North Texas' biggest corporate residents vowed to get more involved in state politics after Republican state leaders made it a top priority to try and enact laws restricting bathroom access for transgender Texans despite fierce opposition from major employers.

But Toyota wasn't one of the companies that signed on to the effort. And although Toyota executives have long touted the automaker's inclusive ethos and focus on diversity, the company declined to stake a clear position in the debate about the so-called bathroom bill.

Toyota, which moved its North American headquarters to Plano a year ago, is still trying to settle in according to Jim Lentz, CEO for North America operations, who spoke to The Dallas Morning News from the Detroit Auto Show. The automaker employs thousands of workers in Texas, including at a truck factory in San Antonio.

“Give us time and we’ll be involved,” he said. “I don’t want to push too quickly and kind of be the smart Alec on the block who comes in with all their California ideas that may not be welcome.”

One of the automaker’s top priorities, executives have said since they first announced the Plano move, is becoming a strong contributor to the community -- becoming, as Lentz put it, “more of the fabric of Texas, more of the fabric of Dallas.”

And that, he said, takes time. Employees are encouraged to lend their expertise to community organizations and join nonprofit boards and, he said, the ones who have are “really starting to understand more about the community.”

Nevertheless, Lentz emphasized that the company, “made sure team members knew what we stood for,” during the bathroom bill debate. He highlighted that the company has extended benefits to same sex partners for “a long time.”

The company recently earned a perfect 100 score in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which evaluated companies based on their protections of LGBTQ workers.

“We are not going to change,” he said.

Read more from the News' conversation with Lentz here: