After more than three decades as an actor, Tim Allen‘s career could be coming to an end as he considers retirement.
Allen got his start as a comedian in the ’70s. He expanded into acting with his role as Tim “The Toolman” Taylor on the ABC’s Home Improvement, which scored him a Golden Globe Award. The sitcom, which ran from 1991 to 1999, made Allen a household name. He continued to find success playing America’s favorite TV dad as Mike Baxter on Last Man Standing from 2011 to 2021.
“Once I started coming to Disney and doing Home Improvement or Last Man Standing or getting on sets, I loved every second of it,” he told Fox News Digital in 2022. “I don’t ever feel like I’m working so I don’t know how to not do this.”
Allen noted that he still adored making people laugh. “I don’t know if my buddy [Jay] Leno ever said it this way. He said, ‘Retire is just another word for die. Waiting to die.’ And I go, ‘You know, I never thought of it that way, Jay. And I wish you hadn’t said that,’” he recalled. “I have two friends that love their retirement — they play tennis. They get up and have a leisurely breakfast with the wife. They love their retirement. It takes me almost my entire vacation to finally have two days of relaxation because I love what I do.”
On the big screen, Allen voiced Buzz Lightyear for the Toy Story franchise and brought Santa Claus to life in The Santa Clause movies. He marked his sitcom return playing Matt Parker on ABC’s Shifting Gears in 2025, which he has since hinted could be his last project.
Keep scrolling for Allen’s most candid quotes about a potential retirement:
Focused on the Present Project
Touchstone TV / Courtesy: Everett Collection
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly in 2022, Allen referenced Tom Brady’s brief retirement from the NFL.
“I don’t want to be a [Tom] Brady about it because I retired from Home Improvement under a lot of stress because they had offered me quite an offer to come back and do a ninth and 10th season of Home Improvement,” he shared at the time. “[Wayne] Gretzky was retiring, the hockey player. … A couple quarterbacks were retiring that year. I was just watching sports. I love sports and they all left at the top of their game and that was an interesting thing.”
“I love what I do. I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t do this,” he explained to Us. “To me, I’ve got a bunch of buddies that like to fish. Not a big fisherman. I can’t sit around. Golf is more of — I worked harder at golf than I’ve ever worked in any job. It’s so much stress. [Jay] Leno and I both agree. I love it. I love what I do. It’s not [work] at all [to me]. So this is what I’d like to do.”
One year later, Allen noted that taking a break was not on his radar, telling The New York Post, “I think it was, [NFL coach John] Madden said it. A football guy said, ‘I’ve never worked a day in my life.’ For those of us blessed to do what we love to do, I can’t imagine retirement.”
Planning to Move On
Disney/Justin Stephens
“This probably will be the end of it,” Allen revealed to USA Today in February 2025. “That sounds depressing, but I did [Shifting Gears] because it seemed like a good idea that would be fun. That’s really it.”
Allen admitted it would be hard to slow down, adding, “I just love being around the camera people and actors and the crew, so much so that I’m more uncomfortable at the thought of leaving the set and, God forbid, going to play golf.”
