Schirmer 1

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
 Schirmer 2

Childhood. A term that has one definition but holds another meaning in an individuals

everyones 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., the most well-

known cowboy doll to ever exist. 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 Formatted: Font: Italic

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 broughtcame 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 Formatted: Font: Italic

feature film. Not only did Toy Story impact my life, it impacted the lives of anyone who enjoys

the film industry.

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.Everyone knows the iconic lamp that

hops across the screen at the beginning of every Pixar film, fun fact the lamps name is Luxo, but

very 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
 Schirmer 3

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 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 Formatted: Font: Italic

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
 Schirmer 4

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

as one of the most successful in Hollywood history and not many can argue that(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 was released in theaters November 22, in the year 1995. It opened at #1 the Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
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 Formatted: Font: Italic

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 Formatted: Font: Italic

commercials and they would focus on making longer-format and interactive entertainment.

Given the success of the power duo, Building off of that, Walt Disney Studios and Pixar

Animation Studios made and agreement to produce five films over ten10 years together. Those

films included A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Not Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
only did Toy Story make history, it also made the future.
Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
In 2015 Toy Story celebrated its 20th birthday and ABCabc NewsEWS paid tribute to the
Formatted: Font: Italic

film by honoring five of the biggest accomplishments the film had. The first accomplishment Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
that was addressed was how Toy Story altered the way animated films were made. One of the Formatted: Font: Italic
 Schirmer 5

more groundbreaking pieces of technology that was made during the creation of Toy Story was Formatted: Font: Italic

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.part which

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

accomplishment acknowledgedhonored was that Toy Story provided a chain reaction that led to Formatted: Font: Italic

some of the most profitable films of all time. With Toy Storys success in the box offices, it Formatted: Font: Italic

showed that animated films had the potential to make just as much money as live-action films.

andThis prompted other animation studios such as Dreamworks to start producing so studios

began creating animated films left and right. As of right now, Frozen and Minions are among the Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
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 Formatted: Font: Italic

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 Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Underline
were recognized for Best Screenplay. The fourth accomplishment was that more Hollywood stars
Formatted: Font: Italic

started to voice animated characters. Celebrities did voice animated characters before Toy Story Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
but it was not until after Toy Story that more A-listers, such as Ellen DeGeneres, started to help Formatted: Font: Italic

bring the animated characters to life. The fifth and final accomplishment recognized was that Toy Formatted: Font: Italic
Formatted: Font: Italic
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 Formatted: Font: Italic

nature of the film, the screenwriters established that it would be a really bad musical. Toy Story Formatted: Font: Italic

broke the stereotype associated with animated films and musicals and it definitely worked for the
 Schirmer 6

best. Overall Toy Story not only made history, but paved a new road for the animation and film Formatted: Font: Italic

industry to travel along. (Messer 1)

Toy Story has been described as a milestone for animation, possibly the most significant Formatted: Font: Italic

since the introduction of color (Zorthian 1). In all honesty, not many can argue that statement. 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 Formatted: Font: Italic

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 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 Formatted: Font: Italic

original masterpiece. that no one will forget. The second and final takeaway, is to always take

your childhood with you to infinity and beyond.

 Schirmer 7

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.

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.