The approach of axisymmetric, homogeneous turbulence to isotropy using the direct interaction approximation is investigated. The turbulence is characterized by two parameters, the spectral variance transverse and parallel to the direction of axisymmetry. The dependence of these energy components on wave vector orientation is developed into a spherical harmonic expansion, and only low order terms are examined in detail. In terms of this characterization of the theory, the general qualitative nature of the relaxation to isotropy is discussed and numerical results for the energy spectrum and transfer functions are presented. It is shown that the simplest characterization of the theory leads to an almost linear relaxation to isotropy. The numerical results at moderate Reynolds numbers are compared to the phenomenological theory of Rotta [J. C. Rotta, Z. Physik129,547 (1951)]. A simple analytic estimate of the Rotta relaxation rate is also presented.