Listen To The First Track From Pixar's Lightyear Score

Michael Giacchino has already dropped what's sure to be one of the best soundtracks of the year with "The Batman," and now, the composer is back at it again with "Lightyear." Ahead of the Pixar film's June premiere, Disney Music's VEVO channel has made the first track from the soundtrack available on YouTube. The tune, which clocks in at 2 minutes and 44 seconds, is called "Mission Perpetual."

Giacchino has collaborated with Pixar for years, creating some of the most instantly recognizable scores in recent memory for animated films like "Up," "Coco," and "Ratatouille." Based on this snippet alone, the "Lightyear" soundtrack seems like it'll be less on the whimsical side of the aural landscape and more on the intense, world-saving adventure side. At least, that's what this first track, with its heroic build, indicates. You can listen below.

In a statement, the composer gave some context to the new track, calling it one of his favorite sequences on the soundtrack. He explained:

"It's early on in the film when Buzz is trying to accomplish a mission and keeps failing. It was an exciting challenge for me because there were so many things the music needed to convey: Buzz's frustration with himself and the sadness of being alone in his pursuit, but also his undying ambition and drive to achieve his goal."

Giacchino jokes that he, too, ended up on a taxing mission to "get this cue right," but that the final version of the song they ended up with is "incredibly rewarding." The musician recorded the full "Lightyear" soundtrack with an 89-piece orchestra and a 39-member choir, so it sounds like the space-set saga will have a soundtrack to match its ambition and scope. Though there's no indication of a physical album release date at this point, the full 31-track OST will be available digitally on June 17, 2022.

As an origin story and spinoff that's not directly in the "Toy Story" timeline, "Lightyear" isn't exactly the most straightforward Pixar offering in recent years, but the family-friendly film looks like an almost sure bet at the box office nonetheless. The movie follows the astronaut Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans, famously playing not the toy but the guy the toy was based on) as he ends up marooned on a strange planet alongside an eclectic team of heroes-in-training. Keke Palmer, Uzo Aduba, Taika Waititi, Peter Sohn, James Brolin, and Dale Soules also star.

"Lightyear" takes off in theaters on June 17, 2022.