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Extended Inquiry Project

To Infinity and Beyond: The History behind the Craft and its Original Masterpiece, Toy Story

Hannah Schirmer

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

April 1, 2017
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Childhood. A term that has one definition but holds another meaning in an individuals

heart and mind. Some peoples childhood is in a book they read, a tradition they partook in, or a

superhero that they still might look up to even after all of those years. My childhood revolved

around a little boy named Andy and his best friend, Woody. If you have not guessed what my

childhood was then I am so sorry to inform you that you did not have a proper childhood

yourself. The Toy Story films were my childhood. I watched the films about as regularly as I ate

a meal. I spent the majority of my time at Disney searching for the characters, I was Jessie for

Halloween, and I wanted nothing more than to have the walls of my bedroom covered in the little

white clouds that were in Andys room. Even now I am at the very mature age of nineteen and I

still reach for the films and have the sense of childlike wonder as I did when I was a child.

However, the subject of my wonder has shifted. As I child I was consumed by the idea that my

toys could come to life and now I am taken aback by how the movie itself was brought to life.

For my topic of inquiry, I explored the history of animation within Pixar, the background of the

relationship between Disney and Pixar, and how Toy Story changed the film industry by being

the worlds first computer animated feature film.

It is safe to say that if one was to put a symbol to Pixar it would be the iconic lamp Luxo

that hops across the screen before every Pixar film. Luxo is an iconic characteristic of Pixar but

few know the story associated with the famous beacon. The backbone of Pixar began in 1979

when George Lucas enlisted Ed Catmull to be the head of the Lucasfilms Computer Division.

This group was in charge of developing top of the line computer technology that was ultimately

geared toward the film industry. Going into this partnership Lucas crafted a wish list. He wanted,

a digital (nonlinear) film editing system, a digital (nonlinear) sound editing system, a laser film

printer, and further exploration of computer graphics (Pixar 1). Another key member in the
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original crew was John Lasseter. Lasseter was invited to work with the Graphics Group in 1983

as a freelancer and was then hired full-time in 1984 as an Interface Designer. Two years later two

household names entered the picture, Steve Jobs and Pixar. In 1986 Jobs purchased the

Computer Division from Lucas and established the division as the independent company known

as Pixar. Pixars first project Luxo Jr. debuted in November of 1986, was Lassiters official

directorial debut, and will become the first three-dimensional computer animated film to be

nominated for an Oscar. Since the work was a short film it fell under the category of Best Short

Film but none the less it had a nomination. As Pixar grew in popularity it landed a new partner

that would help take the company even further than they ever imagined. (Pixar 1)

In 1991 Disney partnered up with Pixar with Disney in charge of marketing and

distribution and Pixar in charge of making the films. At the time, Disney was far more popular

than Pixar due to their accomplishments with their theme parks, TV channels, a publishing

house, film studios, film production and distribution companies, and a circuit of outlets for sales

of tie-in merchandising (Barthelemy 1). For those unfamiliar with the term tie-in

merchandising, it refers to the merchandise that is associated with a film. For example a Woody

doll from the Toy Story film is considered tie-in merchandising. However, Pixar had the

technology, brains, and slight desperation to carry out the film making aspect. Steve Jobs was

about to sell the company due to bankruptcy but decided to push through and formulate a

contract with Disney to partner up and make three full-length 3D animated films. One of the

biggest terms stated in the contract is that Pixar would make the films and Disney would

distribute them. Between the years 1995 and 2005, the films produced by the partnership made

over $3 billion in box office sales worldwide. Pixars CEO, Steve Jobs, described the partnership
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as one of the most successful in Hollywood history (Barthelemy 1). After the success with the

partnership Disney eventually bought out Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion (Barthelemy 1).

In 1995 the ultimate partnership created the masterpiece and groundbreaking film that is

Toy Story. Toy Story released November 22, 1995. It opened at #1 the weekend it premiered

and made $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide. These numbers made the film

the highest grossing film of the year. Toy Story was deemed the worlds first full length

computer animated feature film and was nominated for many academy awards but the

nomination that made history was its nomination for Best Original Screenplay. This is significant

because it was the first time that an animated film is recognized for screenplay. After Toy Storys

wild success Pixar made an announcement stating that they would no longer make commercials

and they would focus on making longer-format and interactive entertainment. Given the success

of the power duo,, Walt Disney Studios and Pixar Animation Studios made and agreement to

produce five films over ten years together. Those films included A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2,

Monsters inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Not only did Toy Story make history, it also

made the future.

In 2015 Toy Story celebrated its 20th birthday and ABC News paid tribute to the film by

honoring five of the biggest accomplishments the film had. The first accomplishment that was

addressed was how Toy Story altered the way animated films were made. One of the more

groundbreaking pieces of technology that was made during the creation of Toy Story was the

ability to store digital scenes, sets, and characters. This was extremely beneficial because it

meant that the animators would not have to re-draw each scene, set, and character. This reduced

the time and manual labor that would go into producing the film. The next accomplishment

acknowledged was that Toy Story provided a chain reaction that led to some of the most
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profitable films of all time. With Toy Storys success in the box offices, it showed that animated

films had the potential to make just as much money as live-action films.This prompted other

animation studios such as Dreamworks to start producing animated films left and right. As of

right now, Frozen and Minions are among the top ten highest-grossing films ever and both are

computer-animated. The third success recognized was that Toy Story paved the way for animated

films to appear at award shows such as the Oscars. The co-writer and director of the film, John

Lasseter, received a Special Achievement Oscar in the year 1996. The film also received

recognition for Best Screenplay and that was not the last time. Finding Nemo, UP, Ratatouille,

WALL-E, and The Incredibles also were recognized for Best Screenplay. The fourth

accomplishment was that more Hollywood stars started to voice animated characters. Celebrities

did voice animated characters before Toy Story but it was not until after Toy Story that more A-

listers, such as Ellen DeGeneres, started to help bring the animated characters to life. The fifth

and final accomplishment recognized was that Toy Story broke the idea that all animated films

had to be musicals. Majority of animated films that came before Toy Story were in fact musicals.

However, given the storyline and buddy movie nature of the film, the screenwriters established

that it would be a really bad musical. Toy Story broke the stereotype associated with animated

films and musicals and it definitely worked for the best. Overall Toy Story not only made history,

but paved a new road for the animation and film industry to travel along. (Messer 1)

Toy Story has been described as a milestone for animation, possibly the most significant

since the introduction of color (Zorthian 1).. It paved the way for so many new ideas and also

established a root in which the world of animation has blossomed from. Possibly the most iconic

quote in the entire Toy Story franchise is To Infinity and Beyond. While in the film, this quote

refers to the friendship that Woody and Buzz have and the love Woody has for Andy and how
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both will go on forever, I believe that it also pertains to the world of animation itself. We all

know that technology is always evolving and when we think it has finally peaked, someone

comes up with another idea and people go out and try to make it a reality. This is why animation

is where it is today. Upon research I discovered that new technology, or improvement of existing

technology, is made in every film. Whether it be creating a new software all together or figuring

out a way to add more depth to something as small as a cloud on a wall, the technology behind

animation improves every step of the way and that is what is so beautiful about the art of

animation. If you were to take anything away from this project take away two things. First,

animation is one of the finest arts and Toy Story is its original masterpiece.. The second and final

takeaway, is to always take your childhood with you to infinity and beyond.

Works Cited

Barthelemy, Jerome. Organized Dynamics. Vol. 40, Elsevier B.V.,

www.sciencedirect.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/science/article/pii/S0090261610000756.

Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.

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Messer, Lesley. 'Toy Story' Turns 20: How It Changed Animated Films Forever. ABC News,

ABC News Network, 22 Nov. 2015, http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/toy-story-

turns-20-changed-animated-films-forever/story?id=35281890 . Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.

Pixar. Pixar, www.pixar.com/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.

Zorthian, Julia. Toy Story at 20: How the Pixar Film Changed Movie History. Time, Time, 19

Nov. 2015, time.com/4118006/20-years-toy-story-pixar/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2017.