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Introduction

Pixar Animation Studios is an Academy Award ®-winning computer animation studio with the
technical, creative and production capabilities to create a new generation of animated feature
films, merchandise and other related products. Pixar's objective is to combine proprietary
technology and world-class creative talent to develop computer-animated feature films with
memorable characters and heartwarming stories that appeal to audiences of all ages.
Feature Films
On November 22, 1995, Pixar Animation Studios forever impacted the future of filmmaking,
storytelling and the medium of animation with the release of its first feature film,
Disney·Pixar's Toy Story. Released nine years after the founding of Pixar, Toy Story exhibited
years of creative and technical achievements from a small group of passionate computer
scientists and animators, led by present day President Ed Catmull and Chief Creative Officer
John Lasseter. The film, marking the birth of the new medium of computer animation, went on
to become the highest grossing film of 1995 with $362 million in worldwide box office
receipts. Lasseter, director of Toy Story, was honored with a Special Achievement Academy
Award® for his "inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team resulting in the first feature-
length computer animated film."

Since Toy Story's release in 1995, Pixar Animation Studios, in partnership with Walt Disney
Studios Motion Pictures, has also created and produced A Bug's Life (1998), Toy Story 2
(1999), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Cars (2006),
Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and most recently Toy Story 3 (2010). The 11
feature films have resulted in an unprecedented streak of both critical and box office successes,
and combined to gross more than $6 billion at the worldwide box office. The first 10 feature
films, through Up, have garnered 35 Academy Award® nominations, nine Oscars®, six Golden
Globes® and numerous other accolades.

From toys, bugs, monsters, fish and superheroes to cars, rats, robots and septuagenarians,
Pixary's talented creative and technical teams have given audiences of all ages some of the
most beloved characters in film. Pairing these unique, relatable characters with compelling
stories and immersive, believable worlds, Pixar continually delivers on its promise to truly
entertain audiences all over the world.
Short Films
Pixar Animation Studios has long believed in making short films. In 1986, Pixar's first-ever
short, Luxo Jr., launched a new direction in animated filmmaking, using three-dimensional
computer animation to tell a story. Since then, nearly every feature film that Pixar has released
has included a short beforehand, bringing back a tradition that was once an expected pleasure
for filmgoers.

Pixar's shorts have helped foster and develop technologies and talent at the studio, but they are
mostly made for one simple reason: love of the art form. From Tin Toy's (1989) toy-tormenting
baby to Partly Cloudy's (2009) adorable storks, Pixar's shorts have delighted audiences and
earned critical praise, garnering nine Academy Award® nominations and three Best Animated
Short Film Academy Awards®. Day & Night, the studio's most recent short, debuted in theaters
with Toy Story 3.
Technology
Since its incorporation, Pixar has been responsible for many important breakthroughs in the
application of computer graphics (CG) for filmmaking. Consequently, the company has
attracted some of the world's finest talent in this area. Pixar's technical and creative teams have
collaborated since 1986 to develop a wealth of production software used in-house to create its
movies and further the state of the art in CG movie making. This proprietary technology allows
the production of animated images of a quality, richness and vibrancy that are unique in the
industry, and above all, allows the director to precisely control the end results in a way that is
exactly right for the story. Pixar continues to invest heavily in its software systems and believes
that further advancements will lead to additional productivity and quality improvements in the
making of its computer animated films.

Pixar also has a long standing tradition of sharing its advances within the broader CG
community, through technical papers, technology partnerships, and most notably through its
publicly available RenderMan product for the highest-quality, photo-realistic images currently
available. RenderMan remains the standard in CG film visual effects and feature animation and
has been honored with an Academy Award for technical achievement.

In 2001, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' Board of Governors® honored Ed
Catmull, president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, Loren Carpenter, senior scientist,
and Rob Cook, vice president of software engineering, with an Academy Award of Merit
(Oscar®) "for significant advancements to the field of motion picture rendering as exemplified
in Pixar's RenderMan." In 2002, the Producer's Guild of America honored Pixar with the
Guild's inaugural Vanguard Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in new media
and technology.
Creative Team
Pixar's creative department is led by Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, an Academy
Award®-winning director and animator. Under the guidance of Lasseter, Pixar has built a
creative team that includes a department of highly skilled animators, a story department and an
art department. This team is responsible for creating, writing and animating all of Pixar's films.
Pixar strives to hire animators who have superior acting ability - those able to bring characters
and inanimate objects to life, as though they have their own thought processes. In order to
attract and retain quality animators, the company founded Pixar University, which conducts
three-month long courses for new and existing animators. Pixar also has a complete production
team that gives the company the capability to control all elements of production of its films.
Pixar has successfully expanded the production team so projects may be worked on
simultaneously.
Disney Relationship
Since the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney in 1937, animated films
have become one of the most universally enjoyed forms of entertainment. Disney has a long
history of developing, producing, and distributing films such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin
and The Lion King. The stories and characters of these popular animated feature films have
become part of our modern mythology, enjoyed generation after generation. Traditionally, these
popular animated feature films have been created using the time-consuming and labor-
intensive process of two-dimensional, hand-drawn cel animation.

In May 1991, Pixar entered into an agreement with Walt Disney Pictures for the development
and production of up to three computer animated feature films to be marketed and distributed
by Disney. It was pursuant to this agreement that Toy Story was developed, produced, and
distributed. In February 1997, Pixar entered into a new Co-Production Agreement with Disney
pursuant to which Pixar, on an exclusive basis, agreed to produce five original computer-
animated feature-length theatrical motion pictures for distribution by Disney. The five original
Pictures under the Co-Production Agreement were A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding
Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars. Toy Story 2, the theatrical sequel to Toy Story, was released
in November 1999, and is also included in the Co-Production Agreement. Ratatouille was
subsequently added to the terms of the Co-Production Agreement in January 2006.

On January 24, 2006, Pixar entered into an agreement with The Walt Disney Company to
merge the two companies. The deal was approved by shareholders of both companies and the
merger became effective on May 5, 2006. Pixar is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt
Disney Company.

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