crowds. Sometimes I just want to eat my lunch or go to the dry cleaners. It\u2019s a pleasure to have people love what you do. I love doing stand-up, and I\u2019m getting more authentic on stage, and I love that moment of connecting with people. It\u2019s a paradox: I love entertaining crowds, but I don\u2019t like being in crowds. When I get out by myself, I\u2019m a pretty quiet person.<\/p>\n

Before you had kids, what kind of dad did you think you\u2019d be?<\/strong>
I never really wanted to be a dad. I joke about it on stage; I\u2019ve just never been a real fan of children. As people have said many times about parenting, you go through all this [stuff] to get a driver\u2019s license or a passport, but there\u2019s nothing about [raising] children. It was a work in progress. My wife says we wish we\u2019d had five kids because you learn on the first two. With Kate, I was gone a lot, so her mom did most of the raising. I come from [a family of] seven boys and two girls, and it\u2019s a very different world to me with girls. I have a different view of what will make a strong woman. The girl stuff I have little interest in \u2014 clothing, looks, gossip, and all that \u2014 [I focused on] learning finances, learning how to take care of yourself, and that works for boys and girls.<\/p>\n

Were you scared of being a girl dad?<\/strong>
No. My sisters are well-rounded because they were around a very strong mom, and these girls are around strong moms. There\u2019s a connection between moms and sons that\u2019s undeniable, and there\u2019s a connection between fathers and daughters that\u2019s undeniable. We communicate on a different level. I didn\u2019t realize how much I got through to my older one [but] now and then she\u2019ll say, \u201cYou used to say this all the time,\u201d and I go, \u201cYou actually listened.\u201d Both daughters are very creative and self-assured, [more] than I was. They have natural abilities I never had, and they\u2019re very modest about it.<\/p>\n

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Jesse Grant\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What was it like for them to grow up with such a famous dad?<\/strong>
[With Elizabeth] it\u2019s a double-edged sword. I\u2019m able to be of assistance because I can put attention on things that can be helpful for her school, but it also gets in the way because I think people treat her differently to get access to me.<\/p>\n

Are you in constant contact with your girls?<\/strong>
I adore my older daughter\u2019s husband and they don\u2019t live far away, and I see her all the time when we\u2019re shooting Shifting Gears<\/em><\/a> because she\u2019s in the production office. Sometimes I\u2019m in a crotchety mood when I\u2019ve been working eight hours and I don\u2019t want to deal with minutiae and she goes, \u201cJust call me,\u201d because she\u2019s very good at that. She\u2019ll stare me down [sometimes]. I tell her, \u201cYou\u2019re the only one that ever talks to me like that.\u201d My youngest and I love watching Avengers<\/em> movies \u2014 I learned this from an old friend \u2014 make a movie night with your kid, along with a date night for your wife. Our joke is I\u2019ll say, \u201cI love you more than anything,\u201d and she goes, \u201cWell, I love you more.\u201d It seems like the silliest thing, but we just did it about 25 minutes ago.<\/p>\n

You lost your dad<\/a> at a young age. [He was killed by a drunk driver in 1964.]<\/em> How did that impact you?<\/strong>
I kind of turned into a different person after that. Trauma has that effect. I turned into my spiritual or metaphysical or religious self. My blood father was really involved in pruning the car [and] all the stuff I really like now. My dad got me into that. I really missed that connection. I didn\u2019t have that with my stepfather, but he was an extremely wonderful guy.<\/p>\n

When you were younger, you got off on the wrong foot \u2014 how would you say those experiences shaped you into the person you are today?<\/strong>
I\u2019d lost focus after college, where I got into criminal stuff<\/a>. [Allen spent two years in prison.]<\/em> When I was incarcerated, I started reading books [about] men and women who had been successful out of nowhere, and I started focusing on where I wanted to be. I did not want to do that ever again. I humiliated my family and friends and myself. I did not want to make that mistake [again].<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Kat Dennings Felt an ‘Immediate’ Trust With Tim Allen on ‘Shifting Gears’<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tDisney\/Mike Taing It didn\u2019t take long for Kat Dennings and Tim Allen to build a real-life bond similar to their Shifting Gears daughter-dad duo. \u201cIt clicked pretty fast. We had lunch after I accepted the role and I felt immediately like I could trust him for some reason,\u201d Dennings, 38, exclusively shared in the newest [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

You and Jane will celebrate your 20th anniversary in October. What\u2019s your secret to a successful marriage?<\/strong>
I think a sense of humor saves us so many times. We both struggle with golf, and [we were talking about how] Elizabeth will be a senior next year, and we\u2019re going, \u201cWhat\u2019s that going to be like?\u201d and then Jane sat in the golf cart and said something really funny. I\u2019d forgotten how much I adore her sense of humor. We\u2019re very different people. She\u2019s a very good athlete and got me involved in training, and she\u2019s a staunch Catholic, and I joined her with that. I\u2019m not a Catholic, I don\u2019t belong, so I don\u2019t have to obey the rules, but I think she admires that I made that move. We both pull a bit on either side. We\u2019re pretty good buddies.<\/p>\n

How does faith fit into your life?<\/strong>
I\u2019ve been a questioner most of my life. It\u2019s been a long path to learn [how to] accept things as they are. If I look back at the horrible things that have happened to me or to others, am I supposed to be OK with that? Or is it none of my business? For a long time, I still enjoyed church services now and then, but underneath I was going, \u201cI don\u2019t like this creator because you can take anybody any time you want for no reason.\u201d I remember one time a Catholic school bus fell off the road somewhere\u2026 I spent some time in behind bars, and there\u2019s never a prison bus on the way to court that gets hit by another truck; it\u2019s always a school bus. I\u2019ve learned to stop asking.<\/p>\n

How are you feeling about your youngest daughter flying the coop next year?<\/strong>
We\u2019ve gone down to her room to say \u201cgood night\u201d since she was a little kid, and now she\u2019s up with glasses on and with her computer, finishing her math homework. She still says, \u201cAre you guys coming down to say good night?\u201d I told her I\u2019m probably going to come down for quite a while after she\u2019s gone. I\u2019ll just sit in that room because I will really miss her presence.<\/p>\n

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Bob D\u2019Amico\/Touchstone Television\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You were 55 when you had Elizabeth. Did you set out to do things differently with her?<\/strong>
I was not sober for some of [Kate\u2019s] formative years. I made amends to her. With the younger one, I see how much different it is when I\u2019ve been sober almost 30 years. She never knew any of that guy. I\u2019ve thought about it many times, and I\u2019ve talked to Kate, and she doesn\u2019t hold it against me.<\/p>\n

How has sobriety changed you?<\/strong>
I\u2019m still the same lunatic. I have a group of guys, we\u2019ve been meeting for over 20 years; it\u2019s all about honesty.<\/p>\n

What can you share about season 3 of Shifting Gears<\/em><\/a>?<\/strong>
My relationship with the grandkids is growing, and my son came back from the Navy. My question is \u2014 and we haven\u2019t talked about it yet \u2014 but is [love interest<\/a>] Jenna<\/strong> [Elfman<\/strong>] going to move in with me, or am I going to move in with her? I\u2019d like to stretch it out where we\u2019re just dating for a bit. A show I really like is Kim\u2019s Convenience<\/em> \u2014 it [split] out from the different apartments and everybody\u2019s got their own life; our show has [the] capacity to [do that with] Kat<\/strong> [Dennings<\/strong>] and her kids if they move out. I don\u2019t want them to because I love them, but you\u2019ve got so many great people who can do a scene by themselves.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve mentioned doing a new version of Home Improvement<\/em><\/a>. Where does that stand?<\/strong>
They keep talking about how it could move forward, but they get stuck [because] there are some personality problems right now with the boys. [Zachery Ty Bryan<\/strong><\/a> was arrested in November 2025 over a domestic violence violation; he was previously arrested for suspicion of DUI, felony assault and robbery; in 2024, Patricia Richardson<\/strong> said on a podcast<\/a> that fellow alum Jonathan Taylor Thomas<\/strong> isn\u2019t \u201cinterested in acting.\u201d]<\/em> They\u2019ve got their own issues. I always thought it would be cool if it was a story about them. That\u2019s a little challenging right now, to put it mildly.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also doing stand-up again\u2026<\/strong>
My younger brother encouraged me to be more ad-libby, so I spend 20 minutes [talking about] what\u2019s going on in my life. It\u2019s been amazing. I have my big block of material, but I\u2019m opening up.<\/p>\n

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