Entertainment/Pixar Films
Pixar
Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs
The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, a transaction that resulted in Jobs becoming Disney's largest single shareholder at the time. Luxo Jr., the desk lamp character from a 1986 Pixar short film of the same name, is the mascot of the studio
The company is based in Emeryville, California
Pixar is best known for its CGI-animated feature films created with PhotoRealistic RenderMan, its own implementation of the industry-standard RenderMan image-rendering application programming interface used to generate high-quality images
Directors
John Lasseter oversees all of Pixar's films and associated projects as executive producer. In addition, he directed Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Cars, and Cars 2. Since 2007, he also oversees all of Walt Disney Animation Studios' films. He will direct Toy Story 4
Andrew Stanton wrote and directed A Bug's Life (as co-director), Finding Nemo, and WALL-E. He also co-wrote all three Toy Story films and Monsters, Inc. He is currently in charge of directing the sequel to Finding Nemo, entitled Finding Dory
Pete Docter directed Monsters, Inc., Up and Inside Out and is a key figure and collaborator in Pixar Animation Studios
Brad Bird directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille. Both films place among Pixar's highest-grossing features and gave Brad Bird two Academy Award for Best Animated Feature wins
Lee Unkrich started at Pixar as a film editor. After co-directing Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo, Lee Unkrich made his solo directorial debut with Toy Story 3
Music
Randy Newman has scored seven Pixar films – A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc., Cars, Monsters University, and all three Toy Story films
“You've Got a Friend in Me” is a song written and first recorded by Randy Newman. Originally written as the theme song for Toy Story, it has since become the theme song for its sequels, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3
Thomas Newman is the cousin of Randy Newman. He scored Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
Michael Giacchino scored Ratatouille, Up, and Cars 2
Recurring characters
John Ratzenberger has had a voice part in all of Pixar's feature films made to date
The Films
Toy Story (1995)
Toy Story follows a group of anthropomorphic toys who pretend to be lifeless whenever humans are present, and focuses on the relationship between Woody and Buzz Lightyear. The toys are owned by a boy named Andy Davis.
Buzz Lightyear’s catchphrase is "To infinity... and beyond!"
Toy Story was the first Disney/Pixar film to be made, as well as the first feature film in history to be made entirely with CGI
Woody Tom Hanks
Buzz Lightyear Tim Allen
Mr. Potato Head Don Rickles
Slinky Dog Jim Varney. A dachshund
Rex Wallace Shawn. A green Tyrannosaurus rex
Hamm John Ratzenberger. A piggy bank
Bo Peep Annie Potts. A shepherdess and Woody’s love interest
Andy Davis John Morris
A Bug’s Life (1998)
Tells the tale of an oddball individualist ant, Flik, who hires what he thinks are "warrior bugs" (actually circus performers) to fight off greedy grasshoppers. The film is a retelling of Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper
Flik Dave Foley
Hopper Kevin Spacey. Dictator of the grasshopper gang
Princess Atta Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The soon-to-be queen of the colony
Dot Hayden Panettiere. Princess Atta's younger sister
Queen Phyllis Diller. The leader of the ant colony
P.T. Flea John Ratzenberger The owner of the circus
Toy Story 2 (1999)
Woody is stolen by a toy collector, Al McWhiggin, prompting Buzz Lightyear and his friends to vow to rescue him.
Bullseye is Woody’s horse. Evil Emperor Zurg is a space villain action figure and Buzz Lightyear's archenemy
Woody Tom Hanks
Buzz Lightyear Tim Allen
Mr. Potato Head Don Rickles
Slinky Dog Jim Varney
Rex Wallace Shawn
Hamm John Ratzenberger
Bo Peep Annie Potts
Andy Davis John Morris
Jessie Joan Cusack
Mrs. Potato Head Estelle Harris
Barbie Jodi Benson
Stinky Pete Kelsey Grammer
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
The film centres on two monsters employed at the titular Monsters, Inc.: top scarer James P. "Sulley" Sullivan and his one-eyed partner and best friend Mike Wazowski. Monsters, Inc. employees generate their city's power by targeting and scaring children, but they are themselves afraid that the children may contaminate them. Randall “Randy” Boggs, a multi-legged lizard-shaped monster with a chameleon-like ability to change skin colour and blend in completely with his surroundings, is Mike and Sulley's rival in scream collection
Sulley John Goodman
Mike Billy Crystal
Randy Steve Buscemi
Abominable Snowman John Ratzenberger
Finding Nemo (2003)
Tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin who along with a regal tang called Dory, searches for his son Nemo. Along the way he learns to take risks and that his son is capable of taking care of himself
Marlin Albert Brooks
Dory Ellen DeGeneres
Nemo Alexander Gould
Gill Willem Dafoe
Bruce Barry Humphries
The Incredibles (2004)
The film's title is the name of a family of superheroes who are forced to hide their powers and live a quiet suburban life. Mr. Incredible's desire to help people draws the entire family into a battle with a villain (Syndrome) and his killer robot
The Pizza Planet truck appears in every Pixar film except The Incredibles
Bob Parr / Mr. Incredible Craig Nelson
Helen / Elastigirl Holly Hunter
Violet Parr Sarah Vowell
Dash Parr Spencer Fox
Frozone Samuel L Jackson. Bob’s best friend
Edna Mode Brad Bird. Costume designer
Cars (2006)
While traveling to California for the dispute of the final race of the Piston Cup against The King and Chick Hicks, Lightning McQueen accidentally damages the road of the small town Radiator Springs and is sentenced to repair it. Lightning McQueen has to work hard and finds friendship and love in the simple locals.
Pixar's last film before the company was bought by Disney. It is the second Pixar film – after A Bug's Life – to have an entirely non-human cast
Lightning McQueen Owen Wilson
Doc Hudson Paul Newman. A 1951 Hudson Hornet
Sally Carrera Bonnie Hunt. A 2002 Porsche 911 Carrera
Mater Larry the Cable Guy. A 1951 tow truck
Ratatouille (2007)
The plot follows Remy, a rat who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy, Linguini. The restaurant was made famous by Reme’s culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Remy guides Linguini like a marionette by pulling on his hair while hidden under Linguini's toque
Remy Patton Oswalt
Skinner Ian Holm. Head chef
Linguini Lou Romano
Anton Ego Peter O’Toole. Food critic nicknamed “The Grim Eater”
Colette Janeane Garofalo. Gusteau's rôtisseur (roast cook)
WALL-E (2008)
Follows the story of a robot named WALL-E who is designed to clean up a polluted Earth, facilitated by the megacorporation Buy 'n' Large ("BnL") in 2805. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure
WALL-E – Waste Allocation Load Lifter – Earth class
EVE – Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator
Sigourney Weaver is the voice of the Axiom 's computer
WALL-E so far has been the only Pixar film to not be completely animated, as it featured a small element of live-action footage
WALL-E Ben Burtt
EVE Elissa Knight
Captain McCrea Jeff Garlin. Commander of the starliner Axiom
Up (2009)
The film centres on an elderly widower, named Carl Fredricksen, and a young Wilderness Explorer, named Russell, who fly to South America in a house suspended by helium balloons. Carl idolizes famous explorer Charles Muntz. Muntz has been accused of fabricating the skeleton of a giant exotic bird he says he discovered at Paradise Falls, and vows to return there to catch one alive
Carl Fredericksen Ed Asner
Russell Jordan Nagai
Charles Muntz Christopher Plummer
Dug Bob Peterson. A Golden Retriever
Kevin Pete Docter. The “Beast of Paradise Falls”, a large prehistoric bird
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Andy is now 17 and ready to head off to college. When the toys are accidentally donated to Sunnyside Daycare they are welcomed by Lotso but soon they discover that the children mistreat them
Toy Story 3 is the second all-time highest-grossing animated film, behind Frozen
Woody Tom Hanks
Buzz Lightyear Tim Allen
Mr. Potato Head Don Rickles
Slinky Dog Blake Clark
Rex Wallace Shawn
Hamm John Ratzenberger
Andy Davis John Morris
Jessie Joan Cusack
Mrs. Potato Head Estelle Harris
Barbie Jodi Benson
Lotso Ned Beatty. Full name Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear
Ken Michael Keaton
Mr. Pricklepants Timothy Dalton. A hedgehog
Stretch Whoopi Goldberg. An octopus
Bonnie Emily Hahn
Cars 2 (2011)
Lightning McQueen and Mater head to Japan and Europe to compete in the World Grand Prix, but Mater becomes sidetracked with international espionage
Lewis Hamilton voices himself in Cars 2
Despite being the first and so far the only Pixar to receive mixed reviews from critic, it was both a commercial and box office success
Finn McMissile Michael Caine
Holly Shiftwell Emily Mortimer
Miles Alexrod Eddie Izzard
Francesco Bernoulli John Turturro
Brave (2012)
Set in the Scottish Highlands, the film tells the story of a princess named Merida who defies an age-old custom, causing chaos in the kingdom by expressing the desire to not be betrothed. After consulting a witch for help, Merida accidentally transforms her mother into a bear and is forced to undo the spell herself before it is too late
Merida Kelly Macdonald
Queen Elinor Emma Thompson
King Fergus Billy Connolly
The Witch Julie Walters
Lord Dingwall Robbie Coltrane
Monsters University (2013)
Prequel to Monsters, Inc. Mike and Sulley start off as rivals at college, but slowly become best friends. Sulley joins the prestigious Roar Omega Roar fraternity. Mike joins the Oozma Kappa fraternity
Mike Billy Crystal
Sully John Goodman
Randy Steve Buscemi
Abominable Snowman John Ratzenberger
Dean Hardscrabble Helen Mirren. Chair of the Scarer program at Monsters University
Inside Out (2015)
The film is set in the mind of an 11-year-old girl, Riley, where five personified emotions try to lead her through life as she moves with her parents from Minnesota to San Francisco
Pete Docter first began developing Inside Out in 2009 after noticing changes in his daughter's personality as she grew older
Riley Andersen Kaitlyn Dias
Joy Amy Poehler
Sadness Phyllis Smith
Fear Bill Hader
Anger Lewis Black
Disgust Mindy Kaling
Films in Production
The Good Dinosaur (2015)
In an alternate timeline where Earth was never hit by an asteroid and dinosaurs never became extinct, a young Apatosaurus named Arlo loses his father in a tragic accident. He befriends a human caveboy that he names Spot
Finding Dory (2016)
Finding Dory will be focused on the amnesiac character Dory, and will explore the idea of her being reunited with her family. The film will take place six months after the events of Finding Nemo
Toy Story 4 (2017)
Pixar at the Academy Awards
Tin Toy is a 1988 Pixar Animation Studios short film using computer animation. It was directed by John Lasseter and won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
Geri’s Game (1997) and For the Birds (2000) also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film
John Lasseter won a Special Achievement Award for Toy Story
The Incredibles was the first Pixar film to win more than one Academy Award
Cars 2 was the first Pixar feature film not to be nominated for any Academy Awards.
Best Animated Feature winners – Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Brave
Monsters, Inc, and Cars were nominated for Best Animated Feature but did not win
Randy Newman won two Oscars – Best Original Song in 2002 for "If I Didn't Have You" from Monsters, Inc., and Best Original Song in 2011 for "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3
Up won the Academy Award for Best Original Score, by Michael Giacchino
Up and Toy Story 3 were also the second and third animated films to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture (the first being Disney's Beauty and the Beast)
