Eventually, he catches up with Woody on the roof of an antique store, where he is surprised to see him with Bo Peep. In Toy Story 4, Buzz maintains his care for Woody, and upon noticing that Woody is gone from the RV (that the Andersons have rented for a road trip) due to having jumped out of the vehicle to go after Forky, he is the first to jump into action to find his best friend. However, Woody leaves the note for Andy telling him to donate the toys to Bonnie, and after they are handed down to her, Buzz comforts Woody as they accept that their lives with Andy is complete and begin their new lives under Bonnie's care. Soon after returning home, Buzz and Woody shake hands, unable to admit that the two best friends are separating ways after all they had been through. After the toys are dumped into the furnace at Tri-County Landfill, Buzz and Woody take hands and glance at each other for what could have been one last time if not for the Squeeze Toy Aliens controlling a giant claw that rescues the toys from the incinerator. When Buzz is restored back to normal, Woody, as with the other toys, is joyous that he has returned. After Buzz is reset into Spanish mode, Woody convinces Buzz that the toys are 'amigos' to get him to rejoin their side.

When Woody declares his intention to leave the daycare to go back to Andy, Buzz offers him a handshake, which Woody refuses, upset that his friends have seemingly given up on their owner. In Toy Story 3, the two have a falling out when Buzz declares that he and the other toys, believing that a now college-bound Andy does not want them anymore, are going to Sunnyside Daycare after being mistakenly thrown out by Andy's mother, which Woody has witnessed. After returning home following a successful rescue mission, the two toys agree to be there for each other even after Andy outgrows them. However, Woody shortly comes to his senses and calls to Buzz to inform that he is going home with him, to Buzz's relief. When Buzz catches up with Woody, Buzz urges Woody to head back home, but Woody declines, instead choosing to stay with his group as he has become convinced that Andy will eventually give him away, a decision that upsets Buzz to the point he leaves Woody to contemplate his decision.

In Toy Story 2, after Woody is kidnapped, Buzz goes out on a rescue mission to bring him back home. The two toys then work together to reunite with Andy, and by the end of the film, they become best friends. Following a successful rescue operation, Buzz thanks Woody as they shake hands, and their friendship is born. After Buzz is taken outside to be blown up by Sid, Woody pleads with the Mutant Toys residing in Sid's room to help him rescue Buzz. The relationship between the two toys starts to improve from that point. When Buzz finally finds out that he is a toy, he becomes too depressed to help Woody, but Woody gives him words of encouragement (while also confessing how inferior he feels because of how Buzz can do so much more than him, briefly becoming depressed himself), and Buzz gradually comes to terms with what he truly is. Their misunderstanding of each other eventually leads them to being separated from Andy, captured by Sid, and subsequently taken to his house. At the beginning of Toy Story, Woody and Buzz were originally rivals with Woody showing jealousy toward Buzz for apparently being replaced as Andy's favorite toy and Buzz thinking himself to be a real space ranger.

Woody and bo peep clip art