A to Z of Animation Studios: P Is for Pixar
The studio that taught a lamp to hop and taught the rest of us to cry at toys.
P is for Pixar
The start: REAL: Pixar began in 1979 as the computer graphics group at Lucasfilm, George Lucas's company. In 1986, Steve Jobs bought the group and it became Pixar. Early on, it mostly sold computers and made short films to show off its software.
The shorts that changed everything: - Luxo Jr. (1986). Two desk lamps and a ball. The little lamp became Pixar's logo. - Tin Toy (1988). REAL: the first computer-animated film to win an Academy Award.
The big moment: REAL: Toy Story (1995) was the first feature film made entirely with computer animation. In 2006, Disney bought Pixar.
Masterpieces
Toy Story (1995). Toys come alive when you leave the room. Every kid already suspected this.
The Incredibles (2004). A superhero family trying to live a normal life.
Finding Nemo (2003). A nervous dad crosses the ocean for his son.
Ratatouille (2007). "Anyone can cook." A rat proves it.
WALL-E (2008). Almost no dialogue for its first act, and somehow you're crying over a trash robot.
Up (2009). Those first ten minutes. We don't need to talk about it.
Inside Out (2015). Feelings, with feelings.
Coco (2017). Family, music and memory.
The middle and the misses
Brave (2012). Underrated. A mother-daughter story with real weight.
The Good Dinosaur (2015). Gorgeous landscapes, a story that had a hard time finding its footing.
Cars 2 (2011). A spy movie starring a tow truck. Bold choice.
Lightyear (2022). A movie about the movie Andy saw that made him want the toy. Confusing on paper and on screen.
The Pixar formula
"What if ___ had feelings?" Toys, cars, fish, emotions, robots.
A happy start, then a loss. Something breaks early.
A bittersweet, hopeful ending. You laugh, you cry, you call your mom.
The Braintrust. Pixar's directors famously review each other's films in honest feedback sessions until the story works.
REAL fun fact: look for "A113" in Pixar movies. It's the number of a classroom at CalArts, where many Pixar animators studied.
Honorable mention: PDI (Pacific Data Images)
A computer graphics studio that joined DreamWorks and made Antz (1998), one of the earliest computer-animated features after Toy Story. REAL: PDI also co-produced Shrek (2001), the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. DreamWorks closed PDI in 2015.
The lesson
Pixar's real secret isn't the technology. It's the Braintrust: honest feedback, given and taken. Every great story gets rewritten many times. Pixar just isn't afraid to say "this isn't working yet."
Up next
Q is for Qubo.
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