Through the ever-changing landscape of animation, Pixar has remained at the top of the proverbial totem pole. Establishing itself as a household name with its unmatched collection of critically acclaimed hits, the entertainment giant has pioneered more than a few aspects of the medium over the years. There is a certain magnitude to having the "Pixar" name stamped on a film and, with it, a reassurance that viewers will be in capable hands.

Being responsible for leading innovation that changed the medium as a whole and establishing the use of CGI animation for feature-length films, it's only natural that a studio willing to take such risks would also be willing to grow and change. It has also been far from a smooth ride for the fabled animation studio, full of peaks and crevices and roadblocks along the way, despite which Pixar has remained one of the most prolific names in the world of animated films.

What differentiates the modern era of Pixar films from the original releases way back in the '90s, and how has the company itself grown with a vastly different entertainment medium? Through experimental beginnings and monumental accolades, let's see how the company has stayed fresh after all these years.

Update November 12, 2023: Following the release of the trailer for Inside Out 2, this article has been updated with more information related to the story of Pixar and the studio's remarkable journey.

Early Beginnings of Pixar

Luxo Jr (1986)
Pixar

Pixar's humble beginnings were conceived in the '70s as part of George Lucas' Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Division. The team comprised a handful of tech experts from all across the United States at the time who were tasked with designing the Pixar Image Computer - a supercomputer capable of processing pixels faster than any other computer ever made, and one that was years ahead of other general-purpose supercomputers of the era. The earliest use of Pixar's technology in mainstream Hollywood films came in 1982 with a short sequence in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and then in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in 1983.

But after news that the Lucasfilm Computer Graphics Group was set to be axed in 1983, the team of 40 employees banded together to break away and form a company of their own led by Ed Catmull, Alvy Ray Smith and Loren Carpenter. Pixar would eventually successfully detach itself from Lucasfilm and be purchased by none other than Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs, who had just been forced out of Apple in what was a Hail Mary pitch by the breakaway team. After Jobs injected $10 million into the company after acquiring a 70% stake, the team began their laser-focused vision of revolutionizing the potential behind computer-generated animation, and began creating new remarkable shorts utilizing their state-of-the-art software.

Tin Toy to Toy Story

Woody and Buzz from Toy Story
Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures

The Pixar team dream of making what they called, "The Movie" - which was their longstanding vision to create a full-length feature film that was completely animated. The difference is night and day between how Pixar's earlier work compares visually to what the company and medium as a whole has been able to produce in more recent years. The stunning photorealistic effects we see in modern animation have these early test shorts to thank for providing the foundation.

Shorts such as Tin Toy would not only be an excellent way for the newly founded company to get their feet wet with computer animation, but the idea of centering around the life of toys (due in part to not being able to animate humans without looking uncanny) would most definitely stick, leading to the conception of Toy Story in 1995.

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The first of Pixar's theatrical releases, and the progenitor of fully computer animated movies, Toy Story's monstrous success would be responsible for putting the studio on the map, kick-starting a digital medium that was otherwise struggling during the era. Followed up by more hits, such as an adventure focused on bugs in A Bug's Life (1998) or a world populated by monsters in Monsters Inc (2001), and the highly anticipated follow-up to Toy Story in Toy Story 2 (1999) this would begin what many fans deem as the "golden era" of Pixar's legacy.

The Disney Acquisition

Remy in Ratatouille
Walt Disney Studios
Pixar

When there's a new animation company making a splash, it's only a matter of time until the big mouse is on the scene to investigate. Disney would strike a deal with Pixar for $26 million to produce five fully computer animated feature films, starting with Toy Story. Contention grew between the two companies, however, as disputes between Steve Jobs and then CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner, seemed to cause constant renegotiation. A prime example of Pixar's initial defiance towards its would-be parent company happens to take the form of their much-beloved sequel, Toy Story 2.

After experiencing financial success from direct-to-video sequels of theatrical films, Disney had plans to do the same for Toy Story's next outing. With production on the animated movie being crunched into only a year's worth of time due to having to restart the entire project, Pixar remained adamant that their landmark franchise should have a theatrical follow-up that stands tall next to the original. After long hours of exhausting work, the team managed to release another hit, though Disney maintained that, because of their initial demands to make the film direct-to-video, it would not count towards their three-movie deal. This is despite the film grossing $500 million and making Disney a massive profit, and even though the film remains arguably the most beloved of all Toy Story movies.

Tensions were high between the two companies, and would eventually lead to their brief split in 2004, to which Steve Jobs announced that Pixar was actively looking for other partners. It was an unsure time for the animation studio, which had created a name for itself with a handful of timeless classics in an impressively short amount of time. Cars was set to be the studios final film distributed through Disney. During this time period when they were unsure who they would be making films for and who would distribute them, they also set out to make three of their most experimental films that were seen as being riskier than what Disney would have wanted: Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up.

Though, soon after the departure of Michael Eisner from Disney in 2005, Bob Iger became CEO and looked to repair the damaged relationship between Disney and Pixar as he saw the value of the brand. He noted that on a recent trip to the parks, all the new characters in the parades were from Pixar films and had been the ones that connected with audiences. Negotiations between the companies opened back up, and in 2006, Pixar would officially be purchased outright by Disney for $7.4 billion.

The Sequel Era

The Incredibles 2 Helen, Jack Jack, Violet, Bob, and Dash
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

By the late 2000s Pixar had an unmatched track record of success, with films such as Ratatouille, Wall-E, and Up proving that more than a decade of nearly annual releases hadn't made the company lose its touch. After giving in to the temptation of seeing classic characters come back for another nostalgia-inducing adventure with Toy Story 3 in 2010, Pixar's age of sequels had unofficially begun, and original ideas seemed to take a back seat.

While certain animated sequels ended up being very well received by critics and audiences, others, such as the infamous Cars 2, marked the end of Pixar's winning streak. The 2010s were a mixed year for the studio. They certainly had hits with original films like Inside Out and Coco, but they also had some misfires with Brave and The Good Dinosaur which had major problems behind the scenes. While sequels like Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4 were major box office hits many were sad to see Pixar shift from original feature films to more sequels as they were once one of the few studios who could get audiences excited about original ideas.

The Firing of John Lassetter and New Leadership

Mei, as a red panda, dances with her friends at Tyler's party in Turning Red.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

In November 2017, just days before the release of Coco, the animation news was dealt the devastating news that Pixar co-founder John Lasseter was taking a leave of absence from Pixar following years of sexual misconduct allegations. The sexual misconduct allegations had gone back years and were so widespread Pixar had people there to reign in his impulses. Lassiter was let go from Disney in 2018, and on June 19, 2018, just days after the release of Incredibles 2, Pete Doctor was named chief creative officer at Pixar.

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Doctor was the director of acclaimed Pixar films like Monsters Inc., WALL-E, and Inside Out. Under his leadership, there was a focus on propping up new talent within Pixar and offering voices to different types of stories. Following Toy Story 4 in 2019, the company would shift focus to a series of original ideas from some of Pixar's most exciting voices.

Dan Scanlon's Onward, Enrico Casarosa Luca, Domme Shi's Turning Red, and Peter Sohn's Elemental were all more personal tales offering unique perspectives from various creators. In these films, Pixar took leaps into new visual styles unique to their films that showed Pixar was willing to take a chance on fresh ideas, just like they did during their conception. Yet this slew of original ideas coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Current Phase Of Pixar & Competition With Newer Animated Films

Elemental Ember and Wade pose for picture
Pixar Animation Studios

Onward hit theaters on March 6, 2020. Just one week later, theaters across the United States would shut down following the COVID-19 pandemic. Disney delayed Soul for as long as they could but then decided to release the film on Christmas Day on Disney+. While this was thought of as a one-time experiment, new Disney CEO Bob Chapek saw it as a way to boost the struggling streaming service. Despite theaters opening up, both Luca and Turning Red were sent straight to Disney+.

In a cynical move, the first Pixar film to get a theatrical release was the one tied to an old IP: Lightyear, which was a new spin on the Toy Story franchise. While it certainly was not a cynical sequel or cash grab, it was telling this was the movie Disney took a chance on in theaters. By the time the movie opened, audiences had gotten used to seeing Pixar films on Disney+, and Lightyear became a box office bomb. This led to Disney firing many Pixar employees a year later, including Lightyear director Angus McClane and Galyn Susman, a long-time Pixar animated who saved Toy Story 2 after she had a copy of the film on a hard drive at home she was working on while pregnant when the movie was accidentally deleted.

Pixar is also no longer the biggest animation game in town. While Pixar and DreamWorks were always competitors, in 2010, a new challenger emerged with Illumination Entertainment. Franchises like Minions and the new The Super Mario Bros. Movie have made them one of the biggest animation studios in the world. Plus, following the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, various other animation studios have followed in their footsteps, including Paramount's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and DreamWorks' Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

While it might seem like Pixar's best days are behind them, Pete Docter spoke about his plans for the animation giant in the coming years. While Elemental was originally seen as a failure, it soon found success at the box office thanks to positive word of mouth and now has become one of the most-watched films on Dinsey+.

Times have certainly changed a great deal since Pixar began, and through all these years, it seems as though the studio has never forgotten its goal: to make great films with great people. Fans hope that, with the door now open, future projects from the company will continue to push boundaries and take the medium even further than ever before. Though some critics would claim that the company has faltered over the last decade, it cannot be understated that Pixar's collection remains the most impressive set of hit animated films to be released over a short period of time, outnumbering even the Disney Renaissance era in consistent quality.

What may have begun as an experimental off-shoot of trying to engineer new technology and its capabilities has blossomed into a titan of cinema, providing the world and countless childhoods with unforgettable memories and timeless stories, and like many others, we'll always look forward to seeing what's on the horizon from Pixar.